African Travel with children is a challenge! Micah was generally well behaved and even was complimented by Simphiwe about what a nice young man he was, but his behavior was slightly off at every new transition and as a result was either fresh mouthed or very foolish. I fear he was not the American ambassador that I hoped he would be.
He was not always as attentive during the lulls of game drives. The guides who are passionate about the animals were a little put off by his inability to spend hours scanning the Bush for animals with little gratification. Most guides were very tolerant with Micah, but not all.
As I knew it would be, food was an issue. First we ate much later every night than we do at home. Secondly, food is different when away from home. Micah is a big eater so although he ate something every meal he didn't really fill up. He mostly ate bread and butter. He did surprise me by loving bobotie a sweet Malay curry with rice. He says he hates rice at home. Because we was never full, I did buy him a lot of snacks, an ice cream bar everyday, candy bars and soda thus reinforcing our Namibian guide's view that Americans just ate junk food. After several snide comments I had to explain we don't eat like this at home and that were on vacation.
The biggest issue for me was the guides sharing their view of other people they saw as less desirable. I have a very specific world view that I am trying to instill in Micah and that was challenged several times while on safari. Several times I had to speak to Micah privately about not listening to the guides view of people. That the world is filled with many people from different cultures who have many customs that are not wrong but just different.
Showers and airplane electronics seemed to cause the most problems. Yes, at Kruger I found myself in the men's bathroom trying to manage a screaming child who couldn't manage flip flop shower shoes, the faucet and slightly wet clothes. And in Etosha apologizing to overlanders in the women's showers for the screaming as a result of a lukewarm shower. He got spoiled by British Airways entertainment system and got upset when things didn't work on South African Airway's planes. However, he was very quiet on the many long drives and managed waits in long lines very well too. Several times I had to warn him that if he wanted to go on MY FUTURE international trips he needed to be a good traveler, and if not there were two cousins at home who would be happy to travel.
Because we spent so much time driving, Micah's Energy level was very high when not in the car which is an issue on safari, because even though we stayed in camps you still had to watch out for wild animals: venomous snakes, wart hogs, hyenas, baboons, and honey badgers. As a result he couldn't run and play his energy out like at home. Additionally, he really needed a playmate other than me. He created this lion attack hug that was a bit much for a 44 year old mother . Although there were kids in almost every campsite, he struggled to make connections b/c they all had siblings to play with and b/c of the language barrier although what he didn't realize was they all spoke English too.
He had a lot of mishaps. Many skinned knees and a thumb slammed in a door. I was glad I had band-aids and Neosporin on hand. I had to throw one pair of pants away after one evening of two torn and scraped & bloody knees. Getting dirty was another issue . Micah didn't seem to understand that we had limited clothes and shoes, and couldn't do laundry at the drop if a hat. Additionally, Micah who never vomits, vomited three times on our trip. After the third time I got smart and started carrying around a bag, which I needed when our plane landed in Boston. I don't know if it was anxiety or motion sickness, but it wasn't fun.
The one thing I did right was bring a second camera option. We had a camera and the camera on the iPod touch. This was invaluable. Micah wanted to take pictures of animals, he was then able to watch videos and view pictures later on which kept him busy, and when he got bored in the truck he would take pictures if funny faces
Over all it was a great trip!!
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