4/29/08
Dear Family & Friends,
Hello from Swapokmund, Namibia. The internet here is slow and funny and I don't have a lot of time so this might be an inferior attempt. Actually, this is only the second internet place we have had available in a week and when we went to the first one, in Springbok, South Africa, we couldn't get on there because of the rolling blackouts from the electrical company!
We are now on the second tour, which started from Capetown last Wednesday. There are 16 people in this group: 7 Canadians, 4 Americans, 1 Italian, and 4 English. All are pleasant and we have been having fun with them. Our new tour leader, Johan, is South African and kind of rigid but a good leader and we have been learning a lot from him. We spent one day and night in northern South Africa, at Lambert's Bay, where there is a huge breeding colony of gannets - large sea birds with very blue eyes. The guesthouse we stayed in there was really nice, and we had a good seafood dinner in town too. The next morning we had to get packed and dressed in the dark because the electricity was off for 2 hours, but our hostess still managed to prepare a very good breakfast.
The next day we proceeded across the border into Namibia, and the border crossing was not difficult. This is a very dry and arid country so when we pulled into our lodgings for the second night, we were pleasantly surprised by the greenery, as we stayed in thatched huts along the Orange River. They had every amenity and were very comfy. We saw a GAP tours overland camping vehicle there so we went over to look at it. These vehicles are built very high and although they look comfortable, they aren't air conditioned, which is a major deal here in a desert country where even now in autumn, it is very hot. Parts of Namibia are very desolate and parts are covered with drying grass after all the rain of the past few months. The rainy season has just ended. As we drive along, we sometimes see game animals, especially springbok, oryx, and ostrich. Driving here reminds me of the outback in Australia, because there are great huge areas with nothing and then we stop at a roadhouse. Here there are gas pumps, usually a small shop, bar, hotel, restaurant and toilets. Then we proceed on and there are more long, desolate roads. So far about 80% of the roads have been gravel. At one roadhouse the lady there showed us her pets: 2 rock dassies, which we had already seen in South Africa. Elaine thinks they are just big rodents, but actually their closest relatives are elephants.
Our second day in Namibia we went to the Fish River Canyon, which they claim is the second largest canyon in the world, after the Grand Canyon. It is very dry, even down at the river area, because it is dammed further upstream. Our guide kept warning us about snakes and on the road we passed a spitting cobra. We also stopped to look at huge nests in some of the trees made by birds called social weavers. The biggest nests might have up to 800 birds in them. That night we had our worst accommodation so far - a lodge outside the town of Aus, where we had 2 dormitories. It was located in a canyon 7 km from the hotel, but some of our group decided to stay at the hotel for an extra charge. The rest of us went to the lodge and basically had a giant slumber party. We spent the evening around the lodge table, drinking wine and getting to know each other better and it turned out to be really fun.
The next evening we stayed at the Nubia Game Ranch which was run by a very nice family. We each had our own thatched huts with nice bathrooms and wonderful views across savanna grasslands to the nearby colorful mountains. The owner took us on a free game drive in his open air truck on his property, ending with what they call Sundowners - cocktails while watching the sunset. We saw springboks and zebras and some birds. The food there was wonderful and they sent a really good packed breakfast with us the next day because we had to leave so early. We learned a lot about the area and the difficulties of living in such a remote place as we chatted with this man and his son. As we were driving out, our bus got stuck in the sandy riverbed we had to cross and the guy used his unimog truck to pull us out.
From there we drove to an area called Sossuvlei where there are many miles of big red sand dunes. Luckily they only allow people to climb one of them, and most of our group did it. We only went part way because I didn't want to stress my knee again. After the others got back, we drove to another area where we had to take 4 wheel drive vehicles through a really pretty part of the desert where there were even lots of trees and wildflowers, ending at a place where we hiked to a salt pan. This had been an inland sea and now is dry and there are lots of skeletons of old trees. Our last hike was supposed to be in an area where there was a canyon leading to a waterfall, but there was too much water in the canyon for our hike. While we were driving around this area, we stopped to see three oryx who were fairly near the road. Then we noticed a small cat that was trying to creep up on them. Our guide thought it was a juvenile leopard and he hustled us back on the bus because he was afraid the mother was nearby. Turns out that it was an African wildcat and not a small leopard at all. The ranger said that this cat is usually sighted very rarely - maybe once in 20 years or so!
After all the heat of the desert and the hiking, we were very happy to arrive at the Namib Desert Lodge where there were 2 swimming pools and we had really nice rooms and a delicious buffet dinner that night. Elaine and I sat on our veranda, having a before dinner drink, and looking across the savanna right in front of us it reminded us of the camping scene in "Out of Africa". All we needed was the fabulous music.
The next day we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn on our way here to Swakopmund. This is a very German town and we are enjoying the infrastructure. Also, it is on the coast, so the temperature is much cooler. In fact today the fog never dissipated so it was overcast all day. Lots of our group went sand boarding and quad riding on the nearby dunes and they said it was sunny out there. Four of the guys went fishing and some others were supposed to take a scenic flight. We just walked the town, did our laundry, got a haircut, and enjoyed the down time. There is a lot of mining in this area. The Kristall Gallery in town is loaded with wonderful gems and crystals and we spent some time drooling over them. Tomorrow we head further north towards Etosha National Park where we hope to see lots more animals.
No doubt there will be no internet places until we arrive in Windhoek in 5 days. Until then, sending big hugs to you all.
Love, Mary & Elaine
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
4/15/08
Dear Friends & Family,
Have been having a few more adventures so I thought I would relate them to you before I forget all the details. Yesterday we had a fabulous day visiting Cape Point, which is located in a national park where the Cape of Good Hope is located. This is the farthest south western point in Africa. One of our problems about going here was that we didn't have a vehicle to get there and it is difficult to do without one. We don't want to rent a car because they drive on the left hand side here, which we haven't done in years, and the way they drive is somewhat scary. Nearly every car has several dents and scrapes. Also, neither one of us remembered to bring our driver's licenses! So we checked into excursions and they were rather expensive. When our very nice neighbors at the guesthouse where our apartment is invited us to tag along with them yesterday, we jumped at the chance. They are Jonathon & Bev, a couple from Johannesburg, and his visitingsister, Ruth, from England. We drove to Hout Bay again, and walked around the harbour so Ruth could see it. It was another perfect day, weather-wise, although the mist was still burning off at the seaside. There is a very scenic road, called Chapman's Peak Road, which runs along the Atlantic coast out of Hout Bay towards Cape Point and we stopped several times for views and pictures. Our next stop was for "tea" in Simonstown, a very picturesque village where there is also a major naval base. It is one of the oldest towns in South Africa and has lots of old restored buildings as well as a nice harbour. Not very far from there is a very large Jackass penguin colony at Boulder's Beach. There are about 3000 penguins nesting there now although the colony started with only 2 nesting pairs in the 1980's. The beach is also beautiful because there are lots of huge boulders, and a nicely done boardwalk which goes by a lot of the areas where they nest.
