Pretoria At Last!

South Africa is unique among the countries of the world insofar as it is said to have four capital cities. During the summer months Cape Town is home to parliament, the legislative branch of government; Johannesburg is the economic centre; the judiciary (Supreme Court) is situated in Bloemfontein; Pretoria, the administrative and executive hub, is the official capital. Pretoria, with its foreign embassies and consulates, is the most stately of the bunch. Considered by many to be South Africa's architectural masterpiece, the Union Buildings are set in elaborate terraced gardens that overlook Pretoria. The president of South Africa resides here and, during the winter months, parliament meets here rather than in Cape Town. The complex was completed in 1913 to serve as the seat of government for the newly formed Union of South Africa which predated the modern country of the Republic of South Africa, established in 1961. The name Pretoria derives from Andries Pretorius, an important leader of the migrating farmers (Trekboers) who on December 16, 1938, decisively defeated the Zulus at the Battle of Blood River. Statues of Andries Pretorius and his son, Marthinus Wessel Pretorius (who founded the city) are located in front of the classical architecture that is City Hall.

Another of Pretoria's attractions is the historically significant Church Square. Long before the city of Pretoria was created, the Boer farmers congregated here four times a year to celebrate Nagmall (Holy Communion). For protection, wagons were organized into a circle known as a laager. As well as a religious ceremony, Nagmall was a huge economic and social event - a rare chance to sell homemade goods and to arrange the marriages of the Boers as they came of age. Today Church Square has many points of interest. In the foreground is a statue of Paul Kruger, a figure in the Boer resistance to the British imperial forces, and president of the Transvaal (one of the four republics that amalgamated to form the Union of South Africa in 1910). The Raadsaal (parliament) of the Transvaal can be seen in the background.

On the opposite side of Church Square is the Palace of Justice. Started in 1897, the building was used as a hospital for the British troops during the Boer War. After its completion in 1902 the structure housed the Transvaal Supreme Court. It was also the scene of the famous Rivonia Trial of 1963-64 which led to the sentencing of Nelson Mandela and other black political leaders to life imprisonment.
A much more simple yet interesting site in Pretoria is the home of Paul Kruger. It houses many mementos of the man the Boers simply called Oom Paul (Uncle Paul). Kruger often sat in a chair at the front of his house, holding court, allowing citizens of the republic to express their views and concerns of the day. I enjoyed looking at the fine period furnishings and the gardens out back that include the railway car which Kruger used to conduct important meetings. Kruger was a very determined and headstrong leader. A member of the Great Trek, he served the Boers in a number of political capacities that eventually led him to visit the capitals of Europe. An ardent Afrikaner nationalist, he fiercely opposed British rule and was a key leader during the Boer War. Much of the world eventually came to regard him as somewhat less than heroic. Stubborn and often self-serving, Kruger continually demanded that the Boers fight until death without any thought of surrender. When the British troops inevitably began to close in on his position, Kruger fled the country to live in Europe, abandoning his wife of many years, who soon died.
In Kruger's house is a gallery that includes European newspapers dating to the Boer War. This French paper depicts Kruger repelling the British lion while European leaders look on in silence.One of the final stops on my visit to Pretoria was Melrose House, a Victorian mansion built by the wealthy businessman George Heys in 1884 . The rooms and furnishings within the home are incredibly ornate and well-preserved. It was a lovely day to enjoy the gardens and stroll through an enormous flea market that had very interesting wares from a variety of eras.
Although Pretoria has become more racially and culturally diverse since the end of apartheid it remains a true bastion of the Afrikaner identity. The Voortrekker Monument, situated on a hilltop on the outskirts of the city, is arguably the most significant embodiment of Boer culture in South Africa. Inaugurated in 1949, the monument is a tribute to the 15 000 Boers who set out from Cape Town on the Great Trek following the abolition of slavery in 1834. Their goal was to outdistance British rule and maintain their traditional rural lifestyle, which included forced labour. The numerous steps leading up to the monument symbolize their long walk. The pointed spikes on the top of the iron fence represent the spears of the Zulu warriors they encountered during their quest. Inside the grounds the walls are lined with carvings of the wagons used by the Voortekkers, harnessed into the circular laager which was their means of self-defense on the open plains. Thorn bushes were placed between and below the wagons as an impediment to infiltration by hostile forces. Outside of the entrance way a large bronze statue serves as a tribute to the devotion, suffering and determination of the Boer women who played a critical role in the trek. The lives of many of the women and children came to a terrible end, ravaged by disease, in the concentration camps built by the British towards the end of the Boer War. The Afrikaner people have never been willing to forgive the British for the perceived atrocities that were committed at the camps.
Inside, the Hall of Heroes contains one of the world's longest historical friezes. The panels which wrap around all four corners of the building depict the various experiences of the Voortrekkers during their Great Trek. I really enjoyed reinforcing my understanding of South African history by studying each of the pieces of stone that were, incidentally, carved in Italy.

