Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Our next guest is the peregrinating Marie Javins.

Marie Javins is a travel writer, comic book colorist, and comic book editor
whose latest book is "Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik: One Woman's Solo
Misadventures Across Africa." It's a travel narrative about her trip
overland from Cape Town to Cairo in 2001, interspersed with bits of her life
in Uganda in 2005. The Cape-to-Cairo section was part of a larger trip
around-the-world by surface transport, undertaken as a nearly live year-long
web project for http://www.mariesworldtour.com.  At the moment, Marie lives
in Cairo, where she is editing comic books for a Kuwait-based comic book
company, but in comics, she is best known for over a decade's worth of
editing and coloring for Marvel Comics. Her blog about living in Cairo,
Kuwait, and other places is at http://mariejavins.blogspot.com.

Joining Marie is Frako Loden.  Frako Loden teaches film in Ethnic Studies
and Women's Studies at California
State University East Bay and co-hosts the WELL's Travel conference. In the
1990s while living in Tokyo, she blew her down payment for a Bay Area home
by traveling around Asia and the Pacific Rim. On her way home to California,
she took the long way via Asia, Africa and Europe. While planning her next
and long-overdue overseas trip, she lives vicariously through the travel
writings of other people. Her sole sojourn through Africa, like Marie's,
also happened to be from Capetown to Cairo--only pretty different.


Welcome, Marie and Frako!
  

    
Thanks, David. I realize I'm supposed to be talking about my book,
"Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik," but now I'd like to know about Frako's
trip across Africa too.
  

    
Marie, so nice to meet you! Six hours ago I finished reading _Stalking the
Wild Dik-Dik_ and your arrival in Sudan "after four months in Africa and
seven months in Asia, Australia, and Europe" is still fresh in my mind--I
may have even dreamt about it mixed in with details of a movie I'd seen. So
we might as well start at the end and gradually work our way back through
your journeys. My first question would be, How do you prepare for such long
sojourns, especially knowing that you'll be looking for the cheapest means
of (overland) transport and lodging?

Well, I guess we're at the beginning after all . . .
  

    
The hardest part is getting out of the house. Selling/renting the
home, getting all the financial details to take care of themselves,
packing, making sense of travel insurance, getting things into storage.
I always tell prospective long-term travelers that if they can get out
of the house and on the road without having a nervous breakdown, the
trip itself is a breeze.

Planning the trip is fun but takes a lot of time and attention. I did
it in halves, that is, I planned Jan-May (US, Australia, Indonesia, SE
Asia, China, Trans-Sib, Baltics) from New York, then spent June in an
apartment in Berlin planning Africa. I bought a huge map, a few Lonely
Planet guides, and—with a highlighter—worked my way up from Cape Town.
There's an art to finding the balance between too much planning and not
enough planning, and you want to have all the right visas on the right
days and you don't want to end up in a dead end somewhere ("it looked
like such a short distance but I didn't realize that border was
closed"), but you also need to build in time for the unexpected. 

The first decision was "How do I get from Cape Town to Victoria Falls?
By the eastern route or the western route?" So I read everything I
could about both and decided I liked the sound of Namibia (western).
And once I decided on Namibia, it was off to the internet cafe to find
a trip I could afford (you need to go on a group excursion or rent a
car to get into the national parks). Then how to get from Cape Town to
Namibia? Off to the internet cafe again to read up on buses and trains.
Then how to get from Namibia to Vic Falls? That's a new study day.

I plan it a leg at a time, reading everything I can and then see how
it pieces together with the next leg. 
  

    
OK, so you do use Lonely Planet as one of your guides. Don't you sometimes
find it too restrictive as a Backpacker Bible? You must supplement it with
other guides that aren't in the pack of seemingly every backpacker in the
world--just so that you don't end up in the same lodgings as everybody else.

And which travel sites on the Internet do you go to the most (besides
specific sites for excursions and tours)? Here on the WELL, for example, Joe
<static> often refers us to conversations on BootsnAll Travel
(<http://www.bootsnall.com/>). Do you read travelers' reviews?