We pressed on to the national park which is covered in low-growing vegetation indigenous to this area called fynbos. After an excellent lunch at the Two Oceans restaurant, we hiked up a somewhat steep trail to the lighthouse. The name of the restaurant comes from the fact that the Atlantic and Indian Ocenas meet here. We had expected to have baboon encounters here because everyone warned us about them and said how aggressive they were, and to be sure we avoided them and locked our car. But there were none to be seen. Perhaps they had been removed because some nuns were attacked by them last week and it was in the news. What we did see were several mice on the trail, and one nibbled Elaine's shoe in the restaurant, so she wasn't too happy about that!! It was very windy at the top of the peak but sunny and beautiful. On the hike back we saw an eland in the vegetation near the funicular station, but no other antelope or zebras, which wasdisappointing. Of course, we had our picture taken at the sign that said the Cape of Good Hope, and the GPS reading for it. On the drive back we stopped in Hout Bay for dinner and enjoyed it immensely, as Bev and Jonathon are so interesting and informative.
It was great to be with a South African couple because we could ask them lots of questions. One thing we asked about was the crime problem and they verified that in Johannesburg it is very bad, although they live there. For example, they never leave their garden door open or unlocked because then it is possible that a gang of blacks will invade and rob them. They also said that it happens occasionally that a gang of 5-6 blacks with AK-47's will go in a restaurant or even a grocery store and rob everybody in the place. The police seem to be either corrupt or unable to deal with problems like this, so this kind of behavior is escalating. We also asked them about whether they had to pay for school, since they have one son in college and one in high school. They said they pay about 1000 rand a month for high school and college is about 2000 rand per month. Another lady told us that her primary school son also had to pay about 800 rand. Currently the rand is 7.86 to the dollar. Hearing about these costs expalins why so many of the blacks here are uneducated and why we see so many young kids on the streets trying to sell things, or even just begging.
4/16/08 I stopped yesterday and will try to finish this up today. We have just come back from another seaside stroll at Sea Point, since today and tomorrow are supposed to be the best days and then a front is going to come in. Last week we had a few VERY windy days and nights, so we did some museums and one more movie. They call the wind "the Cape Doctor" because it blows all the crappy air out of here, although we have not noticed too much smog in the air at all. On one of our last days with David & Ann, we drove by a huge fire in a mostly deserted hillside area near Paarl, and we took some pictures. When we passed the fire again after dark, it had spread all over the ridge and was throwing up huge flames. For several days after that the air was awful in the whole area. It has cleared up now, and in fact, we think that one of the most delightful things about all of South Africa is that the air was so clear everywhere.
One of the museums we went to was the Gold Museum. There was a whole history of gold mining and gold jewelry making and LOTS of gold artifacts. Of course, a lot of the gold in the world has been mined here in Africa, and it has been traditional that African tribal leaders, kings, etc. always wear a lot of gold and use gold covered utensils to impress their people and other tribes too. The other museum we went to was the South African National Gallery. We were not impressed with the painting section, but other areas, such as the photographic part were brilliant, and did a lot to show conditions during Apartheid. We bought a few things at the shop there because they were so much better than you can find out on the street.
The movie we went to was called "Zeitgeist", and was supposed to be a commentary on social fallacies. It started by comparing Christianity to pagan religions; went on to support the theory that 9/11, and indeed other national catastrophies such a Pearl Harbor, were actually set up by our own government to get popular approval to wage wars; and ended by explaining how the banking systems own all the politicians and are calling all the shots in world governments. It was quite a thought provoking evening.
Just watching the news on TV here can be thought provoking, given the state of the Zimbabwe elections. Perhaps it will all come to a head today when the South African president is due to address the UN Security Council concerning the fact that Mogabe, the Zimbabwe dictator, is refusing to release the results of the election (since he probably lost). If some international pressure isn't put on him, he will no doubt still maintain power and everone says he is a nutcase who is ruining the country, and maybe taking the whole region down with him. On a lighter side, about South African TV, we have never been in a country before where TV programs star at such odd times. For example, tonight's episode of "Friends" starts at 6:27. There are 4 channels and luckily, we are also getting one cable channel, the Travel channel, because the first 4 are not very good. The travel channel here is much better than the one we get in the USA and we are enjoying it.
One last social commentary. A few years ago the company called Eskom, which supplies electricity applied for a permit to build more power plants and when they wouldn't let them, they warned that by 2008 there would be shortages. Sure enough, there are now rolling blackouts. They turn off the power for several hours in different areas because there isn't enough. The really silly thing is that they publish a schedule of the proposed blackout areas and then they don't stick to it, so when the police try to have people to direct traffic at the stoplights in the areas where the blackouts are supposed to be, they aren't in the right places and traffic is hopelessly snarled. And, to add insult to injury, now Eskom is warning that there is going to be a 60% increase for electrical service! Probably I have bored you silly once again so I will close and try to bat off another one of these the next time we have anything of interest to impart. Our next tour starts next Tuesday, so we will be leaving Capetown next Wednesday. Sending big hugs to all and hoping things are going well there.
Love, Mary & Elaine
Dear Friends & Family,
Have been having a few more adventures so I thought I would relate them to you before I forget all the details. Yesterday we had a fabulous day visiting Cape Point, which is located in a national park where the Cape of Good Hope is located. This is the farthest south western point in Africa. One of our problems about going here was that we didn't have a vehicle to get there and it is difficult to do without one. We don't want to rent a car because they drive on the left hand side here, which we haven't done in years, and the way they drive is somewhat scary. Nearly every car has several dents and scrapes. Also, neither one of us remembered to bring our driver's licenses! So we checked into excursions and they were rather expensive. When our very nice neighbors at the guesthouse where our apartment is invited us to tag along with them yesterday, we jumped at the chance. They are Jonathon & Bev, a couple from Johannesburg, and his visitingsister, Ruth, from England. We drove to Hout Bay again, and walked around the harbour so Ruth could see it. It was another perfect day, weather-wise, although the mist was still burning off at the seaside. There is a very scenic road, called Chapman's Peak Road, which runs along the Atlantic coast out of Hout Bay towards Cape Point and we stopped several times for views and pictures. Our next stop was for "tea" in Simonstown, a very picturesque village where there is also a major naval base. It is one of the oldest towns in South Africa and has lots of old restored buildings as well as a nice harbour. Not very far from there is a very large Jackass penguin colony at Boulder's Beach. There are about 3000 penguins nesting there now although the colony started with only 2 nesting pairs in the 1980's. The beach is also beautiful because there are lots of huge boulders, and a nicely done boardwalk which goes by a lot of the areas where they nest.
We pressed on to the national park which is covered in low-growing vegetation indigenous to this area called fynbos. After an excellent lunch at the Two Oceans restaurant, we hiked up a somewhat steep trail to the lighthouse. The name of the restaurant comes from the fact that the Atlantic and Indian Ocenas meet here. We had expected to have baboon encounters here because everyone warned us about them and said how aggressive they were, and to be sure we avoided them and locked our car. But there were none to be seen. Perhaps they had been removed because some nuns were attacked by them last week and it was in the news. What we did see were several mice on the trail, and one nibbled Elaine's shoe in the restaurant, so she wasn't too happy about that!! It was very windy at the top of the peak but sunny and beautiful. On the hike back we saw an eland in the vegetation near the funicular station, but no other antelope or zebras, which wasdisappointing. Of course, we had our picture taken at the sign that said the Cape of Good Hope, and the GPS reading for it. On the drive back we stopped in Hout Bay for dinner and enjoyed it immensely, as Bev and Jonathon are so interesting and informative.
