Tour Report on Africa Solar Safari

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Now, I'd never met Jay Anderson before this trip, so I had no idea that he was inclined to impulsive impishness. Unbeknown to me, he'd brought along some envelopes to create first-day covers to commemorate the eclipse. Although these are supposed to be canceled on eclipse day, our harried schedule was unlikely to allow that. "No problem!" Jay declared, as we pulled up to a village post office within the eclipse path. We caused quite a commotion — especially when Jay hopped inside the simple structure to assist the stunned attendant. The canceling stamp had dried out — it hadn't been used since November — but Jay (who once worked in a post office) had it going in no time. And he discretely changed the date to read "4 December 2003," even though it was only the 3rd.
		Photo by David Miller

We'd worried constantly about clouds, and on eclipse morning our worst fears were realized. A thick deck of overcast had blown in from the southeast, off the Indian Ocean, and even before daybreak we knew we were in trouble. We piled into the bus before dawn and dashed off onto the dirt roads that crisscross the country's sparsely populated northeastern corner. Early on it became obvious that the eclipsed Sun would be hopelessly smothered as seen from our lovely little village, so we decided to push on and make a run for clear skies. Unfortunately, our geographic location had us pinned between Mozambique to the east and Zimbabwe to the north. To the west lay the town of Musina, where we knew the roads would be clogged with hordes of eclipse-chasers driving up from the south.

		A tantalizing clearing developed farther north, and we directed Neal, our bus driver, to make a dash for it. We turned onto a dirt road that zigged and zagged along the Limpopo River (and the border with Zimbabwe). It was our last, best hope. We could see blue sky ahead, but we ran out of time! With the Moon's shadow rushing toward us, only seconds away, we tumbled out of the bus alongside the road and "experienced" the eclipse: sudden darkness and an eerie glow all around the horizon. All too soon, it was over. Then, just a couple minutes later, the clouds broke enough to reveal the Sun's thin crescent, with all but a sliver of its disk covered by the now-receding Moon. Consolation Prizes
Photo by Ricky Callwood

We weren't the only ones clouded out, of course, but it was still disappointing to have come so far without glimpsing the Sun's pearly corona. So, after returning to Shiluvari and Luonde, we drowned our sorrows in an assortment of beverages. But we still had several exciting days of safari to look forward to, and the next morning we headed off to Kruger National Park. Covering more than 20,000 square kilometers (7,700 square miles), Kruger is South Africa's premier wildlife sanctuary.


	Photo by Shane Vartti

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