My Africa experience of 1998 will provide a good contrast to yours. It was
pretty much planned out for me and Joe, my husband (<jloree>), from Berkeley
while we were living in Tokyo. The organization was Next Adventures.
Although we didn't stay in luxury lodges, accommodations were very
comfortable. In May we landed in Capetown where we spent some days. Then fly
to Windhoek, Namibia, where we rented a car and drove out to Sossusvlei
(sand dunes) and Swakopmund. Back to Windhoek, we flew to Victoria Falls,
where we met up with our group for the 10-day "participatory safari." Off we
went to Chobe National Park, Moremi, Okavango Delta. Then to Johannesburg,
then to Cairo.

A hugely different experience from yours, which you planned by yourself step
by step, tried to keep your costs down, and went by yourself. THAT's the
more interesting experience, and we want to hear about that!
  

    
Oh no, the tried-and-true LP guide route isn't a problem in Africa at
all. Well, maybe in South Africa, but S.A. has so many other options
for travelers that few things are ever that crowded. There simply
aren't that many backpackers roaming Africa alone. Most people who go
to Africa go on either a luxury trip, a short budget safari, or an
"overland truck" (where they camp).

The problem with guidebooks is that you just can't go carrying all the
ones you need. Too heavy! I always have one guidebook, one
reading/fiction book, and that is it. As I go, I shed and replace with
whatever I can find locally. I have an <A
HREF="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6947/1372/1600/guidebooks.0.jpg";>entire
library at home</A> though.

Hmm, what sites do I go to? Most review sites and personal stories are
actually not that useful for this region, and certainly were not in
2001. I used to look at the LP Thorntree, but I think they used to
archive a good deal more. I read a detailed account there of how to go
overland from Ethiopia to Sudan, but it vanished later. Local sites are
by far the most helpful. I found a backpacker's site from Kampala that
described how to take the bus to see the mountain gorillas. And search
engines turned up things like the coaches of South Africa. The
Intercape Mainliner is the way to go there.

One site that I don't think existed when I took the first Africa trip,
but that I refer to frequently now is <A
HREF="http://www.seat61.com";>The Man in Seat 61,</A> which is all about
train travel. I just used this last week to figure out how to get from
Cairo to Luxor in the most sensible manner. And I used it in 2005 when
I went from near Lesotho to Johannesburg on an overnight train (even
had a shower!), then to work out the details on an overnight train in
Botswana as well. 
  

    
Man, that Man in Seat 61 site is amazingly detailed. I see he is a British
railwayman. And I like the photo of your bookshelf. I don't see many Moon
guides--I really like that series.

Marie, how would you encourage a woman to travel alone through Africa?
  

    
Woman, man... it's not so different. The big dangers to tourists in
southern and eastern Africa are auto accidents and malaria. And in the
biggest cities (Nairobi, Vic Falls, Jo'burg)--muggings or pickpockets.
These don't discriminate on the basis of gender. Plenty of African
women travel alone on buses or by walking, so solo women travelers are
perfectly normal throughout these regions. 

People who are especially worried about crime might prefer the seeming
safety of an organized trip. I have not been mugged or pickpocketed or
lost anything in my times in Africa, nor have I had malaria. But these
are fairly random things that you can only control to a point. Don't
carry a bag in a city. Don't wear a watch or jewelry that might tempt a
thief. Take taxis at night. Spend a bit more and stay somewhere
decent. And don't get bitten by mosquitos. Get medical help immediately
if you seem to have the flu. That could be malaria.

One place where gender matters is on the train. Men and women are
segregated into sleeper cars by gender. In Botswana, I shared a
compartment with one Botswanan woman, who was on her way to a
conference for her job. We chatted a bit, found out that we had many
things in common. That was nice. On the TAZARA train, I had three
roommates from either Zambia or Tanzania, and there I got to watch them
go through complex morning routines involving various beauty products.
This is where one woman explained to me that the naked breasts are not
such a big deal in Zambia, but the crotch area is very private. I told
her this was also private in my country. She looked skeptical. I
reckon she's seen a lot of movies that indicated otherwise.
  

    
I just started the book today at lunch and am now hooked. 

Now I know what I am doing tonight....
  

    
Watching an African woman at her morning toilet would be priceless. This is
something only a fellow female traveler could have access to.

