Galapagos

Unlike in this humorous Vonnegut novel, I was not planning to attend the luxury cruise of the century. Where my story relates is in the disastrous results of a few things out of the realm of control that I little would happen. This is the story of my travels to South Africa.

I originally had everything planned out perfectly: I would take a bus overland to Maputo, taking me two days, and arriving in the morning. This would give me a free day in Maputo, and then I could spend some time with my friends Gustavo and Ellen in the city. Then I could scurry on over to South Africa to visit my friend Kaggie. If only I knew how Mozambique had different plans for me. The bus company only traveled on Fridays and Saturdays. I was planning to leave on a Tuesday. So I scrambled, got myself to Quelimane, where I could catch a bus driect to Maputo on the desired day. I had myself a ticket, which said the bus left at 3am. So I arrived at the bus station at 2:30am, only to find my bus had already left… Of course, why else would there be a departure time if not to break it?

So I set about fixing this issue, and resolved to leave on the next bus, which was on Thursday morning at the same time. I made sure I was there well before they could possibly leave. So made my bus, and all seemed right with the world. I slept a little on the bus, and sunrise came to fruition. Disaster struck at 9:30am. The bus broke down. Rather than even bothering to fix it, they called to have a different bus come pick us up… which was leaving from Quelimane… which was six hours away. So we waited on the side of the road for it. Darkness fell, and still no replacement had arrived. Finally, after ten hours of waiting, we were on the move in a different bus. But I was not at my destination yet. Since we were delayed ten hours, logically it would make sense that we arrive ten hours late. But logic has no place in Mozambique. A bus ride initially scheduled to take 20 hours ended in Maputo after 44 grueling hours on the road.

But I survived to tell the tale, I arrived safely in South Africa (albeit a day late), and great fun was had by all once traveling was in the past. I've spent a day in Karongwe private game reserve, where Kaggie works, and had two simply stunning drives. We're off to Kruger next, but here's a sample of potential pictures to come.

male Kudu

White Rhino calf

More are posting to flickr. Click either photo to see more.