Africa | Seattle | Vancouver | Morro Bay | Lake Tahoe
Some of my Exploits: Africa
In November 1992, I set out on a journey that would take me halfway around the world
and expose me to cultures I had only read about. My first trip on a commercial airline
lasted almost 24 hours and covered nearly 12,000 miles. Ever try to find your way around
JFK International in New York? What an adventure.
We landed in Johannesburg, South Africa, in the middle of a thunderstorm after running low
on fuel and landing in the middle of nowhere in Windhoek, Namibia. The airport there looked
barely big enough for a Cessna, much less a fully loaded 747.......Pilot used ALL the runway to
get us out of there.
Next, we were off to Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. Learned first hand how things work in
Africa when we tried to leave there for Kariba, our jumping off point for the bush. Zimbabwes'
president decided he needed our plane to go somewhere so we were stuck in the airport all day
waiting for a flight; after a while wondering if we shouldn't rent a bus and set off into the
wilderness. The only consolation was that I got to see the Concorde stop in on an around the
world tour; finally Air Botswanna sent a plane over and we finally got out of there, getting into
Kariba barely in time to transfer to a bush plane for the trip to Bumi Hills on Lake Kariba. We got
there just in time to have a couple of drinks while watching the sun set over the African plain.
A village we visited near Bumi Hills. I was
surprised how clean it was and how much English the people knew; we did visit a school nearby
where most of the children must have learned it.
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We spent a couple of nights on houseboats out on Lake Kariba, which is one of the largest
man-made lakes in Africa. I relearned how to paddle a canoe, something I hadn't done since Boy
Scouts. Kept a wary eye on the crocodiles and hippos that hung around the shore near our boats;
guess they were used to people or were well fed; we never had a problem. We went on a
"walkabout " with one of the park rangers, as Bumi Hills is located within Matsudonna Nat'l Park,
and looked for the elusive and rare White Rhino, which has been hunted to near extinction for its'
horn. Found some tracks but never saw one; the ranger told us there were only five left in the
whole park and that the rangers had been hunting them down, tranquilizing them and cutting their
horn off with a chainsaw in an attempt to save them from the poachers that have decimated their
population.
To be continued........
Fishing the Point - North of the Strand;
Usually the best place to catch Surf Perch near Morro Bay
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Montana De Oro State Park
Located about 10 miles south of Morro Bay, this park is one of the largest state parks in California, covering some 8000
acres. Originally part of the Spanish Land Grant, it was purchased by the Spooner family in the late 1800's and operated
as a farm and ranch until purchased by the State of California, along with a large parcel to the north in the Hazard Canyon
area, for the formation of a state park in the 1960's. The old Spooner Ranch House now serves as the Ranger Station for
area as well as housing a nature and historical information center for the park. There is also a small primitive campground
in the canyon behind the ranch house along with many miles of nature trails for hiking and horseback riding.
View of Morro Bay from Montana De Oro State Park (104K)
Our camp at Montana De Oro (43K)
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Wayne cleaning our fish (36K)
One of the many types of Perch we catch at Morro Bay (51K)
Me mugging for the camera (34K)
All photographs shot with an Olympus D500L Digital Camera
and displayed at 72 ppi in JPEG Quicktime format
E-mail: good_earth@yahoo.com
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Last Update 04/02/22 01:14:26 PM
After the flood; February 1998 We almost floated out of the campground at the Strand at Morro Bay after a heavy overnight storm