So Maria, if I shouldn't carry a bag in the city, where do I put all my
stuff when I'm moving around? Women don't have enough pockets!

And what kind of antimalarial medication, if any, have you used in Africa? I
believe I took mefloquine.
  

    
Heh, thanks, Joe! 

Franko, for women carrying all their stuff in a city, of course if
they are going to the bus station, they need their bags and need to
have them in a taxi. But if walking in a city famous for bag-snatchings
or crime, both women and men just have to not carry stuff. Leave it in
the hotel. I take my (cheap) phone in one pocket and my money in the
other. The thing that is unfortunate is that this leaves no room for a
camera, so if you are going somewhere that you'll want to photograph,
take a bag. And a taxi.

The good news is this it really only for the few cities I mentioned
earlier. You only have to think about it in big cities with high crime
rates: Nairobi and Jo'burg. To a lesser extent, it goes for Vic Falls
and Windhoek. In other places (Cape Town, Kampala, Cairo), you can
carry all the bags you want.
 
I don't take anti-malaria meds anymore, because it just got to be too
ridiculous when I was in Uganda, Namibia, and South Africa in 2005 (six
months). Side effects are tolerable on a short-term basis, not the
best idea for your health for long-term.

Nowadays I carry a malaria self-test kit instead, and the pills to
take if I get it. I do NOT recommend this, but the thing is that
mosquitos don't like me and I almost never get a bite. Plus I avoid
going out at twilight and sleep under a mozzy net. 

But some people get eaten alive by mosquitos so obviously they should
go with doctor's advice. But here's a tip: Doctors in specialist
clinics in, for example, Kampala, know a lot more about local strains
of malaria than your general practitioner at home, and anti-malaria
meds are cheaper in Kampala anyway. But be skeptical. The "newest
wonder-drug" might be great, but is also might just be tomorrow's
"proven to produce lunatic rage" drug. 
  

    
That would seem to be a drawback.

Do you think that the bag-snatching and whatnot is worse in those
cities than in, say, Rome, or Hong Kong, or other traditional centers
of snatch-and-grab theft?  

As a photographer, since I'm *always* carrying a bag, I'm wondering if
the techniques I've used successfully in places like that (bag over
neck, never fuss with bag without being backed up against a wall, etc.)
would be successful in Nairobi, etc.
  

    
Oh yeah, crime is way worse in Nairobi or Jo'burg than in Rome or Hong
Kong. For sure. Take photos in Dar Es Salaam, Cairo, Kampala, Cape
Town, Lusaka. But not in Nairobi. Or take a tiny point-and-shoot for
this. 

That said, I *do* think that Nairobi is less dangerous than people
believe. I have walked around there plenty of times--yes, even with the
no-no bag over my neck--and only had scams tried on me, not violent
crime. But I've met lots of people who tell me violent crime is not
uncommon, that they've lost money or been hit. It might best be
compared to Manhattan in the late 70s, when people say they would take
$20 along as "mugger-insurance." 

I can't speak for Johannesburg though, because I am too freaked out by
the stories to hang around there. My only Jo'burg experience was
arriving by train, being escorted to the minibus park by a bus line
employee (after being warned against going out alone by a policeman),
then leaving town in the minibus. I have to say that it didn't look so
dangerous. The most hassle I got was all the people warning me
non-stop. But you have to take local information seriously.
  

    
Hello, Marie!  I'm enjoying the book, trying to imagine myself having 
a solo adventure like that.   I think I missed the magic window before
or after college, and it probably won't happen.  But I do hope to get
to Africa in one way or another.  

One of many things I'm really struck by in your book is the repeated
theme that people are fenced in in the wildlife parks, because the
wildlife is wild and dangerous.  So you have to be in a vehicle, or in
some places, on horseback.  I've always preferred to enjoy a new place
on foot as much as possible, walking to get the feel of a city, or
hiking to experience the outdoors up close and personal.  I'd like to
see an elephant up close as much as the next person, but I'm also very
interested in smaller flora and fauna that would be completely
invisible from a vehicle.  How do you get up close and personal with
the wild landscape safely?
  

