An African Wireless Safari

23 October - 3 November 2004

(Click on the pictures to enlarge to 800x600)

Challenge 1:

How do you take a bunch of Office workers, especially IT specialists and users, out of their (safe) office environment and take them really far away from society, into the wild wilderness on an overland safari and let them keep working as if they were still in their offices?

Answer 1:

You take the latest high tech technology available, with a group of Office workers, load everything and everybody into a group of vehicles (after some serious planning) and set of to two of the world heritage sites north from South Africa for a 13 day safari. The result - a technological proof of concept that anybody can just dream about.

Challenge 2:

Technology and nature – (almost) always a contentious issue, especially with technology tending to leave permanent scars on the environment if not well controlled. So how do you minimize the effect of technology on the environment when doing such a proof of concept?

Answer 2:

Read the story and look at the pictures.

AIM:

The aim of this trip was how to best to illustrate the maturity and freedom of today’s technology where there are no wires tying one down to a physical office location anymore. This was to be achieved by using the following technologies:

 

But first, how does one come up with a crazy idea like this?

It all started a few months before the trip (Joubert de Lange and Hannes Steyn) during a real business lunch meeting with the thoughts "How can one combine our business ( both IT related) with pleasure (visiting remote parts of Africa) and get paid and sponsored for doing so? And so the idea of a case study started to develop to demonstrate the REAL use of technology - AND the bush will NEVER be the same again and, making the excuse "I'm unreachable from this date to that date" redundant.

Months of planning then kicked into gear. Motivations were written, costing proposals were done and potential role players were identified and negotiated with. Eventually all approvals were granted, role players involved, money allocated and itinerary and logistics worked out and attendances were confirmed.

Intel® South Africa's (main sponsor of the trip) marketing machine then kicked into gear. A massive press release and luncheon was held on the 22nd of October where all the objectives were laid out for the IT press.

The group consisted of the following people and vehicles:

MEDIA LAUNCH - 22 October 2004:

During the media launch - Vehicle exhibition, Satellite communication demonstration and the group of culprits. From left to right, front to back:

Front: Riaan de Lange and Joubert de Lange
Back: Hannes (One Arm Bandit) Steyn, Louis Fourie, Werner du Plessis and Louw Steyn.

The photo was taken by our camera man Greg Nelson. Not present were the two ladies due to work commitments. Everybody's role were as follow:

Joubert - Trip sponsor and planner
Riaan - Trip planner and conservationist
Hannes - Trip planner and satellite communications
Louw - Conservationist
Louis - Proof of concept (the guys that HAD to work)
Werner - Proof of concept (the guys that HAD to work)
Greg - Professional camaraman
Drienie and Michelle - Logistics
More of the vehicle exhibition during the media launch.
Joubert took some photo's and e-mailed it back to the office via the satellite connection during the communication demonstration.

 

Day 1 - 23 October 2004:  Pretoria - Khama Rhino Sanctuary

It was a 05h00 departure for four vehicles from the Farm Inn east of Pretoria, heading for the Groblers Brug border post with Khama Rhino Sanctuary in Botswana the destination for the day.

Riaan had an Echo Offroad trailer in tow, Hannes his (now officially trail rated after Lesotho) Campmaster Wilderness Offroad trailer and Louw had the Transtel 2.1m Satellite Dish trailer in tow. Up to the border post everything went very smooth but there the first fun started. Joubert, after preaching the previous evening that he is going to do paper inspection before we leave, forgot his vehicle papers at home and the officials wanted to see the papers before he could pass through. What to do now?

We then came to the decision to phone somebody to fetch his papers and to meet him halfway while we go through and continue towards the Rhino Sanctuary. The friendly border post officials then came to our rescue and informed Joubert that a faxed copy would be good enough. This faxed copy eventually took us through Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Botswana again and back into South Africa.

With this little problem sorted we were on our way and reached Khama Rhino Sanctuary later in the afternoon where the moment of truth arrived when it was time to set up and connect the satellite dish. If this failed, the whole trip would have been a disaster. But a disaster was not to be. After the generator (those small and very silent 1Kw Honda "clean power" 4stroke models) was fired up, everything was powered up. Five minutes later the signal was locked on an after a quick call with the satellite phone to Transtel’s offices, error free communication was obtained and we all could connect to our office environments to read our e-mails, approve leave requests and purchases, write a quick daily trip report and do the rest of the boring office stuff.