It was great to be with a South African couple because we could ask them lots of questions. One thing we asked about was the crime problem and they verified that in Johannesburg it is very bad, although they live there. For example, they never leave their garden door open or unlocked because then it is possible that a gang of blacks will invade and rob them. They also said that it happens occasionally that a gang of 5-6 blacks with AK-47's will go in a restaurant or even a grocery store and rob everybody in the place. The police seem to be either corrupt or unable to deal with problems like this, so this kind of behavior is escalating. We also asked them about whether they had to pay for school, since they have one son in college and one in high school. They said they pay about 1000 rand a month for high school and college is about 2000 rand per month. Another lady told us that her primary school son also had to pay about 800 rand. Currently the rand is 7.86 to the dollar. Hearing about these costs expalins why so many of the blacks here are uneducated and why we see so many young kids on the streets trying to sell things, or even just begging.
4/16/08 I stopped yesterday and will try to finish this up today. We have just come back from another seaside stroll at Sea Point, since today and tomorrow are supposed to be the best days and then a front is going to come in. Last week we had a few VERY windy days and nights, so we did some museums and one more movie. They call the wind "the Cape Doctor" because it blows all the crappy air out of here, although we have not noticed too much smog in the air at all. On one of our last days with David & Ann, we drove by a huge fire in a mostly deserted hillside area near Paarl, and we took some pictures. When we passed the fire again after dark, it had spread all over the ridge and was throwing up huge flames. For several days after that the air was awful in the whole area. It has cleared up now, and in fact, we think that one of the most delightful things about all of South Africa is that the air was so clear everywhere.
One of the museums we went to was the Gold Museum. There was a whole history of gold mining and gold jewelry making and LOTS of gold artifacts. Of course, a lot of the gold in the world has been mined here in Africa, and it has been traditional that African tribal leaders, kings, etc. always wear a lot of gold and use gold covered utensils to impress their people and other tribes too. The other museum we went to was the South African National Gallery. We were not impressed with the painting section, but other areas, such as the photographic part were brilliant, and did a lot to show conditions during Apartheid. We bought a few things at the shop there because they were so much better than you can find out on the street.
The movie we went to was called "Zeitgeist", and was supposed to be a commentary on social fallacies. It started by comparing Christianity to pagan religions; went on to support the theory that 9/11, and indeed other national catastrophies such a Pearl Harbor, were actually set up by our own government to get popular approval to wage wars; and ended by explaining how the banking systems own all the politicians and are calling all the shots in world governments. It was quite a thought provoking evening.
Just watching the news on TV here can be thought provoking, given the state of the Zimbabwe elections. Perhaps it will all come to a head today when the South African president is due to address the UN Security Council concerning the fact that Mogabe, the Zimbabwe dictator, is refusing to release the results of the election (since he probably lost). If some international pressure isn't put on him, he will no doubt still maintain power and everone says he is a nutcase who is ruining the country, and maybe taking the whole region down with him. On a lighter side, about South African TV, we have never been in a country before where TV programs star at such odd times. For example, tonight's episode of "Friends" starts at 6:27. There are 4 channels and luckily, we are also getting one cable channel, the Travel channel, because the first 4 are not very good. The travel channel here is much better than the one we get in the USA and we are enjoying it.
One last social commentary. A few years ago the company called Eskom, which supplies electricity applied for a permit to build more power plants and when they wouldn't let them, they warned that by 2008 there would be shortages. Sure enough, there are now rolling blackouts. They turn off the power for several hours in different areas because there isn't enough. The really silly thing is that they publish a schedule of the proposed blackout areas and then they don't stick to it, so when the police try to have people to direct traffic at the stoplights in the areas where the blackouts are supposed to be, they aren't in the right places and traffic is hopelessly snarled. And, to add insult to injury, now Eskom is warning that there is going to be a 60% increase for electrical service! Probably I have bored you silly once again so I will close and try to bat off another one of these the next time we have anything of interest to impart. Our next tour starts next Tuesday, so we will be leaving Capetown next Wednesday. Sending big hugs to all and hoping things are going well there.
Love, Mary & Elaine
Thursday, April 10, 2008
4/10/08
Dear Family & Friends,
Another sunny day here in Capetown, although some clouds are now rolling over the mountain nearby and we can see the beginnings of "the Tablecloth". This is their name for a cloud that covers the top of Table Mountain, the flat topped mountain that towers over the main part of the city. Three days ago we hiked from our apartment up to the cable car station and took the cable car up to the top. Previously, when our tour bus took us up there and we couldn't take the cable car because it wasn't running (too windy), we looked at the view just from the bottom cable car station and it was fantastic. We could see the City Bowl, and the entire waterfront, plus good views of Lion's Head, a nearby peak. However, taking the cable car up to the top was tons better. We could see all of the communities that surround Capetown along the coasts, and all the way down to Cape Point. We walked almost all over the top, and stayed for lunch at the self-service restaurant there. It was such a sunny and gorgeous day that the line was rather long to get tickets. The cable car itself moves really rapidly and is unique in that the floor rotates 360 degrees on the way up so everyone gets to see all the views. A nice woman from Durban was ahead of us in line and she very kindly bought our tickets for us so we could get in for about half price. This is because "pensioners" get a great rate but they stipulate South African pensioners. Other places, such as at the movies, they only ask that you be old, not South African as well!
Actually, lots of things here aren't very expensive, such as a movie ticket. We have been paying about 20 rand each, or $2.50. The cable car was 130 rand, with pensioners paying 68 rand. We usually take a city bus to get to the waterfront, and that is 3.1 rand. A decent bottle of wine costs between 25 and 100 rand, and most meals out are between 40 and 80 rand. A glass of wine with a meal costs about 13-18 rand, and a beer between 10 and 15 rand. Currently the exchange rate is about 7.9 rand per dollar.
Yesterday we took the city sightseeing bus which is a red double decker, open top bus where you can get off and on at various points of interest. There are 2 routes; the red one around the city and up to Table Mountain, and the blue route goes to some places in the outskirts. We did the blue one and got off at a place called World of Birds. Here they had hundreds of birds from all over the world, and also some monkeys, meerkats, etc. Quite interesting and enjoyable, especially the section where they had all the birds that had been donated to them from homes where people couldn't keep them anymore, so most of them talked! At lunchtime we got off the bus at Hout Bay, a small maritime community where there is working harbour and where we ate at a nice restaurant overlooking the yachts. The beach there looked quite clean and was very protected because of the headlands nearby. Then we took the bus back to Capetown. The route runs all along the Atlantic coast communities where there are lots of high rise condos and expensive beach front properties, especially near some of the nicer beaches. This gave us the idea of taking the city bus to Sea Point today, the closest beach town. We wanted to enjoy this sunny day by walking along the beachside promenade and also check out the little shops there. It was fun.
Lest you think we have just been enjoying frivolous activities, let me assure you that we tried to learn more about Apartheid and some of the social struggles here by visiting the District 6 museum. In my last letter I mentioned that District 6 was the place where they removed all the blacks and then bulldozed their homes. I wish I could say that the museum was enlightening but it turned out to be poorly done with many things in very small print or located too high up on the wall to read. There were a very interesting exhibits such as a reconstructed one room home of a family from District 6, but we found the rest of it tedious and left.
