Southern Africa includes several nations, each with a distinct heritage, but sharing many common attributes.  Some of their shared attributes are real challenges:  poverty, inequality, food insecurity, and the spread of HIV/AIDS.  Southern Africa also has some of the continent’s great safari destinations; it has prolific wildlife, breathtaking landscapes and remnants of ancient cultures.   We came with Overseas Adventure Travel and a bunch of nature-loving friends for a 25-day visit to Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. 

Pictured here:  Bev Marcum, LaDene Larsen, Bob McNulty, Christy Posey, Arthur Posey, Mandla Nyathi, Fran Wheeler, Margaret Senn, Dale Bundrick, Gail Day, Dennis Shepard, Vicky Shepard, Joyce Wertheim, Jo Wilson, Ray Wertheim, Carol Bennett, Liz Marince.  




















This blog is presented in two parts.  Part One tells about where we went, what we did, and what we saw --- except for the animals we saw on game drives.  Part Two tells a little about the animals we saw on game drives and contains photos from those outings: https://africagamedrives2018.blogspot.com/

It's a different format than usual, but it made sorting pictures a tiny bit easier.  Speaking of pictures ... a special thanks to Bev, Jo, LaDene, and Dennis for sharing photos and allowing us to use them in the blog.  

Hope you enjoy our adventure as much as we did!

   

PART ONE

ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in southern Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers.  It is known for its dramatic landscape and diverse wildlife, much of it within parks, reserves and safari areas. On the Zambezi River, Victoria Falls make a thundering 355-feet drop into narrow Batoka Gorge, while downstream parks are home to hippos, rhinos and bird life.  This country of roughly 16 million people has 16 official languages.  We visited Hwange National Park, a nearby village and school, and Victoria Falls. 

Our trip leader (and a bunch of other guys) met us at the Victoria Falls airport.  He is a native of Zimbabwe and his name is Mandla, which means “power.”  Getting through customs and passport control was a bit much, but we finally got our luggage and loaded into a mini-van to begin our visit to Zimbabwe.  We turned away from Victoria Falls (that comes later) and headed toward Hwange National Park.

But first … we stopped to meet some local ladies selling peanuts (here called ground nuts).  The bus stopped and we all piled out to taste and buy some nuts – either roasted or boiled.  All set with snacks, we were soon on our way. 

On another day on this same road, we saw three women carrying large bundles of reeds on their heads.  They had already walked 7 miles and had 3 miles to go.  They were headed back to their village to work on replacing their thatched roof.  The girl in the purple jacket was only 8 years old. 

Hwange National Park is in the northwest corner of Zimbabwe. Its grasslands and mopane woods are home to large elephant herds, lions and the rare African wild dogs. Hwange National Park is the largest Park in Zimbabwe, occupying nearly 6000 square miles. It became the king’s royal hunting grounds in the early 19th Century and was set aside as a National Park in 1929. Hwange boasts a huge selection of wildlife with over 100 species of mammals and nearly 400 bird species recorded. The park’s elephant population is one of the largest in the world.

Hwange is perhaps best-known as the home of Cecil, a lion that lived in the park, where he was a big favorite with tourists as well as the subject of a long-term study by a research team from Oxford University.  On the night of July 1, 2015, Cecil was lured out of the park by the careful placement of fresh elephant meat.  He was then wounded with an arrow by Walter Palmer, an American dentist and big-game “hunter.”  The wounded lion was tracked and killed some 12 hours later.  This incident resulted in international media attention, caused outrage among conservationists, and worldwide criticism of the American hunter and the Zimbabwean authorities who failed to protect the park animal.  

Sadly, the entrance to the park requires driving through an enormous, ugly, noisy, dusty, open-pit coal mine.  To go in and out of the park, we drove through this open sore on the otherwise beautiful landscape.  The roads, buildings, vegetation and people were covered with coal dust.  Large trucks carrying uncovered loads of coal lumbered down the dirt roads, spilling coat dust as they went by.  One can only wonder about the safety of the workers; the unemployment rate in Zimbabwe is so high (~90%), these workers dare not complain lest they lose their jobs.  This type of mining has an appalling impact on the environment and its inhabitants; we won’t soon forget the sights, sounds and smells of this operation.

Kashawe Camp Hwange was our home base in Zimbabwe.  This camp is located high on a bluff overlooking a riverbed and expansive plain beyond and provided spectacular viewing right from camp.  Building materials have been chosen to blend in with the surrounding bush. Solar energy provides all the hot water and power to the camp.

The camp's tents were perched on the edge of a bluff, overlooking a broad valley that had several waterholes to attract animals.  We had all the comforts of home, plus a nice deck with a great view – too bad we spent so little time there!

Kashawe Camp took the prize for best gift shop.  They had a little cabin set up to hold arts and crafts done by camp staff and their families.  They had done some amazing work – and we rewarded them handsomely for their efforts! 

 

CAMP ROUTINE

Camp routine was similar for all of our locations in the bush.  We were greeted on arrival by staff singing a welcome song and handing out cool (or warm, depending on the weather) wet towels.  This greeting was followed by cold drinks, always welcome after a long dusty ride.

On a daily basis, we were early to rise, generally at 6 am, with a half-hour to get dressed and walk over to breakfast.  We were instructed to bring everything we needed for the day, as we departed immediately after breakfast for the morning game drive.  By 7 am, we were on the road – or on the bumpy dirt track that was used for travel.  Mornings were chilly, but the jeeps carried flannel-lined ponchos to ward off the cold.  That extra layer of warmth felt good over our own multiple layers, along with hats, scarves and gloves.  As the sun rose in the sky, so did the temperature – it wasn’t long before we were shedding clothes.  Nighttime lows were 45-55 degrees, with daytime highs 75-85; quite a range!

The game drive vehicles had three rows of seats behind the driver, with each row elevated above the one in front of it.  No windows – just open air with a cover for shade.  These were modified Toyota Land Cruisers, but all the locals called them jeeps (pronounced ‘jips’). 

 

Each morning two vehicles left camp but took separate routes before meeting up again about 10:30 for tea and coffee.  A hot drink and a snack (usually shortbread cookies) were delicious, as was the opportunity to stretch our legs and visit a loo with a view.  

Generally, we were back at the lodge by 11:30 or so.  We had a little time to drop off extra clothes in our tents and get phones and camera batteries on the chargers.  And then it was lunch time, followed by a couple of hours to relax, nap, shower, and check photos. 

About 3 pm, it was time for  tea, which always included some savory and something sweet along with juice and cold tea.  This daily afternoon snack was provided before we headed out on an afternoon game drive, structured much like the morning drive.  The two vehicles met up for afternoon tea and then continued the game drive until near dark. 

Dinner hours were preceded by sundowners (in the field) or happy hour (at the camp), with plenty of beer, wine, soda and snacks.  The snacks were varied, but always delicious.  We had our dinners in the camp’s large open-air dining room, with an adjoining bar and lounge area.  The bar was open 24-7 and the lounge was a favorite gathering place – to talk about the day’s events, sightings, and plans for the next day.  