I have decided to include four of the main events in Voortrekker (wandering farmer) history. The first one depicts the families and their livestock departing Cape Town. A representation of Table Mountain can be seen in the background.
The next panel shows the women in their support role (loading guns, tending to the wounded) as the Boer men fought off attacking Zulus around the perimeter of the laager. Increasingly frequent skirmishes with the Zulu occurred as the Voortrekkers explored and settled land in the north-east of the country. To promote peaceful co-existence, Piet Retief, the revered leader of the Voortekkers, went to visit Dingane, the Zulu chief. Dingane had come to power by participating in the assassination of the legendary Shaka, who happened to be his half-brother. In time he would prove to be as ruthless as his dead kin. As portrayed in the panel below, Dingane and Retief signed a peace accord. During the celebration that followed, the Voortrekkers availed themselves of the alcoholic spirits that their hosts offered. When Dingane provided a pre-arranged signal, however, the warriors captured Retief, took him to a hilltop, and forced him to watch as his men were slaughtered.

The frieze also depicts what is widely regarded as the most significant moment in Voortekker history. The ongoing conflicts with the Zulu reached a climax during the Battle of Blood River. At a time when the outcome of the fight was uncertain, the Voortrekkers appealed to heaven for help. A covenant was made: if God would grant them victory they would interpret this as a symbol of His support and hold the day forever sacred. The Zulus were thoroughly defeated; the Trekkboers became unshakable in their belief that they were God's chosen people. December 16 was later declared a national holiday known as the Day of the Vow. Moreover, for the next century and a half the Afrikaners would use this concept to justify many unilateral political decisions, including apartheid.

Centred in a crypt below the Hall of Heroes, Cenotaph Hall can be viewed from either ground level or from an upper balcony, as is the case in the photograph below. The building has been constructed in such a way that on a single day of the year (December 16) at 12 noon, a ray of sunlight falls onto the empty coffin called the Shrine of Honour, illuminating the inscription: "Ons vir jou, Zuid Afrika!" (We for you, South Africa!). Like many of the other features in, on and around the monument, the cenotaph is a symbol of Boer pride and domination.
This ends my narrative about our three-month trip to southern Africa. Thanks to those who managed to read the blog in its entirety; by doing so you have vicariously provided the support which has made it all worthwhile. To everyone who has sampled even a portion of the many photographs and at times extensive text, I trust that you found some of the information to be interesting or at least educational. Prior to our trip a number of people asked us, "Why would you want to go to South Africa?" I hope the question has been answered. What a beautiful land and interesting culture!

We have learned a great deal about South Africa but leave with many questions unanswered. Preparations are well under way for the World Cup of soccer that the country will host in 2010. The eyes of the world will once again be focussed upon South Africa as it strives to present the image of a modern, progressive and democratic state. The services of Rudi Gulianai, the former major of New York city, have been enlisted to try to reduce the levels of street crime that could sabotage the success of the event. Will the World Cup be South Africa's coming out party or an organizational and financial disaster?

South Africa remains one of the world's foremost wildlife destinations but will this last? Many conservation projects are currently underway but as most public funds are being rerouted into social programs there will be a huge challenge for the private sector to preserve the country's natural heritage. How will global warming impact the land, wildlife and rural economies?

To what degree will South Africa achieve its professed goal of peace and reconciliation? Despite the emergence of a black middle-class there are still many African people who lead lives of abject poverty. Will the whites who have chosen to remain in the country continue to feel increasingly marginalized as their relative population decreases and the process of reverse discrimination that has taken hold limits their job opportunities? Will the racial barriers that discourage white athletes from playing soccer and blacks from participating in cricket and rugby dissolve? The Minister of Sport recently tried to apply a quota system to one of white South Africa's most cherished institutions - the national rugby team known as the Springboks.