    
Before Marie answers with more experience, I would say that on my sole
African safari, we got around Chobe (Moremi/Savuti) and Okavango with the
traditional open Land Rover-style bus, and it was a great relief to have
such a big vehicle to hide in when we got so close to elephants and lions.
Lions respect big vehicles--the humans inside them don't look like prey
until they start fidgeting and looking separable from the vehicle. We got in
one hairy situation where we were in the direct path of a dozen elephants
highly annoyed by some lions that had startled them, and the elephants
charged our vehicle before stopping short in a huge cloud of dust.

One afternoon our bus got a flat, and we ended up having to walk back to
camp. THIS was what we were all secretly hoping for--having to walk for
miles without the sanctuary of the truck. Well, some of us. I was delighted,
because it meant now we had direct contact with the earth, and I got some
good unjiggly photos and video footage of things like plants. It was all
very exciting when dusk came, our flashlights died, and we ended up walking
in single file with our nervous guides back to camp. We saw owls and other
nocturnal animals but not the leopard that the guides were scaring us back
in line with. It was memorable.
  

    
Debunix, you can go on a walking safari.
<http://www.zambezi.co.uk/safari/activity/walking.html> I'm sure one of
these is perfect for you. It isn't the same as what Frako is
describing because on a walking safari (as opposed to an unexpected
flat), you are actually prepared to encounter animals (flare guns in
case an elephant gets angry, for example).

As for missing the window, of course you didn't! I was 34 (not
college-age) when I did this trip the first time, and the last time I
went Cape Town to Kampala by land, I was 39. I'm 40 and still going
strong here in Egypt. And because everythng is relative, it seems in
the book that I was really cutting the budget tightly. But I wasn't. I
never go for the cheapest accommodation. I don't need luxury, but I
need water, a working door with a good lock, and no bedbugs. So while I
don't usually stay at the Hilton, I let the college kids stick to the
$6 a night hostels and I head for the $13 a night private room, or the
$25 a night 2-star place. 

I've met 70-year-olds in hostels in Namibia and my roommate on an
overland truck expedition from Kathmandu to Damascus in 1998 was a
62-year-old  woman. All this is to say, you can pay a bit more, have
relative comfort, and not have to face drunken 20-year-olds partying at
bedtime. And still travel alone around the world on a reasonable
amount of money.

(Um, for Frako, yikes, that WAS dangerous... that leopard would have
had an easy snack that night, and when elephants charge, they charge
anywhere they want to.)
  

    
Yeah, I thought those elephants were going to roll our truck into the Chobe
River! It was the single most thrilling experience of my life--first
watching the lions move their heads in and out of the giraffe carcass, then
seeing the elephants approach them without knowing how many cats were
sitting in the shade of that tree. The fuss those elephants kicked up--the
trumpeting, the ear-flaring, the stamping and dust-raising--shot my
adrenaline level way up past the 6.9-earthquake level. And we couldn't stop
talking about that incident for DAYS afterwards. In fact, it happened on Day
1 of the safari and nothing ever measured up to that.

By the way, now I remember that on the final day, Day 10, of our safari we
went on a half-day walking trip. It was lovely.

Marie, you say you need water--hot water at all times? I'm wondering what a
$13 or $25-a-night room in Africa would get me in terms of water.

And one thing that's been bugging me since I started your book: All the male
street hassling. That's the main reason I've never gone traveling solo as a
woman. Joe's good for many things as a travel companion, but one great thing
is that he dissuades most unwanted male attention. Doesn't that just rankle
you, happening all the time?
  

    
Oh, the street hassle isn't specific to being female! It just gives it
a unique spin. But men get it too. It's part of being a tourist and
being out and really on the ground, instead of sheltered. I liked being
on the overland truck (and then off the truck) in Ethiopia, because
every time I got sick of the hassle, the truck was there to give me
shelter in the tourist bubble. And occasionally—very occasionally—if
you are feeling in a good enough humor, the hassle can turn into
humorous banter.

A little street hassle comic book story:
<http://www.comiculture.com/webcomics/maries_wt/jambo/>

Here, where I am now in Cairo, THAT'S where being female is a problem!
Endless street hassle, and not the kind that is designed to get you to
buy a wooden elephant.