Dinners included several courses, usually starting with soup as a starter, a buffet dinner and a nice dessert.  Flavors were interesting, not always familiar.  Polenta was served at nearly every meal, along with locally grown vegetables.  Food was plentiful – nobody went away hungry. 

We came on this trip thinking that our days would revolve around game drives, but sometimes it seemed that they revolved around eating – three meals plus three drinks/snacks each day.  There didn’t seem to be much exercise sitting in the jeep, but … Vicky’s trusty Fitbit showed 23,000 steps on one day of particularly bumpy roads.  The guides just laughed and told us to enjoy our African massage.

After a big dinner, we were pretty much ready for bed.  One of the guides, sometimes carrying a loaded rifle, escorted us to our tents and reminded us not to leave our tents after dark – no exceptions.  When we reached our tents, our beds had been turned down and mosquito netting had been lowered.  In one camp, we found that hot water bottles had been placed in our beds.  The hot water bottles (known as bush babies) were a delightful and welcome surprise. 

All of the tented camps were unfenced.  Animals regularly move around the area, making all manner of noises – elephants breaking off limbs, hippos snorting and grumbling, baboons and monkeys fussing and screeching, antelopes and warthogs munching tender grass, hyenas calling and lions roaring.  Nighttime in the bush is not a quiet time, but the days were long and tiring so falling asleep was not a problem.

In every camp, our last night was something special. There would be a big campfire in the ‘boma,’ an area marked off by a wooden fence, comparable to the common meeting place in villages here.   After dinner, the camp staff would entertain us with singing and dancing, the latter usually requiring audience participation.  Then they said it was our turn – they had heard that America’s got talent.  Our travelling companions weren’t chosen for their musicality, though that might have been a good idea.  After endless discussion about what to do or not do, we settled on ‘This Land is Your Land’ as our entertainment for the staff.  We got the feeling that they knew this song better than we did … think they might have heard it before….

In most of the camps, our fearless leader tried to introduce us to some local delicacies.  He was from Zimbabwe, so here he had something really special in mind – Chibuku Shake Shake and mopane worms.  Chibuku Super is the locally-brewed beer, made from sorghum and maize, following the recipe for a traditional homemade brew popular all over Africa.  The mopane worm is the caterpillar of the emperor moth; it’s called a mopane worm because it feeds on the leaves of mopane trees after it hatches in summer.  In Zimbabwe, mopane worms are a staple part of the diet in rural areas and are considered a delicacy in the cities. They can be eaten dry, as crunchy as potato chips, or cooked and drenched in sauce. There are no words to describe the taste of these things.

 

The basic camp routine described above was followed on most days, though the landscape and the wildlife presented something new every day.  For example, the landscape around this camp ranged from relatively lush to near devastation.  And when the sun set, the whole world was beautiful ....

 

Each camp offered variations that kept us guessing.  In Hwange, we went on an all-day game drive that included a picnic lunch at Masuma Lake. There was a nice shelter overlooking the small lake and a couple of Chacma Baboons checking us out pretty closely.  

 

The guides starting unpacking our lunch while we looked around and found a spot for watching the water – in hopes that some animals might drop by.  Near the shelter, there was a bird bath aflutter with Blue Waxbills, and across the way there was one lonely elephant eating clay, something they consume to make up for the lack of minerals in their diet.  

 

The baboons, meanwhile, were getting VERY interested in our lunch.  One climbed up the wall and made a grab for a big box of food.  He was quick, but so was our guide.  Throughout our meal, the baboons made lightning-strike forays into the shelter, trying to steal something good to eat.  Only one successful attempt – baboon grabbed nectarine right off Ray’s plate and was gone in the blink of an eye.  He seemed to enjoy it …. 

 

The longer we sat in the shelter, the more animals we saw.  Some were already in the water, some were coming for a drink.  What appeared to be rocks on the other side of the lake turned out to be a pod of hippos.  At first, they were just relaxing, but a couple of big guys got annoyed and created a fuss.  

 

 

The hippos must have awakened the resident crocodile, because he came up to see what was going on.  One time he had something in his mouth, but we couldn’t tell what it was.  Probably just as well …  

And then came the kudus – just a small group at first, one male and a few females, all decorated with oxpeckers.  More joined them, and then came the giraffes.  It was getting crowded at that end of the pond. 

 

As one group of animals finished drinking, another filed in – next were the zebras and the warthogs.  The zebras were well-behaved, the warthogs not so much.  

And of course, a rank of impala dropped by for a quick drink.

There were birds around, including this dikkop and hamerkop.  No time to think about birds – we looked off to the south and couldn’t believe our eyes. 

Heading for the waterhole was an absolute parade of elephants – almost as far as we could see.  They just kept popping out of the bush, all marching to the lake.   We just sat and watched – one of the most amazing spectacles we have ever seen.  We didn’t even notice that a smaller group was coming to water on the other side of the lake. There were about 40 elephants on one side of the lake and 20 on the other. 

The parade was led by the matriarch – she checked out the scene and somehow told everyone to come on down.  Their first priority was a good, long drink of water – and these guys can hold a big drink.  

 

 

Thirst quenched, the older elephants worked on sunscreen.  They splashed mud on their backs (and on anyone nearby) to help protect their sensitive skin.   

The younger crowd thought it was time to play.  They plunged right in – some swam, some rolled in the muck, some tormented each other.  All seemed to be having great fun.   

 

And then, at another silent signal from the matriarch, it was time to go.   And just like that, they came out of the water and walked back into the bush.   

 

What an amazing sight.  What an unbelievable experience.  What a wonderful memory of our time in Zimbabwe.

  

HWANGE VILLAGE

We knew ahead of time that we would be visiting a village and our group had brought a variety of gifts for the family or families that we would visit.  Our friend Wanda Porter made 25 pillowcase dresses and several tote bags for us to bring, and we had asked our trip leader about purchasing a goat for the village.  He suggested that chickens would be more useful since we could buy several and more families would benefit.  He also wanted to buy some other food items that could be shared and we agreed to add some money to that fund. 

First stop was the OK Market, the local grocery store.  We split up the grocery list and everyone headed out to find the food items recommended by our trip leader:  5 bars washing soap, 4 kg sugar, 7 loaves bread, 5 bars bathing soap, 5 kg salt, 20 kg “mealie” meal (ground corn for polenta and porridge), 10 bottles cooking oil, 5 tins tea leaves, 2 pkg biscuits (cookies), 2 pkg sweets (hard candy), 4 kg kapenta (dried fish), 8 liters shelf-stable milk, 6 heads cabbage, and 10 kg onions.  We had to ask fellow shoppers and store employees for help in identifying some of this, and our buggies ended up carrying quite a few unintended items.  No worries, it was an interesting experience. After shopping, we loaded the purchases in the minibus to take to the village.  