Another day we took the ferry out to Robben Island, which is South Africa's Alcatraz Island. This is an island about 6 miles off the waterfront where previously there was a leper colony and also, on and off over hundreds of years, it has had a prison there. This is where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners of the Apartheid era were held for periods from 7 to 27 years. The tour through the prison was led by a former political prisoner, and he told us about some of his experiences there. Before seeing the actual prison, we had a bus tour of the island and we also saw some of the Jackass penguins that nest there. The views across the water at Capetown, with Table Mountain towering over it, were incredible. We were lucky to get tickets because usually you have to book in advance, sometimes weeks in advance. We didn't want to do that in case our tickets ended up being on a bad weather day. So we went to the ticket line about 45 minutes before a tour and waited to see if there were cancellations. The first time we just got to the front of the line when there were no more tickets. So we went back for afternoon tours and got on one. Hooray.
Each day when we head into the main part of Capetown from our apartment, we walk through the Company's Gardens. This is a big area of beautiful big trees, grass, and lots of plants, with nice walkways and some sculptures. Many of the main buildings, such as the President's house, Parliament building, South African National Gallery, etc. are along the edge of these gardens. This is because the gardens were one of the first things the Dutch created in Capetown. Originally they planted these gardens with fruits and veggies for the ships of the Dutch East India Company who stopped here for reprovisioning. In fact, that was why Capetown was first started - they didn't start allowing colonists to come here for many years, only workers for the Company who did the things needed to replenish the ships, or repair them. As we walk through the gardens, we are constantly confronted by squirrels who are used to people feeding them! They will eat right out of your hand, but after my episode with the monkey, I am not getting anywhere near any animals!!
Before closing, I want to tell you about an anomaly - the gas station which is located right at the end of our street. It has a bunch of gas pumps, and also a store, as our gas stations often do. But this one has a wonderful bakery, gourmet food items, fruits and veggies, even a deli type counter where you can get meat pies and Portugese style chicken meals. All at a GAS STATION!! Amazing.
Next time, if I remember, I must comment on South African TV and newspapers. It is quite surprising to read, right at the top of the TV listings in the newspaper, "inaccurate and unreliable based on information supplied by the SABC". You would never see such candidness in OUR newspapers!
Sending big hugs.
Love, Mary & Elaine
Dear Family & Friends,
Another sunny day here in Capetown, although some clouds are now rolling over the mountain nearby and we can see the beginnings of "the Tablecloth". This is their name for a cloud that covers the top of Table Mountain, the flat topped mountain that towers over the main part of the city. Three days ago we hiked from our apartment up to the cable car station and took the cable car up to the top. Previously, when our tour bus took us up there and we couldn't take the cable car because it wasn't running (too windy), we looked at the view just from the bottom cable car station and it was fantastic. We could see the City Bowl, and the entire waterfront, plus good views of Lion's Head, a nearby peak. However, taking the cable car up to the top was tons better. We could see all of the communities that surround Capetown along the coasts, and all the way down to Cape Point. We walked almost all over the top, and stayed for lunch at the self-service restaurant there. It was such a sunny and gorgeous day that the line was rather long to get tickets. The cable car itself moves really rapidly and is unique in that the floor rotates 360 degrees on the way up so everyone gets to see all the views. A nice woman from Durban was ahead of us in line and she very kindly bought our tickets for us so we could get in for about half price. This is because "pensioners" get a great rate but they stipulate South African pensioners. Other places, such as at the movies, they only ask that you be old, not South African as well!
Actually, lots of things here aren't very expensive, such as a movie ticket. We have been paying about 20 rand each, or $2.50. The cable car was 130 rand, with pensioners paying 68 rand. We usually take a city bus to get to the waterfront, and that is 3.1 rand. A decent bottle of wine costs between 25 and 100 rand, and most meals out are between 40 and 80 rand. A glass of wine with a meal costs about 13-18 rand, and a beer between 10 and 15 rand. Currently the exchange rate is about 7.9 rand per dollar.
Yesterday we took the city sightseeing bus which is a red double decker, open top bus where you can get off and on at various points of interest. There are 2 routes; the red one around the city and up to Table Mountain, and the blue route goes to some places in the outskirts. We did the blue one and got off at a place called World of Birds. Here they had hundreds of birds from all over the world, and also some monkeys, meerkats, etc. Quite interesting and enjoyable, especially the section where they had all the birds that had been donated to them from homes where people couldn't keep them anymore, so most of them talked! At lunchtime we got off the bus at Hout Bay, a small maritime community where there is working harbour and where we ate at a nice restaurant overlooking the yachts. The beach there looked quite clean and was very protected because of the headlands nearby. Then we took the bus back to Capetown. The route runs all along the Atlantic coast communities where there are lots of high rise condos and expensive beach front properties, especially near some of the nicer beaches. This gave us the idea of taking the city bus to Sea Point today, the closest beach town. We wanted to enjoy this sunny day by walking along the beachside promenade and also check out the little shops there. It was fun.
Lest you think we have just been enjoying frivolous activities, let me assure you that we tried to learn more about Apartheid and some of the social struggles here by visiting the District 6 museum. In my last letter I mentioned that District 6 was the place where they removed all the blacks and then bulldozed their homes. I wish I could say that the museum was enlightening but it turned out to be poorly done with many things in very small print or located too high up on the wall to read. There were a very interesting exhibits such as a reconstructed one room home of a family from District 6, but we found the rest of it tedious and left.
Another day we took the ferry out to Robben Island, which is South Africa's Alcatraz Island. This is an island about 6 miles off the waterfront where previously there was a leper colony and also, on and off over hundreds of years, it has had a prison there. This is where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners of the Apartheid era were held for periods from 7 to 27 years. The tour through the prison was led by a former political prisoner, and he told us about some of his experiences there. Before seeing the actual prison, we had a bus tour of the island and we also saw some of the Jackass penguins that nest there. The views across the water at Capetown, with Table Mountain towering over it, were incredible. We were lucky to get tickets because usually you have to book in advance, sometimes weeks in advance. We didn't want to do that in case our tickets ended up being on a bad weather day. So we went to the ticket line about 45 minutes before a tour and waited to see if there were cancellations. The first time we just got to the front of the line when there were no more tickets. So we went back for afternoon tours and got on one. Hooray.
Each day when we head into the main part of Capetown from our apartment, we walk through the Company's Gardens. This is a big area of beautiful big trees, grass, and lots of plants, with nice walkways and some sculptures. Many of the main buildings, such as the President's house, Parliament building, South African National Gallery, etc. are along the edge of these gardens. This is because the gardens were one of the first things the Dutch created in Capetown. Originally they planted these gardens with fruits and veggies for the ships of the Dutch East India Company who stopped here for reprovisioning. In fact, that was why Capetown was first started - they didn't start allowing colonists to come here for many years, only workers for the Company who did the things needed to replenish the ships, or repair them. As we walk through the gardens, we are constantly confronted by squirrels who are used to people feeding them! They will eat right out of your hand, but after my episode with the monkey, I am not getting anywhere near any animals!!
Before closing, I want to tell you about an anomaly - the gas station which is located right at the end of our street. It has a bunch of gas pumps, and also a store, as our gas stations often do. But this one has a wonderful bakery, gourmet food items, fruits and veggies, even a deli type counter where you can get meat pies and Portugese style chicken meals. All at a GAS STATION!! Amazing.
