Sat report to Avis: “They have arrived safe and sound and in very high spirlits at Ilala Lodge where they are spending the night.

The final 26 km wasn’t without its excitement but  it was mostly idyllic — they left camp at 07:15 and to their delight there was no wind. They just cruised down the river with trees on either side, crocs dozing on the banks, hippos wallowing in family groups and everything as peaceful as could be.

Then they hit the last rapids and everything changed - the main rapid was a Grade 4 with a narrow shoot down that had a rock wall on the one side and groups of rocks on the other – Rich went through first and saw a hippo rise up among the rocks – he was doing about 20 kts and they looked at each other in amazement – he could have whacked the hippo on the head with his paddle but shot past instead and made for a sandy beach to empty water out his kayak. The others had a few heart stopping moments at the bottom of the shoot and came floundering down right near where the hippo had quickly dived out of sight. Chris and John came over the shoot and struggled to keep upright but Garth turned turtle. Luckily none of them had an encounter with the hippo.

They could see and got very close to the ‘smoke that thunders’ and when Richmond said they were speeding down the river at 10 km without paddling they deemed it wise to pull off just before Devil’s Cataract.

They reckon it was a magnificent end to the trip and celebrated with high tea at the always elegant Victoria Falls Hotel.

They will be leaving at sparrows (really early) for Maun and should get there tomorrow night.

So we can all heave a collective sigh of relief and sleep like babes tonight.

That’s it, folks!

Love Avis.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks Avis; Great news and congratulations to the guys! Despite lacerated feet, bumps, bruises and a few mosquito bites, they’re still standing. And the fact that bites could have been anything from spiders, snakes or up to lions and hippos (elephants?), this is just TOTALLY awesome! <doing the little happy dance!>

Our new heroes are Richmond MacIntyre, Chris MacIntyre, Garth MacIntyre and John Sandenbergh.

We admire their courage, skills and experience — not to mention old-fashioned tenacity — in getting them through what was undoubtedly a harrowing trip at times and where lesser mortals might have failed.

Close up map: The guys turned into shore less than 20 seconds before heading over the Falls!

Seconds to go!

 Progress from yesterday… at high speed.

I think it’s still sinking in that they actually made it with all their body parts still attached. There were times when I just couldn’t concentrate on my work, waiting for the daily news, imagination going crazy when the news was late. Others obviously felt the same when I got impatient phone calls before the blog was updated… where the hell are they? Are they ok?

Hey, those folk who made bets with me that they’d never make it, with or without all or some of their body parts?

… well, my good friends, time to pay up as promised and help the Hermanus Waldorf School’s Field of Dreams for young under-privileged or orphaned children. Kids with a sports field grow up to be adults with a purpose. It’s like baby elephants growing up within the social responsibility of the herd versus the lone renegade orphaned bulls that wantonly attack everything and everything. Think about it…

Donations are indeed growing and we are grateful for everybody’s generosity. $10 to you is a fortune to these kids.

Go direct to the website www.hermanuswaldorf.co.za.  Use your credit card securely through the Backabuddy button. Thank you!

I’ll have pictures and more stories to share with you once the guys are back in internet range and can upload. I’ve asked them to share three big moments from the trip:

1. My best experience
2. My worst experience
3. The moment I’ll never forget as long as I live!

By the way, if you live in South Africa, watch the local media – I believe word is out… or use Google News. Whatever coverage I find, I’ll post here too. <back to doing the little happy dance!>

Sat Phone report today was taken by Glynis: “The adventurers tackled the first two sets of rapids today but not without getting thrown about – and out – of their kayaks! However, they made it safely through and powered their way covering nearly 48km on the Zambezi.

Chris took a moment too long to decide which way to tackle a tricky section of a rapid and ended up going down backwards, then sideways then being thrown onto a rock, kayak and all. Richmond ended up being thrown out of his kayak which then proceeded to flood with water and he found himself standing in crocodile infested water baling out his kayak as fast as possible! Moments before they had seen a croc basking in the sun on a rock alongside the rapids, watching them go by!