The over-riding issue will continue to be whether or not white South African society will ever fully welcome their black brethren and, in turn, will ever feel safe enough to move beyond their high walls, guard dogs, razor wire and security systems. It seems to me that the rhetorical statement coined by Alan Paton in his famous South African novel, Cry the Beloved Country (1951) continues to ring true today: But when the dawn will come of our emancipation, from the fear of bondage and the bondage of fear, why that is a secret.

The City of Gold

Following the gold-rushes in California (1849) and Australian (1851) gold fever spread rapidly to many corners of the world. Mined by southern Africa's indigenous people for hundreds of years, by the mid-1800s, deposits of the precious metal were being reported by missionaries, explorers and hunters alike. In 1886 an Australian prospector, during a Sunday morning walk on a farm, hit upon the mother lode:

"My name is George Harrison and I come from the newly discovered goldfields...I have long experience as an Australian gold digger and I think it a payable goldfield."

With these famously understated words, Harrison reported the largest deposit of gold the world has ever known. Located on a continental divide known as the Witwatersrand (White Water Ridge), this gold reef became so vital to South African development that it was adopted as the name of the national currency, the rand. Thousands of people streamed in from around the world and the city of Johannesburg (called Jo’burg or Jozi by its citizens) was born. This "Golden City" has now produced roughly forty-percent of the gold ever mined on Earth.

Johannesburg is located in the province of Gauteng ("Place of Gold") which occupies just 5% of South Africa but generates 40% of its GDP. Although the economic capital of South Africa and a symbol of prosperity, Johannesburg is also a monument to human greed and violence. In many ways it is modern and vibrant; nevertheless, it was built upon the backs of poor black African labour. The downtown core boasts many fine pieces of architecture from the colonial era, such as the famous Standard Bank building. The land along Johannesburg’s main traffic artery, the M1 highway, was originally surveyed and cleared as part of Cecil Rhodes’ famous plan to build a railway that would connect Cape Town to Cairo, extending considerably the reach of the British Empire. It requires about three tons of sifted earth to yield one once of gold so mine dumps (such as that visible in the background) are visible throughout the region. As the mines near exhaustion, these heaps of discarded rock have become increasingly valuable: each ton of recycled material produces, on average, one gram of gold as well as one and a half grams of uranium. This is a photograph of a well-known statue in Johannesburg that commemorates the toil and trouble of the gold miners. Prior to and during the apartheid era, many Africans were dragged from their villages and forced to work in the mines. Digging and using explosives twenty-four hours per day, six days a week, half a million blacks worked in the mines for a salary one-sixth of what was offered to the whites in the industry. In 1961 their pay for this hard and dangerous work was 42¢ per day.

Until 1991 many of the residential and commercial districts of Johannesburg were reserved for white citizens. Tell-tale signs of the era of racial segregation are still evident. As well as black African labour, thousands of Chinese workers were also originally brought to work in the mines. Sometimes paid in opium and otherwise badly treated, the government deported the entire Chinese community once they had served their purpose. Rising crime during the 1980s and 1990s led to a mass exodus of businesses, restaurants and tourists from the downtown core. Hotels such as those shown in this picture were abandoned and remained derelict until recent attempts to improve the security and redevelop the city centre. Visible in the foreground is the top of the Johannesburg High Court, once a much hated symbol of white oppression. The Witwatersrand provided large amounts of other lucrative resources, especially diamonds. The most impressive piece of architecture I saw in Johannesburg was Diamond House. A home to mining offices, it was constructed in the form of the fifty-eight facets of a typical diamond. Various nearby buildings can be seen reflected in its glass panels.

Johannesburg has many wealthy neighbourhoods. I hadn’t anticipated that there would be so much greenery and lush vegetation! Many of the mansions are located in the northern suburbs. Security is exceedingly highly but unable to prevent not only petty crime but the sort of political intrigues and underworld crime that one finds in other major cities of the world.

One of the older sections of the city that is in the process of being redeveloped is Newtown. The municipal government is spending a lot of money promoting traditional black values and cultural self-awareness to revitalize the downtown and make it into a safe cultural hot spot. This a mural painted on the side on an otherwise non-descript building in Newtown.