Next time, if I remember, I must comment on South African TV and newspapers. It is quite surprising to read, right at the top of the TV listings in the newspaper, "inaccurate and unreliable based on information supplied by the SABC". You would never see such candidness in OUR newspapers!
Sending big hugs.
Love, Mary & Elaine
Friday, April 04, 2008
4/4/08
Dear Family & Friends,
Hello from Capetown where we are enjoying being on our own now and exploring this beautiful city in a leisurely fashion. Two days ago David & Ann dropped us off at the Silver Lattice Guesthouse, where we have rented a one bedroom self-catering apartment until April 22. It is located on a small and quiet street in the part of Capetown called Gardens. We have all the comforts of home with plenty of good shopping and other amenities, such as a nearby theater, just a block or two away, all for about $45 per night. It is an easy walk to just about everything we want to see or do here, and we spent yesterday just exploring on foot. I am able to do this now that my knee has mostly healed, and so has my monkey bite.
Today we walked downtown and then caught a city bus to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. There are hundreds of stores there, plus entertainment, restaurants, etc. We looked at the exhibits at the Nelson Mandela Gateway to Robben Island. That is the place where he was imprisoned for most of the 27 years he was jailed, and it is located about 6 miles out on Table Bay. We decided not to go out to the island today because it is cooler and cloudy today with a chance of rain. We will go at a later time, when we can have sun for our boat trip out there. Because we are here after the major tourist time, and the school holidays will be over on the 15th, we will have a much easier time getting tickets for this. Some English girls on our first tour tried to get tickets several weeks before we arrived here and they couldn't get booked.
Ann and David took us to lots of the most beautiful areas around here where there are wineries and good restaurants. There are over 300 vineyards and wineries in this area! Wednesday we went to one in an affluent area very near Capetown called Constantia. We also drove the coast along False Bay, which was beautiful, and we passed a lot of the townships in the Cape Flats area. This is a huge flat area outside of Capetown where the black people were forced to live when they took their land away from them during apartheid and bulldozed their homes in District 6. They did this to about 60,000 people. Now they are starting to restore their land to them and helping them build better houses if they do have to stay in the Cape Flats area. Speaking of houses, we find it interesting that they do not use wood for framing houses here. Instead they build brick houses, often then covering the bricks with plaster and painting the plaster.
One thing I haven't explained before is that there is a language here called Afrikaans. Since South Africa was settled first by Dutch people starting in the 1600's, they spoke Dutch which has evolved and changed into a unique language called Afrikaans. Most people here speak English too because South Africa was eventually taken over by the British. There are also 9 other languages which were the ones of the African tribes living here: Bantu, Zulu, Xhosa, etc. So when we want to watch the TV news, often it is in Afrikaans with some English mixed in. Very confusing.
One thing I forgot to talk about in a previous letter was that we visited Addo Elephant Park on our way here. It started with only a few elephants and now there are thousands. We only saw 5-10, but they were big and right near the road. We also saw meerkats, a jackal, ostrich, lots of warthogs, various antelopes, monkeys, and some of our group saw lions eating at a kill. This park had really varied terrain and showed us how easy it is for elephants to hide when the foliage is thick and tall. It is also one of the closest parks for game viewing to Capetown.
More tales next week.
Love, Mary & Elaine
Dear Family & Friends,
Hello from Capetown where we are enjoying being on our own now and exploring this beautiful city in a leisurely fashion. Two days ago David & Ann dropped us off at the Silver Lattice Guesthouse, where we have rented a one bedroom self-catering apartment until April 22. It is located on a small and quiet street in the part of Capetown called Gardens. We have all the comforts of home with plenty of good shopping and other amenities, such as a nearby theater, just a block or two away, all for about $45 per night. It is an easy walk to just about everything we want to see or do here, and we spent yesterday just exploring on foot. I am able to do this now that my knee has mostly healed, and so has my monkey bite.
Today we walked downtown and then caught a city bus to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. There are hundreds of stores there, plus entertainment, restaurants, etc. We looked at the exhibits at the Nelson Mandela Gateway to Robben Island. That is the place where he was imprisoned for most of the 27 years he was jailed, and it is located about 6 miles out on Table Bay. We decided not to go out to the island today because it is cooler and cloudy today with a chance of rain. We will go at a later time, when we can have sun for our boat trip out there. Because we are here after the major tourist time, and the school holidays will be over on the 15th, we will have a much easier time getting tickets for this. Some English girls on our first tour tried to get tickets several weeks before we arrived here and they couldn't get booked.
Ann and David took us to lots of the most beautiful areas around here where there are wineries and good restaurants. There are over 300 vineyards and wineries in this area! Wednesday we went to one in an affluent area very near Capetown called Constantia. We also drove the coast along False Bay, which was beautiful, and we passed a lot of the townships in the Cape Flats area. This is a huge flat area outside of Capetown where the black people were forced to live when they took their land away from them during apartheid and bulldozed their homes in District 6. They did this to about 60,000 people. Now they are starting to restore their land to them and helping them build better houses if they do have to stay in the Cape Flats area. Speaking of houses, we find it interesting that they do not use wood for framing houses here. Instead they build brick houses, often then covering the bricks with plaster and painting the plaster.
One thing I haven't explained before is that there is a language here called Afrikaans. Since South Africa was settled first by Dutch people starting in the 1600's, they spoke Dutch which has evolved and changed into a unique language called Afrikaans. Most people here speak English too because South Africa was eventually taken over by the British. There are also 9 other languages which were the ones of the African tribes living here: Bantu, Zulu, Xhosa, etc. So when we want to watch the TV news, often it is in Afrikaans with some English mixed in. Very confusing.
One thing I forgot to talk about in a previous letter was that we visited Addo Elephant Park on our way here. It started with only a few elephants and now there are thousands. We only saw 5-10, but they were big and right near the road. We also saw meerkats, a jackal, ostrich, lots of warthogs, various antelopes, monkeys, and some of our group saw lions eating at a kill. This park had really varied terrain and showed us how easy it is for elephants to hide when the foliage is thick and tall. It is also one of the closest parks for game viewing to Capetown.
More tales next week.
Love, Mary & Elaine
Monday, March 31, 2008
3/29/08
Dear Friends and Family,
Our friends, Ann & David, have gone to a birthday party and left us here in their house so I finally have a little time to try to write another travel tale to you all.
The last travelogue was from Durban, where we dropped off 10 of the people in our group and picked up 7 more. We were joined by 2 young English gals in their mid-20's, one retired Canadian man, a 40ish Canadian man, a young gal from New York, and 2 Austrian sisters in their 30's. We stayed at a nice hotel right on the beach promenade in Durban, which was actually the nicest area we saw in the whole city.
There has been a lot of money spent on the waterfront and there is a great aquarium here. Durban has the largest concentration of Muslims, or what they call Malays, because a lot of these people were brought here from Malaysia and India to work several hundred years ago. Now, unfortunately, Durban seems to be deteriorating and lots of the areas we passed looked very distressed. The countryside near Durban is beautiful, however. We didn't have time to visit the very large Indian market there.