I do like having hot water. But when I lived in the jungle in Uganda,
it was only hot in mid-afternoon when the sun warmed the pipes. So I'm
used to cold showers if I have to take them. $13 to $25 is generally a
hot water hotel room in East and Southern Africa, though there are
exceptions where these sort of luxuries just aren't known. A $13-25
room usually includes a bed, ceiling fan, private bathroom, and maybe a
TV and/or phone. Usually includes breakfast. These rooms are almost
always wearing out and have seen better days, but are safe and clean.
Hostels and backpackers are cheaper, $6-12 for a bed in a dorm. I
sometimes take single rooms in hostels, and then have to use the shared
bathrooms. There are some great advantages to hostels--social scene,
use of a kitchen, barbecues, and sometimes swimming pools. But to get a
private room in a hostel, you almost always must book ahead.
  

    
What's it like being in a place where you're the minority race?
  

    
(assuming you are. You look black and white from here)
  

    
Thanks for the tip on walking safaris--that sounds just like what I'd
be looking for.  I'm glad to know that there is an alternative to being
in a truck, and am not sure my horsemanship skills are up to racing
away from a charging elephant!

And I'm very interested in the answer to Sharon's question, too.  I've
only traveled abroad before once, to Italy, where I felt reasonably
inconspicuous, not only among other tourists, but walking along the
streets.  As soon as I opened my mouth, of course, I would naturally be
recognizable as American, but not otherwise.  But obviously I would
not blend in in Africa.  At the same time, I'd like to minimize the
distance between myself and the locals, without being patronizing or
inappropriately familiar. 
  

    
Well, Sharon, in Ethiopia there are rural areas where the mere sight
of a foreigner (of any race) sends children into screaming frenzies,
because they are so excited by the novelty of someone who looks so
different from them. The thrill of this wore off quickly as being the
head of a parade limits one's movements.

And in South Africa, race is undeniably an issue. There is a great
sense of pride in what has so far been achieved. But there is a long
way to go before parity is achieved and I get confused sometimes, torn
between being amazed at what has been achieved and appalled at what has
not (these things take time). The majority of South Africans have
faith in the power of reconciliation.

From Namibia to Uganda, being "different" surely helped me, as I was
clearly not from around-these-parts (though there are plenty of white
Kenyans, South Africans, Namibians, Zimbabweans, and now many have
relocated to Zambia, but these people do not wander around looking
confused and wearing a giant backpack). Sure, there are touts and sales
people, but there are also hundreds of people who can spot a lost
person from a block away, and rush over to help. And in Sudan, being a
traveler meant I was treated hospitably, as it is the culture.  People
generally went out of their way to assist me because I looked foreign.

This wears off when you live somewhere. I don't mean suddenly I wasn't
white in Uganda. But as you assimilate into a culture, you just get on
the bus like everyone else, and it's almost like people can tell you
live there. They just get on the bus too, instead of checking to make
sure you're not on the wrong bus, or that you've fastened your
seatbelt.
  

    
I like the comic book version, Marie! Maybe down the line we can talk about
your career as a comic book colorist/editor, especially since you're making
your Africa experience part of it.

I noticed a huge difference in black-white relationships among Namibia,
South Africa and especially Zimbabwe--the contrasts were appalling--so
naturally that meant a big difference in the way I, a foreigner who doesn't
look exactly black or white, was perceived from country to country. It was
one of the starkest lessons I brought home from Africa.
  

    
just to ask about the title of the book --- how did you arrive
at that? long story, but i have had a lamp since i was
14 yrs old made from three hooves of what i was told
was a kirk's dik-dik --- so i intrigued that someone, you know,
might actually have seen one on the run...fwiw, the stuffed
kirk's dik-dik i saw at the harvard natural history museum
last fall looked too -small- to have provided the feet
for my lamp, but what do i know...
  

    
Well, actually, if you read the book, you'll note that Marie sorta
cheated: it was *Marie* that got stalked *by* the dik-dik. Still, if
you're looking for a great title...
  

    
sorry, dont have the book at hand, so I Confess To Knowing Nothing.
except that 'the kirk's dik-dik is an excellent small mount fir
[make that 'for'] a game room ' according to a document i have
imprinted with the name 'knowland ward - nairobi - london'