The overwhelming response to the day’s kayaking was that it was exhilarating, very fast and finally, magnificent, lush, brilliant scenery on both banks.

Only a few buffalo and warthogs were spotted, no other big game or antelope and not even a hippo! Also not as many birds around as before.

They now have 25 km to go with one set of rapids still ahead. Glynis was about to ask Rich the details of where and how the guys are going reach the end of the trip. Will they quit before going over the Falls or not? But then the Sat phone died – batteries finally gone after 17 days!

Karen MacIntyre made a comment based on much experience of her husband’s long career as a professional guide and founder of Wilderness Safaris; “That’s an awesome stretch of river they are on at the moment.  When the river is high it’s fast flowing, but at this time of year the water is quite low so they get the white water kayaking experience.  The fact that they up-ended doesn’t surprise me in the least.  They probably had a gas. (In the USA, that’s called a ‘blast”.)

“When I suggested pulling out at the boat club in Vic Falls, Chris said they would get a lot closer to the Falls than that. (Not sure if he was joking just to give me something more to worry about or if he means it.  I did suggest that he didn’t go over the Falls though!).”

“So, if all goes well tomorrow, they could be dry, if not home, by tomorrow evening!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks Glynis and Karen – That was some hair-raising stuff going through the rapids and getting chucked out! What a pity the phone died so inconveniently…

Current location: They’re on an island in the Zambezi, called Chundu… I wonder if they know that if they take a stroll to the east, they’ll find a lodge with a bar (and presumably somewhere to plug in the sat phone).

And this is what the sandbank looks like where they pulled in… very pretty.

The guys should be seeing the Vic Falls spray quite soon tomorrow… they are only 22km away as the crow flies…

And the past few days, showing their progress…

I’m excited to find out where and IF they will pull out the kayaks before the Vic Falls, or will the banter between the cousins become reality as they create another record?

Report via Sat Phone: “Today was full of adrenaline rushes for Chris and John.  For Chris it was quite a prolonged engagement with a crocodile, but he managed to get away unscathed.

John was happily paddling along when a hippo surfaced right next to him and he inadvertantly hit the beast on its head with his paddle – the adrenaline that shot through enabled him to make a double quick getaway before the nonplussed hippo could realise what had happened. It was a worst nightmare situation and John had a terrible fright and let out a prolonged yell so the others were well aware of what had happened. They all know it’s just not done to hit hippos on the head.

They paddled 41km today in a tiresome 20 kt headwind – their shoulders are really really sore. They are comfortably ensconced in a campground between Kasane and Kazangula tonight and have all managed to have hot showers which helps to ease the muscle-ache in their arms.

Tomorrow they go through the border to Zimbabwe. Chris has organised a vehicle to take the kayaks through the border so they’re not quite sure exactly where they’ll be putting in, but it will be on the Zambezi. They know they have three sets of rapids to negotiate which could take anything from two to three days.  The news through the local grapevine is that there is a very stroppy hippo in residence at the confluence of the Chobe and Zambezi Rivers. So they’ll be looking out for him.

Apparently the rumours of shooting soldiers is a load of nonsense, which is a relief for all.

So once again we can sleep easy knowing all is well with our heroes as they settle into their sleeping bags.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks Avis – there I was thinking that it’s all downhill from here <grin> and two close encounters of the worst kind happen in one day!

They’ve parked themselves at the Thebe River Safaris Camp and this really, really close-up view shows what is probably the ablution block. Hopefully they have a peaceful night being so close to dense human habitation (or not, humans can be more dangerous!)

And as you say, halfway between Kasane and Kazungula… about 5 km from the confluence of the Zambezi and Chobe. Once they start heading SE after turning into the Zambezi, the current strong headwind will move to a side wind and I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing when going through rapids.

The guys covered a significant amount of terrain, crocs and hippos notwithstanding… maybe the beasts propelled the guys forward faster than intended!

This is a lovely sunset view – posted by a Google Earth visitor at the exact spot where the guys are camped.

And right behind them in the bustling little town of Kasane, it looks like this… I love the TV dish on the shack… TIA. (This Is Africa).