Next stop was to buy some chickens.  We stopped at a small woman-owned business in town – no signs, but our driver knew where to go.  It was just a small fenced-in yard with a shelter for shade, where the owner didn’t quite believe our offer to buy all (15) of her chickens.  She threw in the basket at no extra charge and the chickens were loaded on the bus.  One escaped the basket and created a bit of a stir, but our trusty leader captured her and stuffed her back into the basket with her friends.    

 

We took the items to the homestead of the village headman and found a crowd awaiting our arrival.  A village is a community made up of about 25 homesteads; a homestead is the home of one extended family.  The size of a homestead varies; the one we visited was about two acres.  

A cluster of buildings stood within a fenced area (about ¾ acre); the crops, kraal (corral) and pit toilet were outside the fence.  We had a grand tour led by Milton, the headman’s eldest son; he’s the guy in red pants and a dark blue sport coat.  Milton just graduated from high school and is very excited to be going to university next year. The headman had invited to whole neighborhood to be present for our visit, so there were lots women and children helping with show and tell.  We saw the home (hut) of the headman and his wife, the bedroom (hut) for the three sons, the kitchen hut for cooking and eating, the summer house for shade and fresh air, the chicken coop, the goat house, and the granary.  The headman’s wife showed us her kitchen and the shelves which she had built herself.  There was a wooden rack outside that was used for washing and drying dishes – and a place for feeding the chickens. 

We learned about making bricks by hand, using the “dirt” from termite mounds.  Abandoned termite mounds are knocked down and hauled to the homestead to be mixed with water and shaped into bricks.  The resulting product is as hard as concrete; all of their buildings were constructed from these homemade bricks.  

 

We learned about grinding corn, which is part of every meal in this part of the world; it usually appears as polenta or porridge.   Children are taught this skill at an early age.   There is no running water in the homestead, so another of the many chores here is to fetch water from the river – about ½ mile distance.  The women use five-gallon buckets for this task; five gallons of water weighs about 40 pounds.

We had some surprises of our own.  We had brought a Polaroid-type camera and Vicky took lots of pictures to give to the women and children.  The pictures weren’t great (film was a bit old), but the village folks seemed excited to have photos of themselves. 

We also had balloons for the kids and Bob demonstrated some tricky finger routines.  

 



The dresses that Wanda Porter made were a big hit with the little girls - and their moms.  Several of the girls tried on and modeled  their new dresses. 

After our tour around the homestead, we washed up and gathered in the summer house for refreshments and a visit.  We shared information about daily life in their community and in ours and shared laughs about the similarities and differences.  

And then it was time for the big unveiling – the chickens!  Our trip leader did the honors, making a big show of giving a chicken to someone from each family in attendance – with a couple extra for the host family.  Folks seemed quite happy with the chickens, the groceries and the other gifts.  Much singing and dancing!

 

 

ST. MARY’S PRIMARY SCHOOL 

St. Mary's School is a relatively new partner of the Grand Circle Foundation, the non-profit organization supported by Grand Circle Travel and Overseas Adventure Travel.  The foundation was established as a means to give back to the world that we visit.  A portion of the cost of every trip goes to the Foundation, which has provided over $175 million worldwide to support the education of young people and the preservation of cultural treasures and traditions in the countries we visit. 

St. Mary’s Primary School has over 800 students, most classes with over 40 students.  The school is highly rated for its students' academic success and the fact that nearly all of its students go on to secondary school.  There are 24 teachers, 18 funded by the government and 6 funded by the Grand Circle Foundation. 

Sadly, our visit coincided with school holidays, so we missed interacting with the students and teachers (always a highlight of these trips).    The principal met us at the school, gave us a short tour and showed us the school's computer room which is the most popular place on campus.  There are about 30 computers (provided by the Grand Circle Foundation) for the entire school and, since there is no internet, educational programs are loaded on them for students to access.  

The principal said that the Foundation has helped with many other purchases – furniture, fencing, a solar water pump, fans, a library, teacher training.  The next big project is roof repairs and new housing for teachers, who are supposed to live at the school site when school is in session.  At present, housing is available for only half of the teaching staff. 

The principal was most appreciative of the armloads of gifts our group had brought for the school – books for the library, soccer balls and other games for the kids, school supplies for everyone, even a science teacher’s kit complete with goggles and lab coats.  Her happy smile made the effort worthwhile, even without the kids!  

Leaving Zimbabwe was easier than getting in – we drove back to Victoria Falls, drove on to the border, walked across the bridge over the Zambesi River, and stepped into Zambia.  Not only was it easy, this route gave us a sneak peak at Victoria Falls, or at least a small, tantalizing bit of Victoria Falls.    

ZAMBIA

Zambia is a country of rugged terrain and diverse wildlife, with many parks and safari areas. On its border with Zimbabwe is famed Victoria Falls and just below the falls is Victoria Falls Bridge, a spectacular and historic viewpoint.  In 2010, the World Bank named Zambia one of the world's fastest economically reformed countries.  It is still a poor country, but much economic improvement has occurred in the past decade.   We visited three areas in Zambia:  Livingstone (town), Kafue National Park and Victoria Falls.

We made a first stop at the local market in Livingstone, Zambia’s border town nearest the falls.  The market was a bit overwhelming to the senses – sights, sounds and smells.  Everything imaginable was for sale – charcoal, corn meal, fresh fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, clothing (new and old), and more.   

 

 

We then drove to the Livingstone Airport for our charter flight – on two SMALL airplanes – to Kafue National Park in Zambia.  The flight lasted about an hour before we landed on a dirt airstrip in the park.  Jeeps were positioned on either side to be sure no animals wandered in the pathway of an incoming airplane!  

 

KAFUE NATIONAL PARK – At 8,600 square miles, this is Africa’s largest single national park; it is roughly the size of New Jersey.   It is located in central Zambia, an area dominated by two huge rivers, the Kafue and the Zambezi.  The park is home to all the big mammals, lots of birds, and a thousand different landscapes. 

Lufupa Camp was our home in Kafue National Park.  Our campsite was located in the northern section of the park, near the confluence of the Lafupa River and the Kafue River.  Tents were built on low platforms just at the edge of the Kafue River; from the deck, we had nice views of visitors to the slow-moving river.

Our tent, like all others, was quite close to the water - and near one of the many Hippo Highways.  From our deck, we had a nice view of the river – and the animals that hang around the water’s edge.  Inside, the tent was spacious and we were quite comfortable – although getting up in the dark always seemed to lead to mosquito net entanglement.  We never quite got used to getting in and out of those things. 

Days and nights in camp were dominated by the grunting and squabbling of hippos and the calls of the vervet monkeys that live along the river.  Our tent was blessed with ample opportunities for viewing wildlife.  A gang of vervet monkeys lived in a nearby tree (watching for opportunities to steal something); hippos and elephants ambled in and out of the river; a family of warthogs grazed the grass behind us.  

Others had even more excitement:  Bev and Bob had an elephant lie down for a nap in front of their tent; Dennis and Vicky discovered that the warthog family slept under their tent – up close and personal! 