The camp site at Khama and two Echo tents on top of Riaan's 110.
Riaan helping to set up the satellite dish. This was a daily task and everybody helped with this.
Werner and Louis hard at work - Yes, "REAL" office work like reading mail, approve leave, purchases etc. and all of it using wireless communication (the bush will NEVER be the same again....).
The two most important people on the trip - Drienie and Michelle. While the men played around with their toys, they were in turn looking after their well being.
Hannes catching up on some mail and office issues as well.

 

Day 2 - 24 October 2004: Khama Rhino Sanctuary - Maun

An early morning rise again and time to break up camp and move on. It was also time for Greg to start earning his money and we were off to one of the water holes. For us IT/nature lovers, the setup and connection of the satellite dish looked as if it would pose the most problems but the camera work would over the next few days become the greatest challenge and Greg would very quickly earn the nickname “Lord Nelson”, directing his “troops” with a “just one more shot, just one more”, but he never said "I promise...".

With this portion of the camera work done, we set off towards Maun. A few kilometers beyond Orapa we decided it is time to stop for brunch and we picked a nice group of big trees for this. Our choices of spots for brunches would also prove to become quite interesting over the next few days.

We’ve barely embarked from the vehicles when a prowler became quite noisy. That’s when Hannes spotted a possible location of the nest. A closer inspection delivered the right results for a nest in close proximity. She immediately started a “damage wing” routine but when we got closer to the nest, the familiar dive attacks started. A few seconds later the nest was discovered – just a few pieces of grass and stones and three highly camouflaged eggs. We took a few quick photos of the nest and quickly left the nest for the female to return to the eggs, not to keep them warm but to keep them cool as well as the temperature by this time were soaring past the 40° mark.

After we’ve finished brunch and while we were busy packing up, we suddenly observed a very peculiar behavior from the two birds. We initially thought it was another predator and we again went to do an inspection. We then got a very nice but unexpected surprise – the eggs started hatching.

The camouflaged prowler nest with three eggs just after Hannes discovered it
Between discovery and the time we left the eggs started to hatch.

This development caused “Lord” Nelson to jump for his camera as he didn’t want to miss this opportunity. He almost made us stay for the duration of the hatching, but we eventually convinced him that it will still take quite a few hours for the eggs to hatch.

We were soon on our way and stopped at Rakops to refuel, at a fuel station where the meaning fuel “pump” took on quite a new meaning. The old manual pump delivered between 300 and 500ml of fuel per stroke and we each needed about 60 liters to get to Maun. All of us took our turns working the pumps and an hour later we were back on the road.

The rest of the road to Maun was uneventful and we spend the night at Maun Rest Camp, quite a nice alternative to Audi Camp when they don’t have accommodation available. Due to the high density of the tree canopy at our campsites, satellite communication wasn’t possible for the night so all of us had quite a relaxing evening around the camp fire.

Joubert and Greg sharing a moment
The petrol pump at Rakops
The diesel pump at Rakops

 

Day 3 - 25 October 2004: Maun - Tsodillo Hills

It was again an early morning rise again as we had to travel to Tsodilo Hills on this day, where we were to achieve the first of our goals – Modern Wireless Communication from a World Heritage Site renowned for it own “wireless” communication methods dating from up to thousands of years ago.

After a quick stop at Riley’s Garage to refuel, we started the long and uneventful journey around the delta. We’ve stopped for a quick breakfast between Sehithwa and Tsao and refueled again at Etsha 6 before we took the "main" road to Tsodilo Hills.

Reaching Tsodilo Hills we opted to camp on the eastern side of the hills as the satellite was at a 38° angle and the hills would interfere with the satellite communication from the western side.

Driving through the thick sand around the hills, a popping sound was heard from the Pajero’s engine bay. A quick inspection revealed nothing but a few minutes later, labouring through the thick sand with tires still at road pressures, the engine temperature started to rise. We opted to stop and let the motor cool down a bit while we deflated the tires. With the tires deflated the engine stayed within normal temperature ranges and a few minutes later we reached our camp site. Later the afternoon when the engine cooled down enough to safely remove the radiator cap, we discovered the origin of the pop sound – the radiator cap rubber blew out from beneath its fitting, resulting in heavy water loss in labouring conditions. This was to become a challenge over the next few days as no spare radiator caps were packed by anybody.