After clearing Customs and Immigration, they’ll probably get directed to put their kayaks back into the water at the Kazungula ferry— it’s likely to be bedlam.

The Kazungula Ferry…

And then into the Zambezi rapids…

This predatory man-eating croc was recently killed on the Zambezi River

Monster croc shot in Zimbabwe

Today’s coordinates are: S1748.7 E2458.2

Sat Phone report to Avis: “They woke refreshed and clean and after a ‘nice brekkie’ set off in a leisurely fashion at 07:15. The biggest issue today was a constant and uncomfortable headwind that reached 20 kts at times. 

Chris in turban at Avis/Richmond’s Wedding Anniversary

It whipped Chris’s hat clean off his head and it’s lost forever – so now he’s using a sarong wrapped around his head like a Moroccan Berber’s turban. Very sexy too. Thanks to hats, sunblock and second-skin clothing, sunburn is not a problem.

They saw crocs, hippos, elephants, warthogs, buffalo, zebra and a breathtaking amount of water birds. Their shoulders are sore from long long hours of paddling, but it’s like floating through a park – all peace and tranquillity. There are flat alluvial plains on either side of the channel – Botswana on the right and Namibia to the left and the channel is wide with clear water. Clear, but not clean enough to drink because of all the animals. You can just imagine what the water is mixed with…

They’ve heard rumours that  Zimbabwean soldiers are shooting at people on the river, but they will find out more facts tomorrow night when they reach Kasani.

They’re all interested to know if this ground breaking adventure of theirs is raising any funds for the Waldorf School. Is it?

Garth has noted with raised eyebrows that they haven’t really used any of the ratpacks of food he went to so much trouble to bring over from New Zealand – and he can see, as they approach the end of the journey, that he’s going to be left high and dry with them. They, Garth included, have been eating well, with lots of fresh food. There’s bound to be a call for the ratpacks some other time – so the vote will probably be - don’t take them back to NZ! 

Although we can sleep fairly easy tonight, don’t forget they will soon be approaching the rapids where the crocs are gnashing their teeth in anticipation.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks Avis – the guys deserve a break after the hell they have been thru dragging the kayaks over reeds, mud, snakes, slugs and bugs! Looks like they did about 40km today.

Interestingly, on this new stretch of Google Earth maps today and all the way to Vic Falls, the date of the satellite imagery is July 7, 2009. It is significantly clearer than the previous 2005 imagery on close-zoom details and because it was taken only last year with very similar water levels and conditions in this region, it will be a more accurate representation of today’s conditions. Unfortunately still not clear enough at full zoom-in to identify even large animals like elephants.

But here’s a close-up of a sightseeing pontoon boat… and the little white dots with tiny streaks behind them might even be the wakes of elephants crossing… This is a very popular tourist area… Between here and Kasane the guys’ major hazards might well come from sightseeing boats loaded with tourists! <grin>

Pictures of the guys with their distinctly non-touristy mission of purposefully paddling their kayaks are sure to go home in hundreds of digital cameras to every corner of the earth. We will likely see them posted to Google Earth some time soon as another Chobe sighting.

Close-up view below:  the guys are evidently parked on a sandbank a few meters from the Namibia border. They’ll waft across/back the border line several times tomorrow as they follow the meandering Chobe, and same again with the Zambia border line when they reach the Zambezi.

By the way, that’s not comforting news about the Zims firing on people in the river. What on earth would be their motivation?

The medium view showing progress from yesterday… About 40km of paddling, paddling, paddling, steadily down the stream…

And the long view… steadily getting closer, only 94 km by crow, and guessing about 165 km by kayak.

There’s evidently a nasty turbulent stretch about 1.5 to 2km long shortly after Kazungula. The river drops about 7m over the length of the rapids, so it’s not one sharp waterfall drop, but rather likely to be a tiring exercise, requiring sustained concentration not to hit a submerged rock or flip sideways. There are multiple “steps” of waterfalls over sharp rocky outcrops. And crocs below…. salivating.