Although the transition from apartheid to democracy was ultimately successful, there was initially a great deal of conflict and violence. Elements of the white population were not anxious to give up their position of power and privilege; many of the down-trodden blacks entertained unrealistic expectations of dramatic overnight changes in their daily lives. During the early 1990s, SOWETO, long a venue for civil unrest, thus became a household name in most parts of the world. SOWETO is an acronym for South West Township, the most notorious of the black communities which linger on the periphery of Johannesburg. SOWETO began in 1904 when the whites blamed the blacks for a bubonic plague epidemic that ravaged the city, and forced them to move out of the inner city.

The tragedy of South Africa, the root cause of most of the violence that occurs there, has been the deterioration of traditional black values, especially the sanctity of the family. Today families are being ripped apart by the AIDS epidemic: the number of orphans is staggering. For a few hundred years, black men (mostly Zulus) who were removed from their villages and brought to work in the mines of Johannesburg often ended up living in hostels such as the one shown below. There were no closets or cupboards; a concrete slab often served as a bed. One visit from a family member was allowed per month. The hostels are still in use as low-end housing units. When people think about SOWETO, the image that comes to the minds is often the scores of ramshackle ghettos. These continue to exist; however, I have learned that a wide range of living standards now prevail here. SOWETO even has millionaires! Security has improved to the point where the neighbourhoods are considered to be safer than those in parts of downtown Johannesburg. Still, the standards of living are low. The population of 1 700 000 has just one hospital, although there are approximately fifty clinics in operation. An enduring symbol of the social injustice associated with apartheid era is the smoke stacks which are visible from almost anywhere in the township. A coal-fired power plant created a tremendous amount of pollution in SOWETO but all of the electricity was delivered to the white neighbourhoods in Johannesburg. They were eventually closed down when the use of coal began unsustainable. The SOWETO Uprising of June 16, 1976 is a famous episode from the apartheid era. I can remember the moment in history well - it was one day after my nineteenth birthday, just as I was finishing high school. The conditions in the SOWETO schools were terrible. Many schools had no furniture, not even a desk for the teacher. Textbooks, which were free in white schools, had to be paid for by the families of black students. On average, a white school received five times as much funding as a black school. When the nationalist government announced that all instruction in school was henceforth to be conducted in the Afrikaans language, the students decided they'd had enough.

A protest march was planned from the school to a government office within the community. When the students failed to disperse, some of the police officers began to fire upon the crowd of young defenceless students. This famous picture is of Mbuyisa Makhubo's unsuccessful attempt to save 13-year-old Hector Peterson. They are accompanied by Peterson`s sister, Antoinette. The image sent shock waves around the world. Subsequently, Mbuyisa had to flee for his life to a foreign country to avoid the wrath of the apartheid government.

A well-conceived memorial marks the events of the uprising. It is built on the location where the police gathered to stage their attack . The water flowing over the granite represents the tears that were shed during and since the time of the attack. Leading up to the monument is a collection of pebbles which symbolize the stones that were thrown by some of the 30 000 students who marched that day. Unfortunately, I was unable to fit them into the photograph. June 16 has become National youth day in South Africa in honour of all the young people who lost their lives in the struggle against apartheid.

As part of my tour of SOWETO, I had a chance to visit Vilizazi Street. Many of the most familiar names in South Africa have lived in this area. The photo below shows the home that Nelson Mandela lived in prior to being sent to prison. A short walk away is the long-time home of Bishop Desmond Tutu. We also drove past Winnie Mandela's current domicile.

My last morning in Johannesburg was spent visiting the highly-acclaimed Apartheid Museum.

It is very extensive and graphic. The image below shows a series of cages with over-sized but otherwise authentic pass cards that citizens of black and mixed race were required to carry on their person at all times.

This exhibit of 121 nooses represents the number of political prisoners who were hung during the apartheid era.

The museum is very educational and sobering - considered a "must" for anyone who visits the city. An interesting fact is that it is situated next door to Johannesburg's Gold City Reef Casino. Companies that were in competition to build the casino were obliged to include a proposal for a socially responsible project, and this was what the winning tender submitted in its bid. At first, the fact that these two venues sit so close to each other seemed like a cruel joke to me. After thinking about it for some time, however, I realized that it was perfect... for Johannesburg is nothing if not a city of extreme contrasts.

The Smoke That Thunders

As a beacon for all manner of intellectual pursuits, ancient Hellenic society pondered many weighty issues. The Greeks were also known as great travellers: the guidebooks of their sight-seers were the main source of information leading to the identification of The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It is a list that has been widely known and unchallenged for many centuries.