The next day, we headed inland to the Drakensburg Mountains. This is a beautiful area as well, but was rainy and cold when we arrived there and stayed that way during our 2 days there. It was the first time that we needed to put on long-sleeved shirts, jeans, and fleece tops. The first day, most of our group went on a hike to some cave paintings done by the San people who were the first inhabitants here, even before the Zulu. Elaine and I stayed at the hotel because I had twisted my knee and she was still feeling the effects of an intestinal infection. The second day I joined the group for a tour through the local Zulu township. Previously, we had visited a Zulu Village which was a bunch of tourist schlock and quite a waste of time and money. This village was where the local people really live. We went to the school, the tribal spiritual healer, had a performance of Zulu songs and dances by about 20 kids, and visited a home and small farm. It was raining off and on the whole visit and by the time it was over, we were all covered in mud, a condition they have to endure whenever it rains, and when it doesn't rain, they endure lots of dust. The kids were enthusiastic and we were impressed with their English skills. The houses are very small, usually 2-3 rooms, in a cement block structure, and the families are usually large, often 10 children or more. Despite the fact that AIDS and TB are a huge problem here and these diseases are affecting up to 40% of the population, the birthrate is so high that populations are still increasing!
Our guide was a 25 year old man who is now responsible for 9 younger brothers and sisters after the deaths of their parents.
There is a huge disparity between the way the blacks and whites live. We drive through towns where there are nice middle class and upper class homes, inhabited by whites, and then there is always a black township on the outskirts where there are very small shacks.
Driving through towns there are usually people out selling things on the street, often right in front of the established supermarkets. There will be black women with a few piles of fruit to sell, and it is incredible to think that they will sit there all day to sell these few things and the profit it will bring will make a difference to their families.
In the news we have been learning about corruption and crime here. There is a thing that happens here called cable theft. This means that electrical wires (some to traffic lights) have been stolen and the wire itself has been used for making jewelry to sell or sold for the value of the metal.
We have visited parks and monuments where the descriptive plaques are missing, or even the rifles they were holding are gone, because of theft. There are rolling brown outs because they are not producing enough electricity yet they are raising the rates by up to 60% soon, and a lot of the electricity is being diverted to Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The government officials we have seen being interviewed on TV sound like idiots and later we find out that they got their positions due to family influences, and they are not doing their jobs properly. And the man who is now the president of the African National Congress, and likely to be the next President of the country, is a convicted rapist. Many of the white South Africans we have spoken with are in the process of trying to sell everything and emigrate to England or Australia, yet they are only allowed to take two million rand out of the country. (The rand is currently about 8 to the US dollar).
This all sounds so dismal and yet this is one of the most beautiful places we have ever visited. The land area is vast and because of the climate, they can grow just about anything here. There are diverse landscapes where there are huge areas of sugar cane and pineapples, bananas, then other areas where there are huge tracts of trees, fields of corn, wheat, canola, orchards of every fruit, and here in the Cape region, vineyards by the hundreds. There are wineries here that are 325 years old! The wines are delicious and also quite affordable. Not as cheap as 2 buck Chuck, but much better and we pay between 5 and 8 dollars for a very good wine. Food in restaurants is also very affordable.
After the Drakensburg mountains, we drove down to the coast and it is just as beautiful as California, but warmer. We stopped at a place where Neil, one of the younger Canadian men, did the world's highest bungy jump - 216 meters off a bridge. We could have done another zipline tour through the canopy of the forest near Tsitskamma, but we just visited the national park instead, since we had already done the ziplines in Costa Rica. Then we had a marvelous drive along the Garden Route, a very beautiful drive along the coast. We headed inland into an area called the Klein Karoo, where there are lots of ostrich farms, and a town called Oodschoorn, which is a big Afrikaans area. Part of the group went to the Cango Caves, while part of us stayed in town to attend a big festival held there yearly. It was a music festival so we had a wonderful time visiting the various venues where different people were performing, and most people were drinking and listening and having a great time. Lots of the songs were in Afrikaans but some were in English. We even got free baseball caps and tee shirts from a local radio station while we were sitting with some new local friends drinking a local brandy called Klipdrift. We also enjoyed a hard cider called Hunter's Dry, even though Savannah is the one most people recommend.
The drive to Capetown from this region was absolutely spectacular. The mountains are incredible and alongside the road we periodically came across groups of baboons. The topography near Capetown is really incredible because there are lush valleys with orchards and vineyards and then these huge mountains towering above them. This area makes the Napa Valley look puny. Everywhere there are wineries with impressive buildings and beautiful tasting rooms. Lots of them have art and sculpture displays as well.
Now I have to close, because David and Ann are back and I can tell you the rest later. Thank you to those friends who have e-mailed us or made comments on our blog - we enjoy your input. Sending big hugs to everybody.
Love, Mary & Elaine
Dear Friends and Family,
Our friends, Ann & David, have gone to a birthday party and left us here in their house so I finally have a little time to try to write another travel tale to you all.
The last travelogue was from Durban, where we dropped off 10 of the people in our group and picked up 7 more. We were joined by 2 young English gals in their mid-20's, one retired Canadian man, a 40ish Canadian man, a young gal from New York, and 2 Austrian sisters in their 30's. We stayed at a nice hotel right on the beach promenade in Durban, which was actually the nicest area we saw in the whole city.
There has been a lot of money spent on the waterfront and there is a great aquarium here. Durban has the largest concentration of Muslims, or what they call Malays, because a lot of these people were brought here from Malaysia and India to work several hundred years ago. Now, unfortunately, Durban seems to be deteriorating and lots of the areas we passed looked very distressed. The countryside near Durban is beautiful, however. We didn't have time to visit the very large Indian market there.
The next day, we headed inland to the Drakensburg Mountains. This is a beautiful area as well, but was rainy and cold when we arrived there and stayed that way during our 2 days there. It was the first time that we needed to put on long-sleeved shirts, jeans, and fleece tops. The first day, most of our group went on a hike to some cave paintings done by the San people who were the first inhabitants here, even before the Zulu. Elaine and I stayed at the hotel because I had twisted my knee and she was still feeling the effects of an intestinal infection. The second day I joined the group for a tour through the local Zulu township. Previously, we had visited a Zulu Village which was a bunch of tourist schlock and quite a waste of time and money. This village was where the local people really live. We went to the school, the tribal spiritual healer, had a performance of Zulu songs and dances by about 20 kids, and visited a home and small farm. It was raining off and on the whole visit and by the time it was over, we were all covered in mud, a condition they have to endure whenever it rains, and when it doesn't rain, they endure lots of dust. The kids were enthusiastic and we were impressed with their English skills. The houses are very small, usually 2-3 rooms, in a cement block structure, and the families are usually large, often 10 children or more. Despite the fact that AIDS and TB are a huge problem here and these diseases are affecting up to 40% of the population, the birthrate is so high that populations are still increasing!
Our guide was a 25 year old man who is now responsible for 9 younger brothers and sisters after the deaths of their parents.
There is a huge disparity between the way the blacks and whites live. We drive through towns where there are nice middle class and upper class homes, inhabited by whites, and then there is always a black township on the outskirts where there are very small shacks.
Driving through towns there are usually people out selling things on the street, often right in front of the established supermarkets. There will be black women with a few piles of fruit to sell, and it is incredible to think that they will sit there all day to sell these few things and the profit it will bring will make a difference to their families.