See below, the navigable channel is only a few meters wide and not much room for error. (I’m loving the new clarity of zoom detail <grin> just look at those trees…)

Where the guys are currently camped on the Chobe river is very popular with elephants, tourists and sightseeing pontoons – with hundreds of photo postings by Google Earth visitors:

Increasing and protected elephant populations are having large negative impacts on local vegetation, however. Scientists working in the region used spectral analysis of an astronaut photograph digitized from film to identify areas where woodland vegetation had been heavily damaged by the elephants. More here by NASA.

Sat phone report from Avis: “Today, Chris had a lovely surprise for the chaps – they were welcomed to the Wilderness Safari Baobab Lodge where they arrived at 13:30 in time for lunch — what? Two showers later, they appeared suitably clean, shaved and washed. They are now on schedule although they only did 26km today because Chris had arranged the Baobab previously. 

Richmond said you cannot believe how difficult it has been dragging the kayaks – their feet are lacerated and they’re all rather worried about contracting bilharzia from the water through the open sores on their feet. 

Asked whether the animals’ night serenade kept them awake, Rich said he usually personally puts his head down and sleeps a solid 8 hours from pure exhaustion. Last night on the banks of the Chobe, however, a large herd of elephants came thundering past their camp – Rich unzipped to see and was treated to a raucous trumpeting and one of the ellies did a huge fart as he/she passed the tent. 

Farting elephants pass at night...

This evening they are sitting at the bar with a group of Americans quaffing top quality wines. 

They are all so familiar with setting up camp now that it takes only half an hour to set it up, light the fires and get the food on – it’s like a race to get to bed. It takes a little bit longer to break camp but only marginally. 

Richmond forgot to mention all the animals they have/are seeing – included in what he’s already described are waterbuck, reedbuck, zebra – and the wild cat they saw was a black footed wildcat. 

The diminutive Black Foot Cat is a rare and endangered species

 They’ve heard dozens of lions roaring and moaning and huffing and puffing as well as the calls and giggles of hyena. The lion he said rubbed up against the tent didn’t just rub up it growled too – and the next morning the pug marks were proof it wasn’t just a dream. 

Lion paw prints

Today there was enough  water to have a gentle current, so it was a lot easier – with a lot less dragging of the boats. Tomorrow they’ll be in Chobe with lots of elephants and hippos and expect to make Kasane. Should reach Victoria Falls by Wednesday and Maun on Friday. 

That’s all for tonight – you can rest easy in your little beds tonight knowing the lads are doing the same. 

Love Avis .”  

Great news Avis! 

Not so good about bilharzia and lacerations though… can they start a course of preventative treatment immediately? 

Indeed, today’s Google Earth clearly shows them hanging there at the bar and sharing their amazing stories over good wine! Just kidding, but the coordinates puts them exactly at the Baobab Camp by the Ngoma bridge (the added markers are provided by Google Earth when you turn on “features”). 

 

Medium View showing progress from yesterday 

 

And the long view to Vic Falls… only 120km as the crow flies, but about 250km by kayak (I guess?) 

 

Here are some Google Earth images from the area… 

 And tomorrow the guys will be contending with both elephants and hippos! 

   

Anyway, it wasn’t like that at all of course.

The coordinates are S1802.06 E 2436.01

These men are having the most incredible journey over 650 to 700km - something no one has ever done before and they are all quite overwhelmed by this immense privilege. Never before have the floods linked six rivers. In the days of Livingstone, when there might have been similar floods they didn’t have GPS – and without the technology of today a trip like this wouldn’t be possible – no one could ever find their way through the maze of waterways. They are experiencing pristine parts of Africa and even Chris, who has lived in Botswana for goodness knows how long, has never experienced anything like it..

A USA reader had a whole lot of questions which will be of interest to everyone, especially as I have the answers from the lion’s mouth, so to speak.

Hippos too close for comfort!

1 How many wildlife encounters have you had? They’ve had many hippo encounters and about 20 pretty close scares.  The only serious face to face with a croc is the one that attacked Rich’s kayak and bit through 100mm of boat, but they’ve seen dozens of crocodiles.