 

Nearly everyone had an instance of dodging elephants that wandered through the camp, but Jo and Carol had an elephant hold them hostage inside the tent until camp staff made enough noise to scare him away.  

Camp routine was similar to the previous lodge, but there were some special adventures at Lafupa Camp.  For one thing, we were in Tsetse fly country; in spite of our insect repellent these little pests were swarming around our jeep and their bites were downright painful.  That’s when we learned that everything needs to be tucked IN and burning elephant dung acts as an insect repellent.  So … when the flies got too annoying, our guide found some elephant droppings, filled an old metal bucket with the stuff, hung the bucket on the back of the vehicle and lit the dung.  Elephant dung incense did the trick – so glad we didn’t have to rub it on our skin.

 

Here, too, is where we learned about the fine art of spitting impala scat or dung.  Impala droppings are easy to find; they’re not much bigger than watermelon seeds.  We could think of no good reason for putting a piece anywhere near our mouths, but this is one of the traditional games people play here.  Our trip leader rounded up volunteers from four countries, with Ray bravely representing the USA.  (We have a strong suspicion that only boys engage in this sport.)

Our first sundowner at Lufupa came at the end of our first game drive.  We have no idea how the drivers knew where to meet up – we stopped in a seemingly random field near a termite mound.  Cold drinks, nice snacks, a lovely sunset and a chance to pose for pictures.    

 

After the sun went down, we embarked on a nighttime game drive, a rare event in national parks – most don’t allow them.  During our stay, we enjoyed two evenings of riding around in the dark while our driver/guide used a large spotlight to sight game.  He was careful not to keep the bright light on the animals for too long, so as to minimize stress to the animals.  The nighttime drives afforded us an opportunity to see several nocturnal animals (spotted genet, scrub hare, African wild cat), but the most exciting was spotting a leopard.  He was out hunting, walking slowly down the road ahead of us.  We followed him for some time, but our spotlight wasn’t helping his search for dinner so we reluctantly bade him farewell. 

We also enjoyed an incredible sky full of stars, planets, constellations, and the Milky Way.  With warmer temperatures and slower driving speeds at night, these drives were most enjoyable. 

Since our camp was located near two rivers (Lafupa and Kafue), we had morning and afternoon floating game drives.  In the morning, half of the group went up the Lafupa River, while the other half headed up the Kafue River.  We met for lunch and traded rivers afterwards.

Lunch on this day was quite a production.  The camp staff had hauled tables, chairs and a portable bar out to a lovely spot near the junction of the two rivers.  They also set up a temporary loo with a view; everyone was happy to check it out. 

 

On the water, we had great luck sighting many birds and a handful of animals from the comfort of our boat.  Our driver/guide positioned the boat for us to get plenty of pictures along the way.   As the sun began to drop toward the horizon, the cold drinks appeared and we enjoyed our sundowners watching the sun set across the river.

Back at camp, Cassie, the camp manager, was waiting to instruct us in the fine art of the chitenge.  A chitenge is a piece of cloth, about 2 yards in length, that women wrap around their body as clothing.  The width of the cloth is long enough to cover (more or less) from the waist or chest to the ankle.  Single women usually wear the chitenge below the belly button, while married women wear it higher. 

The chitenge fabric is commonly worn as a skirt, but we also saw it used as a baby carrier and as a head cushion for carrying heavy loads.  Other uses include:  curtains, ceremonial clothing, bed linens, diapers, purses, water filters, head protection (dust) and head gear (fashion).  Quire a versatile product, for sale at every market. 

 

We were sad to leave this camp – great staff, great food, and lots of animals – but It was time to move on to Botswana.  We flew from the local airstrip back to Livingstone, Zambia.  From there, we drove to Kazungula, where four countries meet at the Zambesi River – Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. 

There is a gigantic new bridge under construction at this site, but for now all traffic moves via one passenger ferry and one truck ferry.  There are long, long lines of trucks parked along the road awaiting their turn for a ride across the river. 

For us, the passenger ferry was pretty quick; we got our passports stamped and were escorted though a shallow pan of disinfectant to ensure that we weren’t bringing hoof and mouth disease into the country.  Botswana is big into raising cattle and takes no risks with an infection that would be an economic disaster.  

  

BOTSWANA

Botswana is roughly the size of Texas and nearly 45% of its area is set aside in national parks, game reserves and wildlife-management areas. Its landscape is defined by the Kalahari Desert and the Okavango Delta, which becomes a lush animal habitat during the seasonal floods. Botswana’s game reserves and parks cover fossilized river valleys and rolling grasslands that are home to numerous animals including giraffes, cheetahs, hyenas and wild dogs.  With just over 2 million people, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world.  We visited two areas:  Chobe National Park and the Okavanga Delta.

CHOBE NATIONAL PARK is Botswana’s second-largest (over 4,000 square miles) and first established (1967) national parks.  It has few equals in terms of birds and big game, including one of the greatest concentrations of elephants found on the African continent.  It is considered one of the continent’s great wildlife destinations:  its range of undisturbed habitats – riparian forest, seasonal pans (water holes), swamps and savannah – support approximately 450 bird species, 75% of Botswana’s 600 recorded species.  Chobe also has southern Africa’s highest density of many raptors. 

The presence of a permanent water source is like an animal magnet.  As smaller, seasonal water sources begin to evaporate during the dry season, animals make the trek to the Chobe River to drink.   This concentrates a large number and variety of animals along the river as the dry season progresses. 

The area nearest the river is the greenest.  This flood plain is covered with grasses and very few trees, though there are many bushes near the river.  This lush open area was great for game viewing.

Chobe is best known as the home of one of the world’s largest elephant populations – the current number is estimated at 70,000, including what is considered the largest bull elephant population in the world.  In spite of their numbers, these pachyderms are in danger and humans are their greatest threat. 

The cause for protecting the African elephant is complicated.  For starters, there is great discrepancy between regional populations within the continent.  Of the half-million or so elephants in Africa today, at least 40% live in the southern African region.  While poaching for ivory has decimated other populations of elephants, there are simply too many here to be considered endangered.  Here the locals consider them the world’s largest garden pest and argue that they should be allowed to profit from the ivory trade as a reward for their conservation efforts. 

In parks such as Chobe, the elephant populations have grown too large for the landscape to support and they are uprooting trees and stripping bark to expose nutrients.  As a result, other herbivores have a harder time finding food and birds of prey lose valuable nesting places.  A bigger problem ensues when elephants make their way into residential areas outside the park; a hungry herd can destroy entire harvests in a night – devastating for poor farmers in the area.  There don’t seem to be any easy solutions to the ‘elephant problem,’ but conservationists are working hard to find the balance that we humans destroyed so long ago. 

Baobab Safari Lodge was our home for several nights; it is located in the Chobe Forest Reserve area of Chobe National Park, in northern Botswana.   It is situated above the Chobe River, along a broad open forest that slopes toward the river.  Nearby is the Ngoma Bridge which stretches between Botswana and Namibia.  By July, water levels are decreased and the river forms a series of narrow channels.  Our room looked over the forest down to the river.  