Recently there has been a flood of attempts to classify other natural and man-made phenomena, such as the Seven Wonders of the Modern World and even the Seven Wonders of Canada. In 1997 CNN published an arbitrary list of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World. Not surprisingly, since our planet is rich in splendor, this list has been much debated; however, some of the selections seem to be beyond dispute. One of these is Victoria Falls. Nearly 1700 metres wide and approximately twice as high as Niagara Falls, these are the largest and most unique waterfalls in the world. The lush vegetation also provides refuge for more wildlife than any other waterfalls in the world.
The Zambezi River (which flows over the falls) serves as a natural barrier between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The 2,574 km long river has its source in Zambia, flows through Angola, and along the borders of Namibia and Botswana as well as Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Zambezi ends in Mozambique, where it empties into the Indian Ocean. During high season a massive amount of water (700 00 00 cubic litres) flows over the falls per minute. Our guide, Fisher, used to conduct canoe trips along this famous water system and told us a few stories of near-death experiences. The Zambezi is famous for its population of crocodiles and hippopotamuses.
A bridge provides passage from the outskirts of Livingstone, Zambia to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. This enables the public to view the falls from two different countries. The view of the Batoka Gorge (below the bridge) is breathtaking. Past this point, the Zambezi River continues to twist and wind its way through a long stretch of steep cliffs. As a result, Victoria Falls is known as the adrenaline capital of southern Africa. River rafting the most challenging rapids in the world (level 5) and bungee jumping, are two of the most popular activities.
Victoria Falls is unlike most falls where there is simply a dip in elevation and the water continues on its way. Here, the water flows into a deep chasm in the landscape, rebounding off of the opposing rock face and generating an enormous amount of spray. On a clear day this veil of mist can be seen as far as thirty kilometres away. This is why the local name for Victoria Falls is Mosi-Oa-Tunya, "The Smoke That Thunders". Unfortunately, this also means that the full length of the falls is impossible to observe during much of the year. Near to the falls, the mist quickly falls back to the ground like rain. There are few spots that are not constantly pounded by what seems like a torrential rainfall.
From a tourist's perspective, the solution to this problem is to hire a helicopter or micro-lite airplane. The thought of riding in what amounts to little more than a glorified lawnmower with wings made me nervous in the beginning, but once airborne it was pure fun and entertainment!
David Livingstone, who is believed to be the first white explorer to the area, named Victoria Falls after Queen Victoria. This was unusual since he normally insisted on maintaining local place names. He famously described the falls as "a scene so lovely that they must have been gazed upon by angels in flight". I don't know a lot about angels but I can say that the succession of rainbows that appear from various angles above the falls is really something special. The flight also provides a good opportunity to observe the wildlife below. My German pilot and I saw elephants, hippos and an enormous stork's nest that encompassed the entire crown of a large tree!
There's a statue of David Livingstone on the Zambian side of the falls. In the Livingstone Museum, there is an entire room devoted to his exploits. The locals revered Livingstone not because he figured he beat all of the other Europeans to the falls but due to his ongoing efforts to publicize and help eradicate the slave trade in central Africa. Although he grew up impoverished in his native Scotland, Livingstone's character and ability were recognized early on. He went on to become a doctor as well as a missionary. He was consumed until his death with a desire to find the source of the Nile River.
On one of his journeys Livingstone ran into trouble when a porter accidentally broke his navigational equipment and his medicines ran out. Suffering from malaria and dysentery, the man was given up for dead until the American journalist Henry Morton Stanley successfully located him, uttering the famous quip, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume". Livingstone eventually died in the jungle. His body was identified by the broken bones in his forearm that were once crushed in a lion attack and known to have never healed properly.
Our stay in Livingstone marked the end of my time with Kiboko Tours as most of the group carried on to Chobe National Park in Botswana. I was very pleased with the experience and hope to be able to do another safari one day. The group included two young French doctors (Bruno and Carolyn) , a French portrait photographer (Rudi) and his wife, Emmanuelle, who worked with computer information systems. Paulo (a physiotherapist) and Elisa (a computer technician) from a village in northern Italy were on their honeymoon! Julie was a retired American Airlines flight attendant and Robyn was employed an office worker in Brisbane, Australia. Our group got along well.
The rest of my time in Zambia was spent staying at the Jolly Boys Backpackers in Livingstone. It was a very comfortable and spotlessly clean hostel...one of the best I've seen anywhere in the world. The pool area was amazing and the sunken lounge a wonderful place to spend the day or evening meeting people. Livingstone proved to be a crossroads for an interesting mix of gentle souls from all over southern and eastern Africa: Christian missionaries, overland travellers, foreign aid workers, medical students on overseas placements and a variety of volunteers in social and environmental projects. The desk employee was a girl from Courtney, B.C. that has been living in Zambia for eight years and doesn't want to leave! A German version of Forest Gump (a man who had been cycling around the world for nine years) had lots of stories to tell.