2 How many elephants, predators, game and birds have you seen on your way? Seen lots of elephants, impala, letchwe, warthogs, kudu, wildebeest, even a wild cat – Chris hasn’t seen one before, giraffe of course and hundreds of different kinds of beautiful birds – Chris and Garth who are bird enthusiasts have been in their element – there’ s an amazing range. They came too quietly upon a male elephant who was strolling serenely through the bush and didn’t see them, so Chris raised his arm and it sent the ellie crashing away. When they encounter herds of elephant they just wait for them to pass before paddling on their way.

3 Is there anything about the terrain other than that it is exhausting? Everything is very flat, the fault lines turn the rivers and are geologically very important (remember Garth is a geologist). They were in muddy elephant sewerage before but have passed through that. Now they can hear vehicles and see lights but haven’t encountered any other humans. (Amazing eh?)

It’s no where near the end of the journey – still have to get to Chobe Park where there will be more wild life. Then on to Kisane and people, and on to Kasangula and eventually on to the Zambezi where there may be roads but probably no people since there are no towns there. There they will encounter hippos and more crocs. There are many rapids to be negotiated with the added problem that opportunistic crocs wait at the bottom for casualties – this is serious as no one wants to be thrown out of their kayaks at this time and become  a croc’s snack.

For all the difficulties and exhaustion they are thoroughly enjoying themselves. It’s been a major mission fighting their way through the reeds – they find themselves going round in circles and what with mambas, pythons and spiders falling into the boat as they ram the reeds, it’s quite gruelling and intense.

The waters they saw from the helicopter at the outset of the expedition have receded and now they are pulling and pushing the kayaks over mud – Ok for 30 minutes but hour after hour it becomes back breaking and utterly exhausting.

That’s about it for tonight. Think of them when you sleep in your comfy safe little bed tonight – this is truly an adventure of a lifetime.

Love Avis.”

Thank you, Avis – an incredible and very vivid description of their circumstances. That certainly brings the situation into perspective for us arm-chair travellers. And a big gulp! Snakes in the kayak!

This is one for the Guinness Book of Records! There is nothing in there currently about kayaking in Botswana…

Adding to all those miseries of the exhausting muddy passage is the daily 32C (88 F) temperature and relentlessly blazing sun. It cools overnight to about 13C (56F) in the wee hours, but will be hot by 0800 again. Forecast for next week is 34C (96F).

Google Map closeup:

(Remove all the printed stuff from this Google Earth picture and it looks like a surrealist painting of sorts…)

Medium view showing pretty good progress from yesterday. They’ll pass Kavimba and the tiny village of Mabele.

Mabele Village

And the bigger picture…

Here’s a picture of the general view from the banks of the river.

And this should be their downstream view for the next couple of days. Some clear paddling at last before they hit the rapids.

And of course, their friends, the hippos:

Satellite Phone Report: “All well with the adventurers. They had a good but exhausting day – only covered 29km. They were enjoying a dinner of tuna-pasta.

The two mischievous cousins were at it as usual but Chris won the day’s antics by sneaking a few dollops of elephant dung into Garth’s bag!

Richmond said they have experienced a lion rubbing against the tent as described by Karen. Maybe the boys just don’t smell good enough to eat? Luckily!! Tough old Kiwi buggers, what self respecting lion would want to bite into them??”

The Lion and the Tent question arose a couple of days ago when somebody in the USA wanted to know what stops animals like hyenas or lions from grabbing the guys while they sleep (in tents or not). Karen MacIntyre (Chris’ wife) kindly provided the answers to this and other questions by explaining that the guys make a fire at night and cook on it. They pitch small tents, sharing two to a tent.

The hyenas and lions see the tents as a solid object.  It is not uncommon for lions to rub up along the side of a tent at night, but that is usually only done if they smell food inside.  The guys will not have food inside the tents.

I wonder what a shaking, screaming “ant hill” would do for a lion…

Today’s maps: The close-up… the guys seem to be in Namibia temporarily.

Really, really close-up zoom and a bit blurred, but their campground appears to be in an elevated lush forested area with some well-defined trails nearby. Could this be a well-travelled elephant path?

The medium view… showing progress from yesterday. Tomorrow should be easier.

And the prize of Victoria Falls draws steadily closer….