In the news we have been learning about corruption and crime here. There is a thing that happens here called cable theft. This means that electrical wires (some to traffic lights) have been stolen and the wire itself has been used for making jewelry to sell or sold for the value of the metal.
We have visited parks and monuments where the descriptive plaques are missing, or even the rifles they were holding are gone, because of theft. There are rolling brown outs because they are not producing enough electricity yet they are raising the rates by up to 60% soon, and a lot of the electricity is being diverted to Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The government officials we have seen being interviewed on TV sound like idiots and later we find out that they got their positions due to family influences, and they are not doing their jobs properly. And the man who is now the president of the African National Congress, and likely to be the next President of the country, is a convicted rapist. Many of the white South Africans we have spoken with are in the process of trying to sell everything and emigrate to England or Australia, yet they are only allowed to take two million rand out of the country. (The rand is currently about 8 to the US dollar).
This all sounds so dismal and yet this is one of the most beautiful places we have ever visited. The land area is vast and because of the climate, they can grow just about anything here. There are diverse landscapes where there are huge areas of sugar cane and pineapples, bananas, then other areas where there are huge tracts of trees, fields of corn, wheat, canola, orchards of every fruit, and here in the Cape region, vineyards by the hundreds. There are wineries here that are 325 years old! The wines are delicious and also quite affordable. Not as cheap as 2 buck Chuck, but much better and we pay between 5 and 8 dollars for a very good wine. Food in restaurants is also very affordable.
After the Drakensburg mountains, we drove down to the coast and it is just as beautiful as California, but warmer. We stopped at a place where Neil, one of the younger Canadian men, did the world's highest bungy jump - 216 meters off a bridge. We could have done another zipline tour through the canopy of the forest near Tsitskamma, but we just visited the national park instead, since we had already done the ziplines in Costa Rica. Then we had a marvelous drive along the Garden Route, a very beautiful drive along the coast. We headed inland into an area called the Klein Karoo, where there are lots of ostrich farms, and a town called Oodschoorn, which is a big Afrikaans area. Part of the group went to the Cango Caves, while part of us stayed in town to attend a big festival held there yearly. It was a music festival so we had a wonderful time visiting the various venues where different people were performing, and most people were drinking and listening and having a great time. Lots of the songs were in Afrikaans but some were in English. We even got free baseball caps and tee shirts from a local radio station while we were sitting with some new local friends drinking a local brandy called Klipdrift. We also enjoyed a hard cider called Hunter's Dry, even though Savannah is the one most people recommend.
The drive to Capetown from this region was absolutely spectacular. The mountains are incredible and alongside the road we periodically came across groups of baboons. The topography near Capetown is really incredible because there are lush valleys with orchards and vineyards and then these huge mountains towering above them. This area makes the Napa Valley look puny. Everywhere there are wineries with impressive buildings and beautiful tasting rooms. Lots of them have art and sculpture displays as well.
Now I have to close, because David and Ann are back and I can tell you the rest later. Thank you to those friends who have e-mailed us or made comments on our blog - we enjoy your input. Sending big hugs to everybody.
Love, Mary & Elaine
Friday, March 28, 2008
3/27/08
Dear Friends & Family,
This is just an update and not really a travelogue. We just wanted to tell you that we arrived safely in Capetown several days ago and our first tour is over. Our friends, Ann Howell and David Brown have picked us up and we are staying with them for about a week at their rented house about 40 kms outside of Capetown. They have been wonderful hosts for the past 2 days as we have been driving all over the beautiful areas of the winelands and coast of False Bay. The first day we did some wine tasting at La Motte which has some very nice wines, and then had a world class lunch at the best restaurant in Franschhoek. We finished off the day by having drinks at sunset at Moyo, an African bar and restaurant at Spier Winery. Yesterday we drove along the coast to Hermanus, an old fishing village and because the weather has been sunny and warm, had fabulous views and a delicious lunch along the water. Today we are going to another area for more exploring. Capetown and its surrounds are incredibly beautiful and we are here at a perfect time of year.
So you can see that I don't have time right now to describe the adventures we had on the second half of the tour. That will happen in a day or 2 when David & Ann have a social obligation and I can get back to this computer again. We are both well and hoping that all is going fine for all of you too.
Love, Mary & Elaine
Dear Friends & Family,
This is just an update and not really a travelogue. We just wanted to tell you that we arrived safely in Capetown several days ago and our first tour is over. Our friends, Ann Howell and David Brown have picked us up and we are staying with them for about a week at their rented house about 40 kms outside of Capetown. They have been wonderful hosts for the past 2 days as we have been driving all over the beautiful areas of the winelands and coast of False Bay. The first day we did some wine tasting at La Motte which has some very nice wines, and then had a world class lunch at the best restaurant in Franschhoek. We finished off the day by having drinks at sunset at Moyo, an African bar and restaurant at Spier Winery. Yesterday we drove along the coast to Hermanus, an old fishing village and because the weather has been sunny and warm, had fabulous views and a delicious lunch along the water. Today we are going to another area for more exploring. Capetown and its surrounds are incredibly beautiful and we are here at a perfect time of year.
So you can see that I don't have time right now to describe the adventures we had on the second half of the tour. That will happen in a day or 2 when David & Ann have a social obligation and I can get back to this computer again. We are both well and hoping that all is going fine for all of you too.
Love, Mary & Elaine
Monday, March 17, 2008
3/15/08
Dear Friends and Family,
Please excuse the long lapse in correspondence but we have been in places where there was no internet!! Hard to believe, isn't it? But of course, we have been mostly in game parks and rural areas.
The good news is that our luggage arrived just before our group left Pretoria, and right after we had bought a few items of clothing, so now we are really overloaded. Our group of 16 turned out to be very amiable, with 5 Canadians, 3 Swiss, 4 Americans, 3 Aussies, and 1 English man. Our guide, Arthur, is South African. I guess I should be talking about them in the past tense because we are now in Durban where all but 6 of us are departing, and we get 10 more new people for the second half of the trip.
It has been fabulous seeing so much game. When we get near a game area, we start to see exotic animals, even alongside the road. Prior to Kruger National Park, we did 2 game drives in a smaller reserve and the first animal we saw was a rhino right on the road. Then we did several game drives in Kruger and by the time we had done all this we had seen the big five: lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and cape buffalo. Add all the other animals such as giraffes, zebras, and the many types of antelope and we are seeing LOTS of game. Unfortunately, in our camp in Kruger, when I went out to take a picture of the monkeys right near our hut, one of them chased me and gave me a nasty bite right in the calf of my right leg. It still isn't healed, but it is not infected and is healing slowly. Rabies is not a problem here.
From there we went into Mozambique, which is extrememly poor and over populated compared to South Africa, and also it was very hot while we were there. The terrain and the way the people live outside, even the shape and style of their huts, reminded us a lot of Belize and other parts of Central America. We had several beach experiences while there, including one where there were bedbugs in all the beds of the communal houses we shared.