Setting up the satellite dish went very quick again and communication was achieved within 5 minutes. Those that weren’t busy preparing food were quick to get their notebooks operational to connect to their offices to read and send mail (with photos attached) and complete other important work. At this time everybody were brought to their feet by a very loud scream, and a second later another scream followed. Every body rushed around to where the screams came from, and there we found Drienie, foot in hand, crying that she got stung by a scorpion. A search for the culprit followed and he was quickly apprehended for a closer inspection. Luckily it wasn’t a poisonous specimen but it was big, with it’s body the size of a box of matches and Drienie will only have to walk around with a very sore big toe for a day or two. We’ve released her newly met friend the next day between the cliffs at the rock paintings and used it in some of the photographs with the paintings as backdrop.

The "main" road to Tsodillo Hills
The sandy roads around Tsodillo Hills
More of the sandy roads that caused the Pajero to pop a radiator cap.
An Office to kill for.......!!! Louis performing his daily tasks from on top of one of the hills.
Aren’t these guys suppose to be relaxing in the bush? Remote locations will never have the same meaning again!
Drienie's newly met friend - luckily not one of the poisonous ones.

Sunrise over Tsodillo

 

Day 4 - 26 October 2004: Tsodillo Hills - Dtrotsky's Cabins

This was to be a short day travel wise but a very long day filming wise. Before sunrise a few of the guys were up and hiked cameras in hand up one of the “children” hills behind the camp site to film the sunrise and the camp site from high ground.

After they’ve returned from their bit of mountaineering, we packed up and departed to the cave for filming and breakfast. After the previous evening’s chirps (cause: radiator cap) from the Land Rover brigade (three against one), this morning was a turn around for the chirps – the 130 required a jump start as its main battery ran flat overnight (due to a reversed main - second battery connection) and the easiest vehicle to assist was the Pajero. We set of towards the cave at a very slow pace to admire all the sights. Without having to climb the hills, hundreds of paintings can be seen by just walking and driving around the hills.

After setup and breakfast at the cave (and a quick refill of the Pajero’s radiator), some of the more energetic ones set off into the hills for some photographic work, and to “make a bit of history”. Hundreds and thousands of years ago the San people communicated with each other on this site, also wireless, via their paintings. The only draw back of this method was that the receiver of the message had to come to the same spot to read the message. This time around our wireless communication was instantaneous to any place around the world.

Louis "making history" - Wireless communication thousands of years ago next to wireless communication today.

After a lot of climbing and filming, we set off to Drotsky's Cabins for the night. We quickly setup camp and the satellite communication. A few then decided to go for a sunset cruise on the river and to get some sunset video material. The find of this cruise was the colony of bee catchers and this would lead to a decision to return the next morning for more close-up video material.

The bee catchers in the banks of the Okavango river.
A close-up of a bee catcher with a bee in the mouth
Sunset over the Okavango river

 

Day 5 - 27 October 2004: Dtrotsky's Cabins - Livingstone

We were again up early and went for an early morning cruise on the river to take more photo's and video material of the birds.

After returning from the trip we packed and departed for Livingstone (after again refilling the Pajero's radiator). This became quite a boring day as we had to travel on the main Caprivi road with the satellite dish trailer and saw only two items/things worth mentioning. The first was the sign stating "Caprivi Game Reserve - Drive with caution! - Wild animals crossing for next 190km". We only saw people, and a snake - again where we stopped for brunch and only discovered it when we were busy cleaning up as it was hiding underneath a rubbish bin.

The little puff adder we've discovered at our brunch site.

The rest of the day was uneventful, oh, we did manage to get a very cheap replacement radiator cap (some cheap Taiwanese special that lasted the rest of the trip) for the Pajero in Katima Mulilo. Border crossings were a breeze and we've arrived at Maramba Lodge in Livingstone early enough for a nice sunset cocktail at the pool after we've finished setting up camp and communication.

 

Day 6 - 28 October 2004: Livingstone

This day we would spend the whole day in Livingstone, dedicating it towards our second world heritage site, and a moment and a photo (like they say - the "money shot") that caused a stir in the rest of the world's IT community.

First we were off to Thorntree River Lodge, Home of the Elephants. This location proved to generate some of the best photo's of the trip (and the most demanding video wise with many a "just one more time"). The photographs will tell the rest of the story.