Remember, although the guys like to joke around, they are seriously dedicating this trip to raising both awareness and funds for the Hermanus Waldorf School’s Field of Dreams for young under-privileged children.

Donations are growing and we are grateful for everybody’s generosity. Please make a donation, however small, to this cause.  Maybe choose the distance the guys travelled in one day and make that your donation amount for the day…

Direct deposits to: Hermanus Waldorf School.
First National Bank, Hermanus. Branch Code: 200412
Acc: Field of Dreams: 6212 253 8822

Go direct to their website www.hermanuswaldorf.co.za
Donations to the Field of Dreams can be made on the website through the Backabuddy button.

Thank you!

Satelite Report: “Did 49 km today. All very well. They were relaxing in a beautiful quiet African twilight, with a magnificent flood plain in front of them. A serene African night.

The only “disturbance” was the aroma from what Chris thinks is a dead elephant downstream, rather a stench….

They had a good day and except for a few hippo challenges, no problems at all. They are 1 – 2 days behind schedule but hope to make it up in the next 2 – 3 days. At present paddling easy but the next two days will tell as there is difficult terrain ahead.

Rich said Garth and Chris are constantly at each other competitively, teasing and chaffing, so he cannot guarantee that the Vic Falls attempt will not be made!!

They are all in good spirits today, Rich said and feel like a team right now.”

Great news! A Vic Falls attempt; how exciting… See below for pictures of people swimming at the edge in Devil’s Pool.

Here are the current maps… they have reached the southern shores of flooded Lake Liambezi. From here on there appears to be flood plains through to the Chobe River Border Crossing at Ngoma. (Taken from recent NASA imagery; the white line is the Namibia border and presumably follows the center of the river.)

Close-up of current location (looks bone dry because this is the Google Earth image dated Sept 2005)

They have several provisioning opportunities along the way. It looks like roughly 60 kms to Legotlhwana (following the yellow line).

And here’s the long view…

We have logged over 100 visitors to this new blog since Sunday, so friends and family are kindly forwarding the link to others which is great, thank you! The more visitors, the better chance of the School’s fund-raising efforts. I’ve added links from each post to Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites so that it’s easy for visitors to quickly share the stories with others (open a specific post, see links on top right).

Devil’s Pool, Victoria Falls

It’s a daredevil’s paradise! My stomach turns just looking at the pctures.

A bunch of YouTube videos here. Aaargh!

More pictures of the lunatics on the fringe of the ultimate infinity pool (Daily Mail, UK).

Lastly: Very sad story about an elephant that foundered and was washed downstream, plunging over the 130-meter-high (about 430 feet) Victoria Falls, Africa’s mightiest cataract.  He wouldn’t have had a chance of survival. It was during the flood season.

All is well but they are really TIRED!! 

Today’s Co-ordinates: S18 12.97’ E23 59.3’ 

Satellite phone report: “Covered 31km today which makes the total distance 320km. They are fine and getting used to all the wild animals but the croc scare yesterday left Richmond and John shaken. The croc was apparently huge and came bearing down on the kayak at such speed it threw up a bow wave. John saw the huge croc open its jaws and crunch the back of Richmond’s kayak. There was no defending oneself or getting away, fortunately the croc was just being territorial and warning them away – they did so as fast as their arms could paddle! 

Today was the most grueling day they have had yet, paddling and dragging the kayaks over huge swamplands that normally do not have water and have now transformed into “an elephant sewage farm.”! Methane gas and gurgling methane mud punctuate their progress and when there is enough water to actually paddle there are hippos popping up everywhere. The going was extremely slow and hard and the next three days will be the crux to test their endurance for this adventure. They now fully understand why nobody has tried to do this before. They are keeping up physically, reaching camp by 5pm daily, make camp, eat and then sleep. It is a very hard physical haul right now.” 

That croc attack was really terrifying (probably had eggs nearby)!! The guys might be getting used to the animals, but clearly the animals are not used to them.  The smaller the pond, the higher the anxiety on behalf the pond dwellers… 

  They are almost exactly half way — the big picture of the route to come…  

View from the start… 

Close-up of current location: the Linyanti was bone dry in September 2005 (when this Google Earth satellite imagery was recorded), and we’re almost in September 2010 but it seems even with the recent record flooding, the water doesn’t stay long. 

