The joy, frustration, excitement, exhaustion, thrills, scenery and divine appointments all contribute to an unforgettable experience. Here follows a brief overview of our Africa traveling experiences thus far.
You can have the luxury of flying by plane or the comfort of a well-known bus service and have a punctual, trouble free journey, but where is the fun and adventure in that? Rather take a trip through Africa using taxi’s and public transport.
Or hike a few kilometers and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
During the our time of traveling to Zambia and back, I’ve spent approximately 5km hiking, 62 hours in busses, 3 hours in taxi’s, 12 hours on trucks and 4 hours in other forms of private transport. This kind of traveling calls for one to be very flexible.
When it comes to making use of African local bus services, there is a few things to get use to. For one, the time of departure normally will only be when every seat is filled (even those created in the aisles). During our first experience of this, we sat in the bus for only 3 hours 50 minutes after the said to be departure time, while the bus had been idling the whole time! The driver even got behind the wheel a few times, just to get our hopes high. At least this gave the opportunity for local business men to try and sell their products. Every 30 minutes someone will get on the bus and try to sell anything from airtime to sweets to the eager awaiting passengers. By this time, we’ve become accustomed to the music policy all busses seem to have - listening to the local radio station or music DVD played 24 hours on full volume (yes even through the night when most passengers try to get some sleep). At least hearing the word “uJesu” normally indicated that it was gospel music playing.
Hitchhiking also brought about more fun and adventure. If you ever try it, you might also end up on a construction truck on your way to a border post, or get drenched while getting a lift on the back of a “bakkie”. On the other hand, we got drenched just walking with our backpacks between the border posts while crossing the Zambezi! Getting a ride on an open truck for 8 hours from the Botswana border to Francistown was one of the hitchhiking experiences that stood out. We appreciated the legroom, fresh air and silence after 2 days of bus transport. What made it even more exciting, was the beautiful scenery and wild life encounters. Altogether we saw 39 elephants, a giraffe, zebras, impalas, the sunset and hundreds of stars - AWESOME!!!
The most memorable taxi experience we’ve had was from the Zimbabwe border to Victoria Falls.& nbsp; Our small team (5 of us and a driver) in a average car with the boot left open, the luggage secured with some rope and the 20 liter can of fuel balancing between the rear window and boot cover. Everything went well until we drove into some heavy rain. The driver quickly stopped in order to close the windows. After a few minutes, one window was securely in place with the help of a screwdriver and the other one had to be kept up by hand until the rain stopped. After a few kilometers, another rain shower called for the process to be repeated.
During all the different modes of transport, we’ve met some interesting people and had good conversations. And everywhere we& rsquo;ve been going, God has been providing in all we need. However, this is just the beginning of numerous other traveling experiences to come. The time for trains, planes and fairies have come, especially as we head to the East. Please pray with us during these times of traveling, especially for safe journeys and divine appointments with those we meet along the way. Pray too that God may open the doors for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ wherever we go.
Written by Marisa Fourie
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