Our tent looked like a little thatched hut with canvas walls, and windows all around.   The interior was spacious; the beds were comfortable and covered by mosquito netting.  Some of the windows could be zipped shut, but on the valley side, things were pretty wide open.  The view from our front porch/balcony was just lovely.  

We didn’t really spend much time in the tent, but sunrise and sunset were especially nice times to sit out on the balcony.  There were frequent travelers up and down – back and forth to the water farther down the valley.  Most common sightings were zebras and warthogs; most common noise was a family of baboons that lived in a tree nearby. 

 


Our tent was not the only place with a view.  Up at the main lodge, there was a very nice loo with a very nice view.  

The Baobab Safari lodge takes its name from the baobab tree, a giant among living things on the African continent.  It’s not unusual to find one of these trees with a trunk the size of a small house, its arms flung 70 feet upward.  The Baobab grows throughout Africa.  It has a wide, hollow trunk with spiny-looking branches growing out at the top in all directions.  It almost looks like it’s upside down with the roots sprouting at the top.  Known for storing water in its trunk, the baobab lives in dry regions and grows to be 400 years old.   Some of these trees may have been growing here for 2,000 years.  A deciduous tree, it remains leafless during the dry season.  The photo to the left the "Big Tree," said to be the largest Baobab in the Victoria Falls area; it has a circumference of 59 feet, height of 75 feet, and is estimated to be between 1000 and 1500 years old.  Other trees pictured below were taken during game drives in four countries.

While in Chobe we went on an several game drives, mostly along the Chobe River flood plain.  Water and green grass changes everything – here we saw many water birds and herds of grazing animals. 

 

On our all-day game drive, we had lunch packed for us by the kitchen staff.  They had threatened us with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but it was instead an elaborate spread for a small army.  We stopped to eat at one of the few picnic sites in the national park, complete with restroom!

 

While we were staying in at the Baobab Safari Lodge, we were visited one afternoon by a couple of women from nearby Mabele Village.  They are members of a cooperative that makes woven baskets from palm fronds.  The group makes their tools, as well as of their supplies. They teach weaving to the younger children, but only bracelets and necklaces, as these can be made without the sharp tool. Only when you become 18 can you learn to weave baskets.

A tray about a foot in diameter takes 4 weeks of 8-hour days to make. A basket takes 3 weeks of 8-hour days. It’s quite an involved process.  They begin by boiling maize for three days to make a kind of bleach. Then they gather palm fronds. The hard edge is split off to be used for stiffening the weaving. The soft parts of the leaf are boiled in the maize water until they are bleached white.

Color is added be making different solutions. Gray comes from rusted tin, orange from the toothbrush tree, a warm brown from the bark of the baobab tree, blue from used carbon paper (!), black from a mix of charcoal, rusted tin and tree bark.

  

One of the women invited us to take a stitch on her current project.  So far it is a tightly woven circle about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. She adds additional parts of the frond pokes her very sharp weaving tool though to make a hole for pulling through the end of the frond. We are no threat to her livelihood, but we were happy to learn from them and to purchase some of their handiwork.

This camp was another one we hated to leave – great accommodations, wonderful staff, plentiful wildlife - and beautiful sunsets.  We drove from camp to a facility named Kasane International Airport (try to find that on a map!); here we boarded more tiny airplanes for the flight to the Okavango Delta. 

OKAVANGO DELTA – The Okavango Delta is one of Africa’s most iconic landscapes.  It is a very large, swampy inland delta formed where the Okavango River reaches the Kalahari Desert.  All the water reaching the delta is ultimately evaporated and transpired and does not flow into any sea or ocean.  This 9,000 square-mile labyrinth of lakes, lagoons, and channels is the world’s largest inland delta and a magnet for wildlife.  Each year about 3 trillion gallons of water flow here, but declining rainfall could cause the delta to dry out.   The Delta is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa, and in 2014, the Okavango Delta became the 1,000th site to be officially inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The source of this water is a river known as the Cubango, which flows down from the highland of Angola.  When it reaches Namibia, it becomes the Kuvango River, and upon entering Botswana, it receives its most famous name (Okavango) and begins its transformation. As the river flows over a series of fault lines that lie deep beneath the surface of the Kalahari Desert, it splits into smaller channels and spreads into the delta’s characteristic fan-like shape.  It meanders outward in a maze of rivulets until it disappears – as if by magic – into the Kalahari sands. 

One of our best experiences in the Okavango Delta came soon after our plane landed.  We had the opportunity to glide across the shallow waters in a mokoro, a shallow-draft dugout canoe traditionally hewn from ebony, mongongo, or the sausage-tree.  The mongongo tree was especially prized since its logs won’t sink in the water.  For conservation reasons, most mokoro are now made from fiberglass; trees of sufficient size for a canoe take over 100 years to grow, while a mokoro lasts only about five years.  

The mokoro can accommodate two passengers and is propelled by a poler who stands at the back of the canoe with a long pole.  They promised us that their mokoros were stable and perfectly suited to the shallow delta waters – the water is only a couple of feet deep, so no problem if you fall out – just keep an eye out for crocodiles and hippos.  

This was a delightful, but much too short, experience.  Our poler told us stories of his life growing up in the delta and pointed out interesting plants and animals along the way.  One can’t help but feel peaceful while silently gliding over the water.  The tiny frog is an Angolan Reed Frog.  

 

While we were in the area, we also enjoyed a traditional (jeep) game drive; lots of water = lots of animals and birds.  Unfortunately, our lodging was a great distance away from all this water and game-viewing took a turn for the worse as we headed to a very dry area in far reaches of the Delta region.  

Our lodging was Wilderness Tented Camp, located in a wildlife management area adjacent to Moremi Game Reserve.  Wildlife management areas near Reserves and Parks attempt to protect wildlife and habitat by engaging local communities in conservation and tourism activities.  Here a local village has allowed a private company to develop lodging on their land; in return, the company has hired village people to fill nearly all of the camp staff positions.   We loved the concept and the camp, but its location (relative to the watery Delta) left a lot to be desired. To get there, we drove for a long distance along the border of the reserve; here the road is bordered by a fence, then an open area, then another fence – to separate the reserve from the private land on the other side.  Perhaps the fence deters some animals (humans?) but antelope can jump over it and elephants just walk through it.  Several workers have full time jobs riding up and down this road, repairing breaks in the fencing.  

This camp consisted of canvas tents along the edge of a somewhat open savannah area - very dry grass dotted by few bushes and trees.  The zebras and elephants seem quite at home here, as do aardvarks and honey badgers. The bigger game was easy to see (and hear), but we only saw footprints of the smaller animals that circled through the tent area each night.   

Our tent was quite comfortable; we had plenty of space inside and our own water tank and hot water heater just outside.  The tent opened to the east, making for a nice sunrise to start the day, in spite of the fact that the area looked like a war zone from elephants ripping up the trees..   