Just slightly to their south, somebody posted this picture of a big herd of buffalo – very large and dangerous beasts. Notice how dry it is. 

And to their south-west – this charming photo of lions drinking… Charming, but a deadly and efficient group of predators. Hopefully there is enough kitty food in the area to feed this bunch of cats. 

Looking at the Google Earth map again – it doesn’t look like they are going to get decent paddling water until they hit Lake Liambezi. 

I found recent imagery (May 8, so water should be higher now) that shows Lake Liambezi pretty much flooded, especially to the south. In 2005, this was a dustbowl. Estimating the scale on this map, they should reach the south end of Liambezi within about 50 or 60km of dragging kayaks quite often. After that, things should ease up considerably. Good news! As long as they can avoid any further close encounters of the toothy kind. 

We’ll just keep the guys in our prayers as they stomp through Jumbo poop and hope nobody gets sucked under.  It’s not unknown for baby elephants to get stuck in the mud and die of starvation while the herd watches helplessly.

The guys must have been totally covered in Jumpo poop by end of the day! Taking a dip in the nearest clear water risks another croc or hippo attack. 

It’s easy to get caught when dipping into the water… like this poor little baby elephant discovered…

Some Linyanti-Chobe area background…

The Chobe River has its origins in the highlands of Angola and once it enters Botswana, it goes through several name changes. It enters as the Kwando River and immediately becomes the Linyanti, then the Itenge and is finally called the Chobe River. Knowing this may avoid confusion when looking at maps or reading information.

The Chobe River area contains an interesting variety of habitats and is rich in plant life, with mopane woodland, mixed combretum, sandveld, floodplain, grasslands and riverine woodland. Many trees have suffered considerable damage from the high numbers of elephants, who push them over and rip off the bark – and some woods have been totally denuded.

Notwithstanding the elephants, Chobe has some of the finest game viewing in Africa. It is notable for huge herds of buffalo and zebras, lechwe, Chobe bushbuck and being the southernmost point where puku antelope can be seen. Where there are buffalo, lions are never far away and there is a good chance of seeing large prides who laze around in the shade all day and only yawn themselves awake at dusk. Hyena and leopard also hunt at night while cheetah are diurnal predators.Chobe is rich in bird life with the Pel’s Fishing Owl a favourite for bird watchers and the peculiar strangely beaked African skimmer another speciality. African fish eagles are common and their distinctive cry is as evocative of the African wilderness as the roar of the lion.

Sat phone report “All is well, 40km covered today with many, many hippo challenges. As if that was not enough, Richmond was in a very close encounter with a crocodile that either liked the look of his biceps or did not like the look of his kayak, so took a big bite out of it. The croc snapped at the kayak and put a hole in the back of it, so that will have to be repaired before the trip resumes tomorrow.

Richmond sounded very tired but happy that they were all safe and sound!”

Artist's Impression by Katie MacIntyre. "In real life, it was much worse than that!" says Richmond

It could have ended much worse than a hole in the kayak. We can be thankful that he wasn’t tipped out into the croc’s jaws or a nearby hippo. It’s a huge relief to hear that everybody is safe and sound after the croc encounter.

Despite being chased by hippos and crocs they made really good distance.

They have parked themselves for the night in an area heavily frequented by elephants.

And lions that enjoy baby elephant meat…

Remember, although many think they’re crazy, the guys are dedicating this trip to raising both awareness and funds for the Hermanus Waldorf School’s Field of Dreams for young under-privileged children from Zwelihle and Mount Pleasant. Please make a donation, however small, to this cause.  Maybe choose the distance the guys travelled in one day and make that your donation amount for the day…

Direct deposits to: Hermanus Waldorf School.
First National Bank, Hermanus. Branch Code: 200412
Acc: Field of Dreams: 6212 253 8822

Go direct to their website www.hermanuswaldorf.co.za
Donations to the Field of Dreams can be made on the website through the Backabuddy button.