"Lord" Nelson in action. Even a simple task, like lighting a skottelbraai had to be filmed and it had to be done at least three times before he was satisfied - tough job to be an actor.
A moment Hannes will cherish for the rest of his life. This guy's name is Danny and he is approximately 30 years old. It is unbelievable how humble one feels with such a giant looking over your shoulder. This is also one of the photo's of the trip and created a lot ooh's and aah's with the viewers.
Hannes's notebook - connected to the office in Centurion - with Danny's trunk mark on it.
"Help, he want's to bite me....!" Riaan on top of his Defender - feeding Danny
"More snacks please!"
Danny's impressive size
More of Danny's impressive size
Breakfast Raiders. While the men were busy with Danny, the rest of the herd  raided our breakfast table. Needless to say, we had to redo our French Toast. Greg thought this a perfect time to do some video work and the ladies were helpless in defending our breakfast.
Michelle dishing out some more bread as treats.
The "money shot". What an office!! Joubert on Danny's back, connected to Intel's® offices in Jo'burg and the States. This photo caused such a stir, Hannes had to give Intel® written permission to use this photo in marketing material.

With the official part of the day completed, we had to do something that's not work related and decided to see the falls the lazy man's way - a flip over the falls with a helicopter. This also proved to be an interesting episode as the pilot wanted to through "Lord" Nelson from his aircraft after one too many "just one more time" requests.

A rather empty Victoria Falls
Still enough water to create "the smoke that thunders".
Hannes and 3nie after their helicopter trip.

After the helicopter trip we went for a few sunset photo's over the Zambezi and then back to camp for well deserved sundowners and a swim in the pool.

Sunset over the Zambezi. These guys were practising for an upcoming regatta

 

Day 7 - 29 October 2004: Livingstone - Savuti

Today we had to start the road back to civilisation (not that we left it with all this high tech equipment in tow) but we will not do it via the quickest road. Today our destination will be Savuti. We crossed the border back into Botswana via the Kazangula Ferry border post and after a quick refuel at Kasane, we set off to to Savuti. As the satellite trailer behaved well in sandy conditions, we planned to travel to Savuti using the river road through Chobe. Unfortunately this was not possible as the road was closed due to an anthrax outbreak amongst the Buffalo in the region.

The satellite trailer next to the Echo trailer loaded onto the ferry. Note the size of this trailer compared to the Echo.

As we now had time in hand, we toned down the pace after leaving Chobe's tar road and spend a lot of time stopping at interesting sites. One major observation by everyone in the group was the ratio of Elephants compared to any other animal, about 10 to 1. Botswana surely has a problem with too many elephants and this is substantiated by the amount of damage to the bush. After a lengthy stop at one of the Savuti waterholes, we eventually arrived at the Savuti campsite just before sunset.

One of the bigger bulls around the waterhole that day. Another interesting observation - now cows amongst the 50 odd elephants around the waterhole
"Lord" Nelson earning his money. Greg was every time in his element when it came to filming wild animals
Sunset over Savuti and time to set up camp.

 

Day 8 - 30 October 2004: Savuti - Xakanaxa

Greg again wanted to return to the waterhole before sunrise for "a few more shots" so it became another early morning. The results photography wise were quite good and after sunrise we've returned to the campsite to pack up for our journey to Xakanaxa, with a pair of Hornbills entertaining us while we were packing up.

Sunrise over Savuti
Sunrise over two Elephants
Again our cameraman Greg hard at work.
Hornbills DO NOT like Defenders. This one almost destroyed the 130's wiper blade. Chasing it away didn't help. He just returned to continue his onslaught on the wiper blade.
They do however like Pajero's......
.....and spent a long time looking at themselves in the mirror.
The wiper blade destroyer - very satisfied with his job.

From Savuti we took the road along the Khwai River to Moremi's North Gate. Animal sighting along the river were the best we had, even much better than within the Moremi itself. We had quite a nice discussion with Dempsey Muller from Mankwe Bush lodge the next evening about this fact and he had some quite interesting views about this, but that is a discussion for another day and campfire...

Upon reaching North Gate we discovered the 130 with our cameraman was not part of the group anymore. By this time we were used to a stop for another "just one more shot" as they were part of the group just 2 kilometers from the gate and Joubert knows the road well, so we continued to prepare brunch.

After finishing brunch and no sign of them yet we jumped on the radio and managed after a while to reach them. Where were they? About 20 kilometers beyond the gate. Why didn't they turn around when they missed the gate? Every new turn produced some exciting that "Lord" Nelson first want to film before turning around. The rest of the group decided to finish brunch and head for Xakanaxa and the "lost" boys eventually turned around right opposite Xakanaxa on the other side of the river. This "getting lost" exercise also created it's own peace of drama. Greg was sitting on the Defender's nose busy filming and Joubert hit a water crossing too fast, resulting in a expensive drowned video camera. Was this the end of the video material?

