Summer Starting to End on the Farm

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It has been good spending time on the farm. I really had forgotten how quiet and dark it is here. It can actually be a bit unnerving. The leaf doodle bug was put to work in the forest. However, it looks like the car will be going back on the road. We can say it failed field trials,but that would only be partially true. The better utility value at this point is more suited to getting a teenager back and forth from high school. The mycological aspects of the farm did not disappoint. The pics of these shrooms are not photoshopped. The coal stove (very heavy) is loaded on the truck. It will be rebuilt in Georgia if I can save it. Coal stoves are increasingly out of production. When they are gone they are gone. The small wood stove is now in its place. The pic of the red sky in morning was indeed a warning of weather. We had strong storms and tornados in Upstate NY. Although I was travelling much that day in the area, I missed the worst of it.
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Southern Africa!

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I was successful getting to all 8 countries I planned.

South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, Eswatini (Swaziland), Lesotho, and Namibia.

The trip was 14 days with 13 flight segments. The shortest flight was 15 minutes in an ultralight and the longest flight 16+ hours. I rented a 4x4 in Lesotho and another in Namibia.

Among many other things in my travels, I walked across the Victoria Falls bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe and took an ultralight aircraft ride over the same bridge and falls.

Namib Desert from the air. Look for my 4x4.

Skeleton Coast

Heart of Namid desert near uranium mine


Maputo, Mozambique-- City Hall and Samora Machel statue

Maseru, Lesotho-- I was delayed at the airport leaving Lethoto by about three hours. I had to find a nother hotel in Namibia since I wasn't going to drive after dark. The delay was caused by the Airport being shut down because of an expired battery in the airport fire truck. We had to wait to get a new battery. After the battery was installed, the fire truck drove around the airport and you could feel the sighs of relief of the airport reopening. There are only three flights to/from Masuru a day. All from Jo'burg. No concessions to speak of and no soap or toilet paper in the restroom.

Maseru, Lesotho-- View from the best hotel in the city during the golden hour. Great scenery in Lesotho.

Zambia-- checkpoint around National Park

Zambia

Eswatini

Eswatini

Eswatini

South Africa

Namibia-- Namib Desert

Namibia-- Namib Desert

Zambia

Zambia

Zambia

Zambia









































Comments

David Schinsing said…
I think some of those places are the "shithole" countries, right?
10:56 AM
Don Bridges said…
No "shithole" countries, just "shithole" people.

Welcome back - glad you made it home safely.
7:50 PM
Don Bridges said…
No "shithole" countries, just "shithole" people.

Glad you had a great adventure and made it back safely.

Let me know when we can trade stories (Finland and Estonia were amazing).
7:52 PM
Charles said…
I had some great take-aways after meeting with different folks across the eight countries. Generally, these eight countries are declining in most of the of indices associated with a good civilization. (See CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX, for example). I had several people indicate to me that racism is not an issue. It certainly was. Now it has much less to do with race and much more to do with class and caste issues. With all the languages spoken, 11 official languages in South Africa. Language can be better tied with a social class or caste than race. Fascinating stuff. I realize that "caste" is generally reserved for use with hindis, but the concepts are observed in sub-Saharan Africa with multigenerational occupations.
6:35 AM
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