At Kalizo on the banks of the mighty Zambezi river

Now there are no ”official” rules for having a braai.  The people of the Rainbow Nation each has his/her own preference on the when, how and what to braai.  Some of us like to have a basic fire place where you can sit as close as possible to the fire when it is cold – and do not mind smelling like smoke – and some of us like to do a classy braai in a build-in fireplace inside the house or on the stoep.  For most of my fellow citizens a braai is not about grilling the meat on a gas barbeque.

Lighting the fire in the Klein Karoo

First of all, the choice of firewood has to be sorted.  If you come from the Winelands you will probably prefer old grape vines, but if you are from the maize producing areas you may prefer to build your fire from maize cobs.  A popular wood, which is also freely available, is the alien Black Wattle and Rooikrantz or the option of charcoal.  It is all about taking time to sit around the fire and chat while you wait for the coals to get ready.  As a guest, it is very important to remember that the host is the one who starts the fire and will decide when it is ready for the meat to go on the fire!

Preparing a meal in Northern Kenya

The host will stipulate beforehand whether it is a “bring and braai” or not, but this is not always the case.  You will be notified if you will have to bring your own meat and/or salad, etc.  Remember that you are only allowed to braai your own meat if you are told so.   So, listen carefully!!

What do we like to braai?  Our creative nation loves our meat – anything from red meat, chicken, sausages, sosaties, fish or a braai pie.  We are always ready to try our hand at something new!  And with your choice of meat you will be served braai broodjies or garlic bread or pap en sous and a salad ….. or just meat!

Making a breakfast plan in Mozambique

A braai in South Africa is a social event, most public places have braais available.  In a campsite, you will have braai stands, but mostly each campsite will have an individual braai place.  Apart from braai we love to travel and if you do self catering accommodation the chances are excellent that you will have access to a braai space. And when on holiday, South Africans will braai.

Even in the Sudan we managed to find some wood in the desert

We even made a plan on Christmas eve in Sudan where wood is really a problem to find.  As you can see from the pictures you make do with what you have, as long as we can braai and enjoy some good company.

Do we only braai on National Braai Day?  No!  The Rainbow Nation will always look for an excuse to enjoy their favourite pastime any day of the week and regardless of the weather conditions.  The braai rules are actually very simple:  make your choice of meat and wood and braai regardless the weather!

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Let’s start off with some interesting and lesser known facts about the trunk of an elephant:

Feeling the vibe:  Aside from smell, the trunk is sensitive to vibrations; from the ground it can sense the rumble of faraway herds and even far-off thunder.

Mighty muscles:  An elephant’s trunk has eight major muscles on either side and 150,000 muscle bundles in all. It is so strong that it can easily push down trees or roll over a vehicle.

Move it:  Like the human tongue, the trunk is a muscular hydrostat – a boneless muscular structure that allows for its excellent maneuverability.

Phenomenal sense of smell:  So sensitive is an elephant’s trunk that it is more capable than a bloodhound’s nose and is said to be able to smell water, citrus and apples  from several miles away.

How to approach an elephant

• • Slow down as soon as you see and/or approach the elephants.

• • Assess the area for possible escape routes if necessary.

• • Make sure you do not have any citrus with you as they will trample a vehicle to get to it.

• • Take extra care if there are juveniles in the elephant group – keep your distance as the mothers can be extremely unpredictable with small ones around.

• • If you are in an open safari vehicle, do not stand up or make sudden movements on the vehicle or speak loudly.  Although their eyesight is not good an elephant might feel threatened and can cause an aggressive response.

• If an elephant shows threatening behaviour, slowly retreat and give it space.

Some of the most obvious threatening behavior displayed by elephants are

Spreading the ears:  The elephant faces an opponent head-on with ears fully spread (at 90 degrees from the body). They also spread their ears when they are excited, surprised or alarmed.

Mock charging:  The elephant rushes toward you while spreading its ears and just stops short of its target while kicking up dust.   This will also be accompanied with trumpeting.

Bundu bashing:  The elephant causes a commotion to demonstrate strength, tossing its head and tusks back and forth through bushes or other vegetation while making a noise.

Charging:  The elephant rushes toward you with its ears spread and its head raised or lowered while it has the apparent intention of following through. Its trunk may be tightly curved under so that the tusks can make contact first. A real charge is usually silent and extremely dangerous. I think it is time to get away as soon as possible!

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Did you know?  That an elephant’s skeleton makes up 16.5% of its total weight in order to support its heavy mass?