We also had a chance to visit behind the scenes in this camp.  We were amazed at the small kitchen-tent and the skills of the chef in putting lots of good food on the table for us.  We also visited the laundry, where one lonely staffer was busy washing our clothes – all by hand.  Clothes then went to the solar clothes-drier and came back looking good and smelling better.    

On one of our game drives, the drivers tried to make it more interesting by taking some ‘back’ roads and going off-road to find things to see.  The main thing we found was sand, and our jeep got stuck.  Seriously stuck.  The driver called the other jeep to come pull us out, so everyone got to enjoy our predicament.  

On our departure from the Okavango area, we made it to the airstrip just in time to see why they sometimes need the jeeps to clear away the animals.  A small herd of elephants emerged from the bush, moseyed across the airstrip and disappeared into the woods on the other side.  

We waited for our plane at the ‘airport’ lounge, counted our bags one more time, and took off for Victoria Falls.    

VICTORIA FALLS is the largest curtain of water in the world – and one of the world’s Seven Natural Wonders and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The African name for the falls is “Mosi-na Tunya,” which means “the smoke that thunders.”   The tremendous volume of water plunging over the falls produces a loud roar (the thunder), and the large cloud of spray looks from a distance like billowing smoke.

In 1855, during a surveying expedition of Africa’s interior, Scottish missionary Dr. David Livingstone heard legends of this amazing sight – and sound.  He set out by canoe on the Zambezi River to see it for himself; fortunately, he heard the roar long before he reached the falls.  Livingstone was greatly impressed and named his grand discovery for Queen Victoria of England.  The name made sense from his perspective, but the name used by local tribes more accurately describes the scene. 

The 2,200-mile Zambezi River forms the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.  Nothing in the river’s leisurely pace suggests the approach of Victoria Falls; some 750 miles from its origin as an insignificant spring, the river grows to nearly a mile wide as it flows through a wide, shallow valley with many islands.  Suddenly there’s a bend to the south, the current speeds up, and a few miles downstream the entire river is forced into a fissure created eons ago by the cooling and cracking of molten rock. Nearly 2.5 million gallons of water disappear in a matter of seconds over a vertical drop 300 feet high, into the fissure that stretches for over a mile.  The great cloud of mist thrown up by the falls can as far as 40 miles away.  Up close, the sound of the falls is a deafening roar.  At peak flood times, 1.4 billion gallons of water per minute pass over its edge. 

Victoria Falls is nearly twice as high and wide as Niagara and generates three times as much water.  The Falls are 5600 feet wide and are made up of five different “falls”. Four of these are in Zimbabwe and one is in Zambia. They are known as the Devil’s Cataract, Main Falls, Rainbow Falls and Horseshoe Falls in Zimbabwe and the Eastern Cataract in Zambia.  Even though it is shared by two countries, Victoria Falls is a place all of its own – the sheer power and force of the falls is unbelievable – and no other waterfall offers such an unimpeded head-on view of its thundering spectacle. 

The Batoka Gorge, just below the falls, is split between Zambia and Zimbabwe and is over 75 miles long and 2,000 feet deep.  It is covered with mopane and riparian forest that are intersperse with grassland.  On the Zambian side, the gorge is surrounded by the Mosi-na-Tunya National Park, which contains a tropical rain forest that thrives on the eternal “rainfall” from the falls.  Victoria Falls National Park in Zimbabwe surrounds the other side of the gorge.  Some call it the Grand Canyon of the Zambesi. 

The Victoria Falls Bridge crosses the Zambezi River just below falls.  As the river is the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, the bridge links the two countries and has border posts on the approaches to both ends, at the towns of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Livingstone, Zambia.  The bridge was the brainchild of Cecil Rhodes, part of his grand and unfulfilled Cape to Cairo railway scheme; Rhodes instructed the engineers to "build the bridge across the Zambezi where the trains, as they pass, will catch the spray of the Falls."  The bridge opened in 1905, and for more than 50 years it was crossed regularly by passenger and freight.  Today the bridge contains one railway track, a roadway wide enough for one vehicle, and a sidewalk for foot traffic.  Train traffic is infrequent and only one vehicle at a time can cross over the bridge.  There's plenty of pedestrian traffic - humans and baboons.

 

On the Zambia side is the town of Livingstone, named after the famous missionary/explorer.  The town was established in 1910, north of the falls, in an attempt to avoid malaria, believed to be caused by the swampy Zambezi River.  Livingstone is the location of the official marker of the Victoria Falls World Heritage Monument Site. It is also the spot where David Livingstone first sighted the falls. 

On the Zimbabwe side is the town of Victoria Falls, which was built for tourism; it is west of the falls on the southern bank of the Zambezi.    It is right on the falls and the view from here is said to be the best of the falls and the gorge. 

The Victoria Falls National Park offers dramatic views all along the Zimbabwe side of the falls.  Along the edge of the cliff facing the falls is a lush rain forest; even in the dry season, it is kept cool and damp and green by the spray from the falls.  A trail running through this dripping green world is overgrown with African ebony, Cape fig, Natal mahogany, wild date palms, ferns, and deep red flame lilies.   Every few feet, there is a lookout point and each view is a little different from the others. 

The helicopter flight over the Victoria Falls is known as the ‘Flight of Angels’.  David Livingstone famously wrote on seeing the Victoria Falls for the first time in 1855 that “Scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight”. Little did he know that 150 years later he could have exactly that opportunity.   The aerodrome is near the Zambezi River, and we could see the mist from the falls as soon as we arrived.  Also in plain view was the large scale for weighing everyone prior to boarding; this was to be sure that weight was distributed evenly in the helicopter.  And then we took off – the helicopter was over the incredible scenery of the Zambezi River within 30 seconds.  

 

The pilot flew around in several big loops so that everyone had good views of the falls from several angles.  It was indeed spectacular.    We thought the falls were pretty amazing at ground level, but it’s hard to get the big picture, especially when immersed in thick wet mist.  The view from the air is surely the best way to appreciate the true splendor of Victoria Falls.  

One afternoon in Victoria Falls, our trip leader took us to a local woodworking shop.  He wanted us to see where all those souvenirs were actually made – in conditions considerably worse than the downtown shops where all the vendors claimed that they had personally carved each item.  A half-dozen guys were working away in the broiling sun – hot, hot, hot.  They told us about their work and we (of course) did our part to support the local economy.

 

On our last night in Victoria Falls, we enjoyed a dinner cruise on the Zambezi River – headed away from the falls.   We boarded just before as the sun was sinking and were seated at a long table at the rear of the boat. As the cruise got underway, we quickly left the city lights behind as the river wound through the Victoria Falls National Park.  Animals appeared – elephants on shore and hippos in the water.  It was like being back on a game drive – wonderful.  There was plenty to eat and drink; there was even live entertainment – a very festive evening to wrap up our stay at Victoria Falls. 

SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa lies at the foot of the continent, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet.  Not only is it geographically and scenically diverse, it is a nation of 56 million people of varied origins, cultures, languages and beliefs.  There are eleven official languages recognized by the constitution.  Its cities and much of its infrastructure is quite modern; only when you venture into the rural areas do you see an entirely different South Africa.  The country has 22 national parks and hundreds of private reserves.  We passed through Johannesburg to visit Thornybush Game Reserve and the city of Cape Town.

Thornybush Game Reserve lies adjacent to Kruger National Park; there are no fences or other barriers between Thornybush and Kruger.  The Reserve covers 50 square miles of rugged bush-veld, a sub-tropical area of grassy plains dotted by dense clusters of trees and tall shrubs, with the Drakensberg mountains as a distant backdrop.   The Reserve is known as a fierce proponent of conservation in Africa; it boasts an array of wildlife and has been the setting for many wildlife documentaries. It also is known for having the first recorded white wildebeest born in the wild, developing innovative methods to combat poaching, and establishing an animal rehabilitation center and a cheetah breeding project. 

This is a private reserve, allowing off-road adventures and night drives.  On all drives, we had a driver and a spotter, perched on a small seat in front of the jeep.  That extra set of eyes really made a difference since much of the area was covered with vegetation that allowed the animals to become invisible to us mere mortals. 

And, this was the place where we saw the Big Five in three days – what a thrill that was - especially tracking a pride of lions and spotting two white rhinoceroses.   The lions probably got pretty sick of us, because we checked on them a couple times a day.  First, we saw a single lioness and then we found the whole pride, 15 of them – one adult male, four adult females, and 10 cubs of indeterminate gender but infinite cuteness.  Here's our favorite photo of the pride, sprawled out in the middle of the road - lots more pictures in the latter part of the blog.  

We also spotted them on consecutive night drives – one night the male was eating something (guide said it was a warthog) and not sharing with anyone; we couldn't see much, but we could hear the rest of the pride grumbling and trying to snatch a bite.  Another night the pride was on the move and we followed them cross-country – until we had a flat tire.  Interesting experience – watching the guide and driver changing tire in the dark with a pride of lions a few feet away ….

 

Thornybush also was the site for our one and only walking safari – a downright hair-raising experience.  Our guide struck out through the bush in the direction of camp; he said we should be there in an hour or so.  He was toting a loaded rifle … just in case.  His lecture about bad things that could happen with large/dangerous animals put the fear of God in all of us; we stayed silent and close on his heels all the way back to camp.   

 

For most of the walk, we didn’t see much wildlife, but we could hear elephants breaking limbs and munching their way through the bush. It turned out to be a large herd and we walked in a BIG circle to get around them.   We breathed a sigh of relief and then we heard the hippos.  Hippos are not nice to humans on foot; hippos kill more people in Africa than any other animal.  We gave them a wide berth, but one big, loud, ugly male was not happy to see us walking across the far end of “his” waterhole.  Our guide suggested we walk quickly as this guy sometimes charged at folks walking in his territory.   We didn’t tarry, and we sure were glad to spot the rooftops of our lodge…. 

Our home in Thornybush was called Jackalberry Lodge, named after a tree found in this area.  The lodge accommodates a maximum of 16 guests, and all rooms are equipped with an en-suite bathroom, air-conditioning and a private patio. There’s a swimming pool, library, dining room and curio shop – just in case we get tired of looking for wildlife. 

Our cabin was a little duplex at the far end of camp; Bev and Bob had the other side.  All cabins had a nice front porch, and all but ours opened into the camp area - ours opened into the bush.  That meant it wasn't safe to step off the porch, but it also meant that we had lots of four-legged visitors our front.  Plus, there were lots of windows, even in the bathroom; it was quite an amazing place! 

We didn’t really have to look for wildlife because the camp itself had plenty of critters who either lived there or passed through on their way to the waterhole nearby.  Here are some of the animals we saw in camp:  Giraffe, impala, duiker (peeking in the bathroom window), warthog, red-billed hornbill, elephant (watching us while he demolished a small tree), and nyala (male and female).  And lots more birds.  

 

 

CAPETOWN is known as South Africa’s “Mother City.”  It is located in a beautiful setting, with magnificent Table Mountain towering into the clouds, unique plants and vineyards on its flanks, and golden beaches around its base.  It is a multi-cultural city, where everyone has a fascinating, sometimes heartbreaking, story to tell. 

We started our visit with a home-hosted meal, at the home of Marlene and Edgar Manuel.  Marlene is the cook for a local pre-school and Edgar is a former professional football (soccer) player, now a school bus driver.  They are ‘colored’ or mixed-race people, a group that, along with Blacks, suffered greatly under Apartheid rule.  Today the family is upper middle-class and proud of the progress they and their country have made since Apartheid ended.

One thing is certain: Marlene is an excellent cook, and she fed us a delicious, home-cooked meal.  She said that she prepared a typical family meal for us, nothing fancy, just good food and plenty of it. 

 

Note that we did our part to help end Cape Town’s drought – it rained every day of our visit and we even had hail a couple of times.  The reservoirs were looking much better by the time we left, and the weather really didn’t keep us from doing anything.  We did a bit of touring around the city, with a local guide to point out significant points of interest. 

The Castle of Good Hope was built by the Dutch in the 1600s to defend Cape Town.  This stone-walled pentagonal castle remains the headquarters for the West Cape Military Command.  It is one of oldest buildings remaining from the city’s founding.

Cape Town City Hall was the last major Victorian building to go up in the city; it was built in 1906 with limestone imported from Bath, England. Its clock tower is more than a little reminiscent of Big Ben. Its greatest claim to fame, however, is that its balcony was the place where Nelson Mandela addressed the nation after his release in 1990, and again in 1994 following his election as president.

Mandela spent 27 years of his life in prison for sabotage and against the apartheid government.  Most of his sentence was spent at Robben Island, Cape Town’s Alcatraz, a grim penal colony five miles off the coast.  He spent the last few years of his imprisonment at Drakensburg Prison, just outside of the city.  A large statue of Mandela now stands near the main gate to this prison.

The Houses of Parliament are filled with stories about the country’s modern history, including when President Hendrik Verwoerd, architect of apartheid, was stabbed to death in 1966.  Other branches of the national government are located in Pretoria, Bloemfontein, and Johannesburg. 

St. Mary’s Cathedral is the common name for the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Flight into Egypt.  It is the oldest Catholic cathedral in South Africa; its first stone was laid in 1851.

St. George’s Cathedral is the Anglican cathedral in Cape Town.  It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cape Town, the position formerly held by Desmond Tutu.  The cathedral is known as the ‘People’s Cathedral’ for its role in the resistance against apartheid. 

Bo-Kaap (Upper Cape) city’s Cape Malay Muslim community, a collection of candy-colored rowhouses clustered around the slopes of Signal Hill.  This group of people has lived here for generations, and they have enlivened their houses by painting them every conceivable shade of pink, green, blue and purple. 