As well as visiting the museum I managed to fit in a few excursions into the town and a little bit of the surrounding countryside. There was an interesting market and other small businesses catering to tourists and the local population alike. I was very impressed with the friendliness of the people and how well many of them spoke English. During my four days in Livingstone there were a number of peaceful and enthusiastic rallies, parades, and street demonstrations. Zambia has become one of the more stable countries in Africa and the population is evidently proud to be able to exercise its rights and freedoms.
Democracy and free enterprise seem to provide hope and inspiration the world over. The good life as we know it North America may be but a dream to these struggling people but the first step in achieving a goal is believing that it is possible. That's my two cents worth of insight into Zambia. Signing off from sub-tropical Africa,
Rick

Etosha National Park

Part way through Namibia our tour group spent three days visiting Etosha National Park. The dominant feature of Etosha, which means "Great White Place," is an eighty kilometre long salt pan that is surrounded by savanna and mopane woodland. Once a vast lake, it dried up a few thousand years ago when the river that fed it decided to change course. Like Kruger, Etosha is a a premier wildlife location, such a special place that it warrants a blog entry of its own. While Kruger is known for its wide variety of species, Etosha is famous for its sheer number of animals. In 1876 an American traveller named McKiernan remarked, "All the menageries in the world turned loose would not match what I saw that day." Nevertheless, to protect the animals, only about two-thirds of the park is closed to tourism. Most of the landscape that is accessible is pretty wide open so the animals are often easy to see. As was the case with Kruger, at times one drives for 10-15 kilometres without seeing much at all, then all of a sudden large groups of multiple species suddenly appear. By far the most common species in Etosha was the springbok antelope.
The sightings are best during the winter months (July/August) when the land is at its driest. During this time the animals are inevitably drawn to where ever they can drink. Etosha's main waterhole, Okaukuejo, is regarded as perhaps the best in the world for seeing animals, especially the black rhino. Highly endangered and difficult to see because they are ill-tempered and reclusive, black rhinos are rarely seen elsewhere in the park but regularly wander in from the dark at Okaukeujo. The black rhino, also called the hook-lipped rhino, is smaller than the square-lipped or white rhino. This is really a misnomer as the "white" rhino (not found in Etosha) actually means "wyde" (wide) in Africaans. Unfortunately, poaching is a significant problem in Etosha, eliminating about five percent of the rhino population per year. Namibia piloted the idea of lopping off part of the horn to protect the animal by diminishing its commercial value. However, this makes the mother unable to protect the young, rendering them more vulnerable to attacks by predators such as the lion.

Poachers are extremely dangerous people. Five years ago in Kenya German tourists on a safari were warned to ignore any poaching activities they observed. When four people in the group started shouting at armed men they saw shooting animals the poachers drove over to the safari vehicle and shot them on the spot. End of trip for everyone else as the bodies had to be taken to a morgue. Apparently, in order to protect themselves, rangers are told to shoot on the spot anyone they even suspect of poaching.
I can't say that we ever got completely shut out while game viewing. One morning I was at the waterhole by 5 A.M. but saw little. Just as I was preparing to leave, a beautiful little bird called a crimson-breasted shrike, which was not very shy, made an appearance. It was the only time in Africa that I managed to see this species.
One night I stayed at the waterhole until about 22:10 before heading off to phone Nancy. Weary from being up late then again early the previous day, I decided to head off to bed at 22:45. Imagine my chagrin the next morning to find out that at 23:00 four male lions showed up at the hole and remained there for an hour. A black rhino, annoyed by their presence, made a series of mini-charges at them. It would seem that although the lion is the king of the jungle, the rhino rules at the waterhole.