This night also had it's fair share of fun as our campsite was invaded by a hippo, one that was still bleeding from fresh wounds, the results from a fight with another male.

Nice sand driving opportunities in Savuti
Kudu crossing the road along the River Khwai
More Kudu drinking water
This river is a  bird watchers paradise.
Vultures quenching a thirst.
An interesting sighting next to the river...
Another interesting sighting, an Eagle drinking water

Warthogs in abundance
One very wet very expensive video camera. At least for one day there won't be any "just one more time" requests.

 

Day 9 - 31 October 2004: Xakanaxa - Mankwe Bush Lodge

Unfortunately Michelle had to leave us on this day due to work commitments and Joubert departed very early for Maun airport. He would rejoin us later in the morning at Mankwe.

The Moremi portion was a bit of a disappointment. We didn't had time to do the route via Third Bridge and had to travel via the main Xakanaxa - South Gate road. We saw absolutely nothing on this road. Outside the Moremi on the road to Mankwe animal sightings picked up again.

Upon reaching Mankwe we quickly set up camp and communication and went to the Lodge for a few refreshments. Quite a few brandy's and beers later and after a nice chat with Dempsey, we returned to camp for the night as a few of us still had some work to do and others had to be up again before dawn for a walk in the bush with Dempsey.

This evening however turned up another surprise as a Roman spider decided our campsite is ideal hunting grounds.

A rather dirty looking satellite dish after 9 days in the bush, but the worst is yet to come.
These Wasps were all over these seeds at the Lodge
Sunset over Mankwe Lodge

A Roman spider hunting and feasting, right in the middle of our camp, between everybody's feet.
Louis still hard at work late at night.

 

Day 10 - 1 November 2004: Mankwe Bush Lodge - Nxai Pans

After an early start for some of us, we set out for Nxai Pans and Baine's Baobabs. We made a quick stop in Maun for refuelling and a cup of coffee. Upon reaching Baine's Baobabs "Lord" Nelson kicked into gear again - lots of mirages over the pan therefore lots of video opportunities.

On the pans at Baine's Baobabs
Defenders in the haze.


"Group" photo's in front of the Baobabs. The leaves just started to appear therefore the dull looking appearance of the baobabs.

After all the "just one more time", we set off to the entrance gate and  Nxai Pan's South Camp. Upon entering we discovered we were the only visitors in the park. Our camp site also had a few surprises as Elephants invaded our camp going after the water in our water tanks as there were no water at the campsites. The elephants digs out the water pipes and destroy them as an easy way to get to water. It took some doing getting them out of the camp.

After setting up camp we went to the water hole for some sight seeing. There we met up with a few park rangers who gave us permission to stay at the hole till seven the evening as the Lions were getting ready for a hunt. Unfortunately they decided to go and hunt where we couldn't follow and we returned to camp.

Posing for the camera just outside Nxai Pan's entrance gate.
When we returned to our vehicles after signing in, this elephant decided to join the (must be good) company.
One of the Elephants that raided our campsite going after our water.
Lioness on her way to a hunt.

 

Day 11 - 2 November 2004: Nxai Pans - LeKhubu Island

This day turned out to be the most dusty of them all, leaving behind a thick layer of dust in the satellite dish trailer. Apart from the mega dust kicked up by the vehicles on the road to Kubu, nothing much happened.

This was also the last evening that we had to set up camp and communication as tomorrow we would return home, however, this was one last chance for some good photo and video material.

The Shepherds tree at the edge of Khubu Island.
Almost sunset over Khubu Island
Khubu's big tree right at sunset. This effect only lasted a few seconds and this is the only shot I got of it.

 

Day 12 - 3 November 2004: LeKhubu Island - Home

This was again a pre-dawn morning as Khubu renders on a clear day some of the best sunrise photo opportunities.

After sunrise, it was time to head for home and we reached Pretoria at about 17h00 in the afternoon.

All in all, this proofed to be a very successful case study. With the right equipment, you CAN move your office to Khubu Island and stay in touch with the "real" (?) world in real time.

Some articles that appeared in some of the local IT related magazines:

                BUSINESS DAY COMPANY NEWS 28-10-04 p30 .pdf

                COMPUTING SA 06-12-04 p22 .pdf


 A perfect sunrise over Khubu Island
Yes, a "broken heart" moment. The end of the bottle and the end of the trip. Just time for one last photograph and the road home.
One last photo on Sowa Pan

THE END...... for now!!