 

 

Nobel Square in the Victoria and Albert Waterfront Complex pays tribute to South Africa's four Nobel Peace Prize Laureates: the late Nkosi Albert Luthuli, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former President F.W. de Klerk and former President Nelson Mandela.  All played important parts in the fight against apartheid and the road to democracy in South Africa. 

The National Botanical Gardens of Kirstenbosch has the location and unique plants to rank it among the most beautiful gardens in the world.  About 9,000 of South Africa’s 22,000 plant species are grown here, in a spectacular setting covering over 1300 acres.  












The garden is situated on the eastern slope of Table Mountain, where Stone Age relics have been found, the Dutch East India Company logged timber, and Dutch settlers established farms.  The entire area was eventually purchased by Cecil Rhodes, who left the property to the nation’s people.  In 1931 it became a botanical garden.

 

The Cape Floral Kingdom is the smallest of the six plant kingdoms of the world.  It is roughly the size of Indiana and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.  The site is known for the ecology and biology of the fynbos (fine bush) vegetation which is unique to this region. The diversity, density and endemism of the flora are among the highest anywhere in the world. Some 9,000 varieties of bush-like plants, known as fynbos, many unique to the Western Cape, cover the area, along with one familiar plant, the calla lily, here considered a weed.  Wildlife includes mountain goats, tortoises, springboks, penguins and baboons.  Rising temperatures pose a long-term threat to this area.

Table Mountain is a two-mile long plateau that rises more than 3500 feet above Cape Town.  It can be seen from nearly every street corner in the city.   Table Mountain National Park began as a preserve founded by Cecil Rhodes (then Prime Minister of the Cape Colony); it has grown into a 60,000-acre wilderness, extending from the heart of the city to the southern tip of the Cape Peninsula. 

Signs all over proclaim that Table Mountain is one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature, a 2007 initiative to create a list of seven natural wonders chosen by people through a global poll.  There has been much criticism of the effort, the largest problem being that the voting process allowed repetitive voting.   Folks in Cape Town don’t much care – they’re happy with this new type of notoriety.  

The Table Mountain Cableway carries folks to the top of the mountain in Table Mountain National Park.  The views from the parking lot were lovely; we were told that the views from the revolving cars and from the summit (106 meters) are phenomenal.  Alas, the mountaintop was covered with fog.   At the top, there are shops, a café, lots of rock hydrax (commonly known as dassies), and some walks to follow around the mountaintop. 

 

The Cape of Good Hope is in the southernmost section of the National Park.  Because of shifting currents, the Cape of Good Hope is not consistently where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet.  That distinction is shared with the lesser known Cape Agulhas, some 150 miles east.  Cape Point is located at the tip of the nature reserve, and this is technically the “Cape of Good Hope.”

The Cape’s historic lighthouse was built in 1859.  We hopped on the Flying Dutchman funicular for a three-minute ride to the viewing point at its base.  Changeable climate and wicked ocean currents make this a dangerous spot for ships.  

 

Boulders Beach at False Bay is known for its large colony of African Black-Footed Penguins, commonly known as Jackass Penguins for their donkey-like braying.  Now numbering roughly 3,000, they have enjoyed an easier life since commercial fishing has dwindled and use of their beach is restricted. These penguins have black feet and spotted chest patterns – each unique to the individual.  

South Africa’s Wine Country is concentrated around Cape Town, where the first bottle of wine was produced in 1659.  From this early effort, sponsored by the Dutch East India Company to supply ships during their voyages along the spice route.  Wine making improved over the years, but for much of the 20th century, South African wine received minimal international attention. Its isolation was largely due to boycotts of South African products in protest against the country’s system of apartheid.  When apartheid ended, the world export market opened up, and South African wines began to experience a renaissance. 

Wine takes center stage in the old Dutch town of Stellenbosch, which has more than 100 wine cellars surrounding the town.   We visited two of these:   Fairview and Dornier.  Fairview was fun, as we tasted six different wines, each paired with a cheese made from the milk of the farm’s goat herd.  We washed it all down with a couple of delicious desert wines.   By the time we left, everybody was happy, happy.  

Dornier also offered six wines to tasted, but the couldn’t compete with our first stop.  As our guide noted, “You can make bad wine from excellent grapes, but you can’t make good wine from bad grapes.”

Townships are a bitter legacy of Apartheid era. The townships are urban areas on the periphery of cities and are designated for black and other non-white people. Thousands of Black and mixed-race people were evicted from their properties in designated “white only” neighborhoods and were forced to move in the Townships.  They were not allowed to own property; they could only rent or lease.  To have a better understanding of this side of South Africa, we visited Langa, the largest and oldest of Cape Town’s Townships.  

The government has been making efforts to rejuvenate the Township by constructing new residential buildings to improve the housing conditions as well as schools, clinics, sport facilities, community centers. Residents have also been provided better access to electricity and running water; for example, the building behind the fence is the public shower. Other government-sponsored 'improvements' are unbelievable.  

 

However, while the government slowly constructs residential buildings in Langa, shanties are being built in the outskirts of the township by new migrants arriving in the area. Aside from many black South Africans who migrate to the city to find jobs, there is a large influx of migrants from other African nations who seek better lives for themselves.  Miles of horrible shanty-towns encircle the township.  

We found that a lot of residents still live a very rural life. We saw people selling boiled sheep’s heads, a popular delicacy among migrants, who make sure that no part of the animals goes to waste.  These women, wearing a yellowish cream to keep their skin soft, used hot knives to scrape/burn the hair off the sheep's head.

 

Shopping choices are mostly limited to small convenience stores and a few specialty shop, such as salons and barber shops.. 

 

 

We felt mostly welcome, if not particularly comfortable, as we traveled around the Township. People were friendly and seemed to be happy that people were visiting their neighborhood. Our guide said that the residents hope that foreign visitors will help spread the word about their living conditions and perhaps help in pressuring the government to action to alleviate the abject poverty that still exists in the Townships.  

Visiting the township was not a fun part of the trip – it was depressing, eye-opening and somewhat startling to see the effects of apartheid, up close and personal.  Our visit was short, but unforgettable;  we have long believed that traveling changes lives - this visit changed ours.

A note here – we visited only one township, but we saw these shanty towns everywhere we went in South Africa.  The city of Cape Town is nearly surrounded by townships that have grown so large that they are running together.  Every town of any size has at least one township; in some areas the highway was lined with shanties. 

Notwithstanding 20 years of democracy, there are still hundreds of thousands of black and mixed-race families living in terrible conditions.  A typical example is an indigent family of 5 members are living in a single room made of wood and iron, built in someone’s back yard, with no running water, toilet or electricity.   There is a desperate need for families to acquire modest, but decent housing. The ever- increasing waiting list for housing is over a million families.   There are signs of progress, but also signs that the government’s priorities lie elsewhere – the money spent to build a new stadium to host the 2010 World Cup soccer is a particularly sore subject.






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ANIMALS SEEN ON GAME DRIVES

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