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Hope you enjoyed these facts.   Also read about the bee and elephant project in Kenya. You can follow them on Facebook @ Elephants and Bees Project.

Be responsible and travel safely in the wild!

Love will draw an elephant through a key-hole —– Samuel Richardson

The post ELEPHANT 101 appeared first on TRAVELBUCKET.

Fever trees

 My first introduction to Nairobi was, to say the least, very interesting.  The bumper to bumper traffic is nerve wrecking, but my Better Half was not intimidated at all by this as he is used to driving in Khartoum, where he worked, with even worse traffic.  Thumbs up to him!  You really have to have nerves of steel and adapt or die to cope with the aggressive African drive style, but our trustworthy Garmin GPS took us all the way to Upper Hill campsite in the middle of Nairobi without any glitches.

Driving into Nairobi

As I had a “fly in” visa for Sudan (which was pre-arranged before we left home) we set off to the Sudan embassy to change it to a “land” visa as this was one of the last opportunities before entering Sudan.  Arriving at the embassy we are enlightened that the embassy only deals with visas on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Today is Friday!!  Bummer.   This means I cannot drive all the way with hubby in the bakkie to Sudan.  Plan B needs to kick in now.  So we decide  to get to Addis Ababa and then we will have to make the final decision about the Sudan visa.

For the rest of the day we were on the road and arrived after dark at Mountain Rock Lodge just outside of Nanyuki .  That night at an altitude of 6 420 ft we have our last beer  (aptly named White Cap) in the Southern hemisphere in the foothills of Mount Kenya and  sleep like logs near the equator (S00.06.687, E37.02.464).   Tomorrow will be a big day as we will cross over into the Northern hemisphere.

Proof that we are on the equator in Kenya!

On 22.11.2007 at a height of 6 495 ft and 5 895 km from our home in George I can remove the tag from by travel bucket when we cross the equator.  We pass big commercial farms and get our first glimpse of Mount Kenya with its ice cap.

Mount Kenya

At Isiola we fill up everything with fuel and water before we set out on the infamous road to Marsabit.  Our trusty Hilux was taking a beating on  this stretch.  At the 12 km mark we had our first “incident” when we lost a spot light, at 44 km we lost our rear back shock due to the horrendous road conditions, at 116 km the gas bottle holder on the roofrack breaks and at 206 km the roofrack finally breaks.  We still have quite a bit of road ahead of us.    The “incident” list is getting longer and longer as the driver’s safety belt gets stuck in one position,  I loose the glass on my watch and we almost have no breaks on the Hilux.  After driving 7.5 hours to cover the 250 km we arrive tired in the dustbowl town of Marsabit.

On the road from Isiola to Marsabit

Just a few quick but necessary repairs before we go to bed in a howling wind.  Tomorrow will be another long hot day when crossing the Kaisut desert as we also need to be on the lookout for bandits before we reach Moyale on the Ethiopian border.

We buy fresh bread from the bakery run by a Swiss guy who has been living in Marsabit for the past 30 years  (I can think of a lot of other places I would rather stay!) before we take on another hot day in Africa.  The Kaisut Desert is waiting.

The brakes finally packs up

At the police post at Sololo we were told to take four policemen as escorts to Moyale as we are not traveling in a convey through bandit country.  After much negotiation, and just because there is no space, we are allowed to squeeze in only two guards. I end up on the backseat with a lot of stuff on my lap and hubby and the two guards, with AK47’s, sharing one seat in the front.  It is going to be a long hot and sweaty 130 km to Moyale!   After 8 hours and only covering 250 km we reached the dusty border town of Moyale – and did not see one bandit on the road!

Top speed!

Camping at the Kenya Wildlife Services grounds

After dropping off the guards we located a camping spot in the compound of Kenya Wildlife Services.  We just unpacked the necessary camping gear and then had to deal with a trickling cold shower and a toilet without water.  Tired as hell we went to bed early!

A first visit to Kenya was ticked off from the list!  After this I have made several transfers at Jomo Kenyatta in Nairobi enroute to other wild and wonderful places on the globe.  I will always remember my first Kenyan visit.

CURRENCY NOTE:  The Kenyan shilling is the local currency, but American Dollar is widely accepted especially in touristy places.  At Jomo Kenyatta Airport they accept Euro, Dollar and Kenyan Shilling (KSH/KES) as payment method.

“Time flies. It’s up to you to be the navigator.”
Robert Orben

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