Author: Aysha

Maps B

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I’ve lost Zimbabwe again. I found it at 8.30pm and now it’s lost at 11pm. Rustling through layers of maps, it’s under Botswana. All the maps laid out end-to-end do not fit in the house. I am looking for a route that is comfy underfoot and flatish. There are snippets of information about road surfaces on Trip advisor and in Traversa, which I am now rereading as a guide for runners, highlighting words like ’gravel’.

According to the Lonely Planet guide there is a tempting ‘unexplored’ area in Eastern Botswana. It is more direct but few roads, which leaves us, potentially, a little stuck.

Mozambique High Commission Part 1

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“So you will be running? Just running?” The friendly person who answers enquiries at the Mozambican High Commission is clearly confused.

“Er, yes.”

“Hold on.”

He comes back in a bit and invites me along to the Mozambique High Commission after 4pm. After they are shut. I hope they are not pranking me. I am ridiculously excited about going to the Mozambican High Commission for a chat.

Maps A

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Maps, I’m deep in maps (literally, they take up all the space and have to go on top of each other), and I’m worrying about political unrest, bad roads, dangerous animals and mines. Should we go north through the Caprivi strip or cut south beneath the Okavango delta? South means cutting across the top of the Kalahari Desert, through the middle of Zimbabwe and into Mozambique, onto the road which carries a warning from the Foreign Office. Alternatively, we could go through the Caprivi Strip. Hopefully, the bandits have disbanded and the lions will be well fed or very sleepy. But what happens when we reach northern Mozambique? How good are the little roads through the mountains? Is there still a risk of mines?

The route options are pinging back and forth. I call the Mozambique High Commission and email the Namibian Embassy and the Foreign Office.

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ETA: African Summer

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The weather, during an African summer, is not what I want for Emma’s run. I want it to be dry and mild, a bit like a good English summer/ autumn. Warm enough to camp in, cool enough to run in and dry enough to banish mosquitoes. Given that its Africa, I’m willing to accept dry and hot in the middle of the day. But summer is also the rainy season. Mozambique will be, according to the Lonely Planet, “soggy and sticky“. And hot. Several people have now warned me that it will be hot. Very hot.

Randomly, I’m also thinking, if we do get publicity, that its not fair on Mozambique to be shown to any potential visitors in its most unwelcoming months. A bit like posting photos on face book of a beautiful friend, when she has a hangover.

We shift the departure 3 months earlier.

The current plan is to go from late August until November: Emma will have to run fast to avoid Africa’s summer.

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Head over Heels

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We have a new name! Head over Heels.

Its all about joy, bounding excitement, the practical importance of keeping a clear head and the potential for falling a… over t…

Stalled

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We had provisionally planned to go from November 2014 til February ish. But having searched on the internet, received advice and read several guides, it seems that November until February will be hot, wet, filled with mosquitoes, and some roads will be impassable. A few of the game parks are shut. And I am wondering if the lush flora, from the rains, means that we won’t spot lions, elephants, snakes, cheetahs, leopards, rhinos and buffaloes until we fall over them. On the plus side, it’s a good time for bird spotting.

I am ruminating on our options.

Advice, particularly to do with lions

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Jenny at Sense Africa, is clearly confused by my cluelessness. I have called her for advice but I know so little I don’t know what I don’t know. She generously gives me some in country contacts. She warns against heatstroke, land mines in Mozambique and areas of civil unrest and tells me, in response to my anxiety about lions: “If you see a lion, man-eating or not, if you’re running he’s going to chase you. Best to walk slowly backwards.” I stop planning to do the trip with a bicycle and plan, instead, on a hefty car with an experienced safari guide.

My mother offers some great advice on lions: carry dustbin lids and bash them together. I like this advice a lot, its simple, cheap and nobody gets hurt. I imagine standing in a truck, looking out for lions and at random moments crashing the lids together and scaring the life out of Emma. Not that Emma’s easily scared and its probably not a game I want to get into with her. I’m wary of spiders, heights, cows and generally most things that have a risk of death or pain. She’s not.

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The map shop: Stanfords

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Stanfords is overly hot. Maps and books for Africa are in the basement. It could be the heat in the basement, but the information on the maps is making no sense at all. I collar a reluctant salesman who tells me that all the maps have a scale 1: x amount. The lower the second number, the more detailed the map. Landranger maps for the UK are 1:50 000 and Explorer Maps, used for trekking in the wilds of the UK, 1:25 000. The best I can find for Namibia is 1: 1 500 000! Easy to misjudge distances and the steepness of a mountain! On the plus side, I suppose, it does mean I get the whole of Namibia on one map, which makes for easier and cheaper planning.

Some maps have fences marked on them. I know. Are fences that permanent a structure in Namibia? Is the map that accurate? A friendlier salesman comes by. The fences are buffalo fences (and a controversial topic). He also explains that none of the maps are reliably accurate! Not reliably accurate!! I’m asking Emma to run a marathon a day but the occasional marathon might be a wrong turn!

The salesman advises that the “world mapping project” series are pretty good. Pretty good. I also buy a book on organising charity sponsored events. The nice salesman gives me a discount as I have BMC membership.

Nelles Map: Namibia £7.95

World Mapping Project: Botswana £9.50

World Mapping Project: Zambia £9.50

World Mapping Project: Mozambique/Malawi £9.50

The Ultimate Charity Challenge Handbook £0.50

Total £33.25 with discount

June, July, August

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June: the business of making money took over and all I could do was slip in a phone call to a marketing friend of a friend, who advised me, if I want to gain sponsorship I have to see it as a business deal. I like that idea, everyone wins.

July: Inspired by Emma I went on a 10K run/walk, which is great. But, the next day, I thought I was going to die. My teeth were chattering, I couldn’t get warm, my head felt like it was imploding, and I was rocking to and fro on the floor. After a couple of texts to friends I was advised, “no, this isn’t normal after a run” … and … “its probably sunstroke, get some electrolytes down you”. Which I think is a valuable lesson before taking a friend to run marathons in very hot and sunny countries.

August: A friend agrees I can work in his garage to learn how to fix a car. Current mechanical knowledge – I can check the oil, fill up the radiator water and windscreen wash, and put air in the tyres (though for some reason I have a slight phobia about doing this).

I also discover wordpress – its beautiful and they didn’t even offer me a discount to say this. Bought the book, £14, and a map of Namibia, £6.

May

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I read the chapter in “Traversa” about man-eating lions and start to have concerns about Emma’s run. Last time, she did it with her brother on a bicycle. I’m thinking: Lion vs two women and a bicycle. Ooh, lets guess who’s going to win! I hadn’t planned until this point to go with Emma. But now, I realise, I feel responsible for asking her to do it again. I’m going to have to go. I think seriously about what I will do if her life is in danger: I’m not relishing the thought of stepping between a lion and Emma, fab in the movies, not so fab in real life.