November 2, 1997

Subject: October Newsletter
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 97 08:44:48 UTC
From: MPilert@yahoo.com


Happy Halloween good friends!

I have just returned from Tanzania. I found a nice orange pumpkin up there, and I've just carved my first African Jack o'lantern!

My trip up to Tanzania was a week's stay for a World Vision delegation, attending a cashew production conference. World Vision is working on cashew growing programs in the Nampula area of Mozambique. Mtwara, Tanzania has a very successful cashew program, started with British International aid. Production per hectare is very good due to hybrid trees. It was quite interesting seeing the grafting process.

Mtwara is just 22 miles north of the Revuma river, the border between Mozambique an Tanzania. The only way to cross this border on the surface is by dugout canoe. This town has a real frontier atmosphere. It is the deepest port in East Africa, but is not so busy due to the remoteness of the area. Years ago it was a big center for slave trade. The place has a lot of Arab influence. Now, cashew production is the major industry.

Kendall, my other King Air pilot came with me on the trip. Since we had so much time waiting on the delegation, we arranged a Land Rover to take us down the coast to Msimbati, a beautiful beach on a peninsula near the border. There is a Marine research project there, run by Frontiers, a British organization. Last Christmas, I had visited their other station located on Querimba Island, a remote little place near Pemba, Mozambique.

The crew at Frontiers were great hosts. They invited us to spend the night, and arranged snorkel, and scuba gear for us. Kendall got to make his first scuba dive. The diving was superb. They have their own compressor there to fill the tanks. The water was crystal clear with some fantastic coral reef! There are many varieties of hard,and soft corals, and the fish, beautiful!

The house that Frontiers used for a headquarters is made from cut coral blocks, built by an eccentric Englishman in 1942. It is quite an interesting old building. We ate lots of fresh fish. We spent a memorable two days there.

It was hard to leave that place, and return to Maputo. It is so much cooler down south here in Maputo. Maputo is safe most of the time, but one does have to be careful. Carjackings are common. The U. S. Green Berets were visiting the Marines here in Maputo recently. they were right in front of the guard post and had their 4 wheel drive truck hijacked by thieves with AK-47s. How embarrassing!

I had vacation earlier this month. Joanna came to visit, and just as were were to leave to go to Botswana, they had a big hailstorm in Quelimane. Several aircraft were damaged at the airport, including one of our Cessna 206's.

The wing damage was not too bad. It was patched up, and Joanna and I flew the King Air up to Quelimane, spent the night, and the next morning ferried the plane to Nelspruit, South Africa for airframe repairs. We stopped in Buffalo Range, Zimbabwe for fuel. It was a beautiful flight over the Zambezi River, the Chimanimani Mountains bordering Mozambique and Zimbabwe. We left the Cessna in Nelspruit, and were off to Botswana.

We flew on Air Botswana to Maun, a little town on the edge of the Kalahari desert. Maun is a good jumping off point for going to the Okavango Delta, which is where we were bound. The Okavango is the worlds largest inland delta (5,792 sq. mi.) It is a maze of channels and islands all fed by the Okavango River flowing out of Angola. The Delta is home to quite a variety of wildlife.

We spent a day in Maun checking out trips into the delta. We booked a trip into the heart of the delta. We flew by Cessna to a small strip at Gunn's Camp, spent the night at the base camp, and the next morning loaded up our mokoro (dugout canoe) with tent, camping gear and food for a 4 day bushcamping trip. I must say that this is by far the best African trip I've had.

Our guide poled the mokoro through the swamp past herds of zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, kudu, impala, buffalo and elephant to name a few. The birds were especially enjoyable, incredible waterfowl!

The bushcamping on Chief's Island was just gorgeous. One morning we had an elephant just hanging out for hours at our camp. One night we had a hyena in our camp. One day we took the canoe into a hippo pool, and got frighteningly close to a bunch of hippos.

Every day we took long game walks, which I especially loved. Most game reserves in Africa won't let you walk at all. We usually walked at dawn while it was still cool. The Okavango is a really hot place, but the air is dry as a bone. One morning we walked almost right up to a small heard of buffalo. We had to back off. They can be very dangerous!

Every day, in the heat of the day, we would stop the mokoro at some deep and wide place in the river, and have a swim. The water is incredibly clear and clean. We did have to be careful of crocodiles! We did not carry any drinking water. We just filled our water bottles from the swamp! The water here is constantly filtered through miles and miles of grass, and papyrus.

After a week in the Delta, we flew to Johannesburg, and spent a day shopping.

Next we returned to Nelspruit, and picked up a car, and headed up to Kruger Nat'l park. I've been to Kruger before, and it is an excellent game park. Especially suited to self guided safaris, if you have your own car. food and Lodging are reasonable. We got so close to the lions, I could have reached out and touched one.

After a few days in Kruger we were off to Swaziland. we spent one night on the way down in the Drakensburg mountains. It reminded me of Colorado.

We spent our first night in Swaziland in the old mining town of Piggs Peak. The next morning we went to Mlilwane wildlife sanctuary to spend a couple of days. This little park is very relaxing. We were able to rent mountain bikes, and go on a bicycle game safari, what a treat! Biking down the single track trails viewing the animals. We rode up to a really huge crocodile at the edge of a lake.

Our last stop was the Mkhaya Game Reserve, where we were able to get some fantastic views of rhinos. The mothers with babies were the best.

It was a really good trip, I was really in need of a vacation.

Aloha 'till next month,

Mike