Leaving camp, those of us who missed the amazing sighting the night before were feeling a little down in the mouth. As if to rescue our spirits, within five minutes of passing through the rest camp gate we arrived at a waterhole to find a pride of eight lions, three adults and five juvenile cubs! What unfolded next was a very memorable experience. After about twenty minutes most of the lions moved off about seventy-five metres to sit in some grass but one of the lionesses remained. Watched spellbound as a giraffe then a jackal arrived at the hole for a drink. Ultra-wary of the lion in its attack posture, both animals would edge closer then back off. The jackal eventually got very close before giving up and leaving. The giraffe was more persistent, walking away until its courage returned, inching closer, then backing off. After nearly a full and very interesting hour it gave up and quit the area. Black-backed jackal sightings were as common in Etosha as they had been further south in the Namib Desert. This proved to be advantageous to us one evening as we were eating dinner. Bruno, one of the French members of our entourage, noticed a jackal parked at the bottom of a tree for a lengthy time, staring up into the branches. Upon inspection we noticed a lesser spotted genet! About the size of a large domestic cat, the genet is a member of the mongoose family. With our help, the jackal and genet proceeded to perform a bit of a Tom and Jerry routine. As we got closer, the jackal would back off. This allowed the genet to leap to the ground and run to another tree, hotly pursued by the jackal, followed by the tourists!
Nancy and I had seen many termite mounds earlier in our trip, but nowhere were they as prevalent or as picturesque as in Etosha. The nests vary in colour depending on the soil and reminded us of those that we saw at Kakadu National Park in northern Australia. The nests are sometimes a nuisance for farmers. Eliminating them must take place at an early stage of their development when the termites are constructing their underground base. Otherwise, the termites simply replace what gets knocked down.
One afternoon, we encountered a rather large snake slithering its way across the landscape. The guides thought it was a kind of mamba, someone else has said suggested a cobra, I call it simply bad news. Aware of our presence the snake quickly disappeared into a hole. The life of a rodent can't be very easy. Imagine being comfortably settled into your home for the day when all of a sudden a pair of large glowing eyes appears in the darkness of your hallway!
A very interesting species that we saw in the park on a number of occasions was the secretary bird. Standing as high as 140 cm, the secretary bird is a mostly terrestrial bird of prey, eating rodents and sometimes even an infant antelope! It enjoys a certain amount of notoriety in Africa since it is on the national coat of arms of both Sudan and South Africa. It is built somewhat like an eagle but resembles a crane in flight. The plumage on the nape of its neck, as well as two elongated central tail feathers (unfortunately, cut off in my photo) make it an interesting spectacle as it struts across the terrain.
One of the interesting elements of our game viewing has been witnessing the interaction between the adults and offspring of the various species. I have a great photo of a mother and child black rhino at the waterhole, and a few images of suckling behaviour as shown below.
The number and variety of antelope on the plains of Africa is at times bewildering. one would think that they might run out of food but nature, in its highly organized, way has ensured that most antelope species actually consume different kinds of plants, or, at least, different parts of a plant. One of my best memories of Etosha will be a scene that evolved with a small group of red hartebeest antelope. One big buck was stationed quite close to the road providing a wonderful opportunity for photography. Responding to a noise in the distance, it turned away from us. We all noticed two other hartebeest racing across the distant landscape in what appeared to be a game of tag. A few seconds after this photo was taken, the nearby beast joined in the charge as the animals dogged, darted and sprinted in the vicinity for the next few minutes! Perhaps the most adorable of all of the antelope species are the tiny dik-diks, which stand a mere forty centimetres tall. They are named after the sound that they make when alarmed. Dik-diks are highly monogamous. Once one of the pair of life partners dies the remaining dik-dik will have a homosexual relationship with another widowed dik-dik. How's that for loyalty?
All three of Etosha's rest camps are currently under extensive renovations to bring them up to world-class standards prior to 2010. This is the year that South Africa will be hosting the World Cup of Soccer. Destinations throughout southern Africa are hoping that that they will benefit from the increase in tourist traffic. All of the work didn't really affect us since all of our nights on the tour except for two were spent camping.

As we were preparing to leave for our final game drive before exiting the park, a colony of banded mongoose put in an appearance to scavenge for scraps. Most of them didn't seem too bothered by our presence. Nancy and I had seen a smaller kind of mongoose a number of times in Kruger as well as in Kwa-Zulu Natal but this was the first time that I had encountered this larger species.

Thanks for sharing my time at Etosha. Hope you've enjoyed some of the information and pictures. Next stop: Victoria Falls!