From there we went to Swaziland, and the minute we crossed the border we could tell that it was much more affluent and westernized than Mozambique. They have much more substantial houses, and also English is the main language, whereas in Mozambique it is Portugese. We stayed at a very nice game park there where they served us good food, including some game dishes such as bleisbok and impala. The Swazi crafts are very good and we bought a couple of small baskets. Can't carry much though! So far, in these other 2 countries, we have observed that all the businesses seem to be owned by white South Africans and most of the work is done by blacks, who receive very low wages. For example, in the last place we stayed, a gardener there works 6 days a week, and earns 600 rand, which is less than $100 a month. It probably blows their minds that they work in places where people like us pay 95 rand for a dinner buffet which is a lot to them. As we drove out of that place yesterday, there were 12 giraffes in a field right next to the road.
There have been many long drives on the bus. We were supposed to have a van and a trailer for the baggage but that didn't happen. In fact, the first day of our trip, we all sat in the hotel waiting for the van which never arrived and after 6 1/2 hours, they finally produced the big bus which we now travel in. Luckily, it has a toilet because starting 2 days ago, Elaine and one of the Aussie gals have had a touch of an intestinal bug and have been unable to keep much food in. Today I feel like I am getting it too.
We have had good weather except for the past few days when it has been raining off and on. They really need the water here, so they are glad to have it. Yesterday we took a boat trip on the St. Lucia Estuary and saw lot of hippos and crocs and some interesting birds: storks, huge goliath herons, eagles, etc. The rain held off until afterwards, which was nice.
Today we leave Durban at 10AM with our new group. Luckily, 2 of the people going on with us to Capetown are 2 ladies of about our age from Victoria and we are enjoying their company. More travel reports later if and when internet places are available. Thanks to those of you who have sent us short newsy messages. We always appreciate hearing from everyone. Sending big hugs.
Love, Mary & Elaine
Dear Friends and Family,
Please excuse the long lapse in correspondence but we have been in places where there was no internet!! Hard to believe, isn't it? But of course, we have been mostly in game parks and rural areas.
The good news is that our luggage arrived just before our group left Pretoria, and right after we had bought a few items of clothing, so now we are really overloaded. Our group of 16 turned out to be very amiable, with 5 Canadians, 3 Swiss, 4 Americans, 3 Aussies, and 1 English man. Our guide, Arthur, is South African. I guess I should be talking about them in the past tense because we are now in Durban where all but 6 of us are departing, and we get 10 more new people for the second half of the trip.
It has been fabulous seeing so much game. When we get near a game area, we start to see exotic animals, even alongside the road. Prior to Kruger National Park, we did 2 game drives in a smaller reserve and the first animal we saw was a rhino right on the road. Then we did several game drives in Kruger and by the time we had done all this we had seen the big five: lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and cape buffalo. Add all the other animals such as giraffes, zebras, and the many types of antelope and we are seeing LOTS of game. Unfortunately, in our camp in Kruger, when I went out to take a picture of the monkeys right near our hut, one of them chased me and gave me a nasty bite right in the calf of my right leg. It still isn't healed, but it is not infected and is healing slowly. Rabies is not a problem here.
From there we went into Mozambique, which is extrememly poor and over populated compared to South Africa, and also it was very hot while we were there. The terrain and the way the people live outside, even the shape and style of their huts, reminded us a lot of Belize and other parts of Central America. We had several beach experiences while there, including one where there were bedbugs in all the beds of the communal houses we shared.
From there we went to Swaziland, and the minute we crossed the border we could tell that it was much more affluent and westernized than Mozambique. They have much more substantial houses, and also English is the main language, whereas in Mozambique it is Portugese. We stayed at a very nice game park there where they served us good food, including some game dishes such as bleisbok and impala. The Swazi crafts are very good and we bought a couple of small baskets. Can't carry much though! So far, in these other 2 countries, we have observed that all the businesses seem to be owned by white South Africans and most of the work is done by blacks, who receive very low wages. For example, in the last place we stayed, a gardener there works 6 days a week, and earns 600 rand, which is less than $100 a month. It probably blows their minds that they work in places where people like us pay 95 rand for a dinner buffet which is a lot to them. As we drove out of that place yesterday, there were 12 giraffes in a field right next to the road.
There have been many long drives on the bus. We were supposed to have a van and a trailer for the baggage but that didn't happen. In fact, the first day of our trip, we all sat in the hotel waiting for the van which never arrived and after 6 1/2 hours, they finally produced the big bus which we now travel in. Luckily, it has a toilet because starting 2 days ago, Elaine and one of the Aussie gals have had a touch of an intestinal bug and have been unable to keep much food in. Today I feel like I am getting it too.
We have had good weather except for the past few days when it has been raining off and on. They really need the water here, so they are glad to have it. Yesterday we took a boat trip on the St. Lucia Estuary and saw lot of hippos and crocs and some interesting birds: storks, huge goliath herons, eagles, etc. The rain held off until afterwards, which was nice.
Today we leave Durban at 10AM with our new group. Luckily, 2 of the people going on with us to Capetown are 2 ladies of about our age from Victoria and we are enjoying their company. More travel reports later if and when internet places are available. Thanks to those of you who have sent us short newsy messages. We always appreciate hearing from everyone. Sending big hugs.
Love, Mary & Elaine
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
3/1/08
Dear Friends and Family,
This is a good news, bad news letter. The good news is we have arrived safely in Pretoria and are established in our hotel. The bad news is that not one of our bags has arrived as yet. Luckily, we carried a complete change of clothing in our carry on bag and also all medications, cameras, etc. But a lot of the stuff we need for our upcoming safari is in the checked luggage and we are REALLY hoping that it arrives today! We have spent a few hours today buying a couple of new shirts, some sandals, gel insoles, and a manicure kit. Perhaps this will be a trip in which we will learn just how lightly we can travel with regard to STUFF.
Our flights were not too bad, although the South African Airlines flight left Dulles about 3 hours late. They also had lousy service which they said was because of the delay, they had to allow their cabin personnel extra rest time, so most of the flight, they weren't even anywhere to be found. Then when our luggage didn't arrive and we had to file a claim, that wasn't handled very efficiently either. And there were hundreds of bags just sitting around in that area, which didn't make us feel any better about the way they were handling things. After such a long travel time, and the loss of our bags, we were very relieved when we exited the customs area to see that the guy was still there waiting to take us to the hotel, even though we were so late. We have been trying to adapt to the time change ever since, and also get over jet lag.
Yesterday we walked around in the downtown part of Pretoria and so far have not had a very good impression of this city. There are not a lot of tourist attractions and even though this city is recommended over Johannesburg with regard to safety, we are always cautioned never to go out of the hotel at night. Everyone suggests leaving all money and valuables in the room safe and not even showing a camera most of the time. We have been severely reprimanded twice by people who thought we were doing something offensive, such as entering the wrong door of the store, and taking a picture of a costume on a mannequin in a restaurant. But overall, most people have been friendly and helpful.
In the central part of Pretoria, we visited Church Square yesterday, which is surrounded by old stately sandstone buildings from centuries ago. Very interesting but mostly not available for entry. Today we walked down to an area called Hatfield, which is one of the only areas recommended for walking around and finding decent restaurants and shopping. On the walk down here we passed lots of consulates and embassies, including the US embassy, and most were stately and had nice gardens and flowers. The US Embassy looks like a modern fortress however. Every property of any value has high fences and the windows are often barred.
Our tour starts tomorrow, although we don't leave Pretoria until Monday. So in the next report, we will tell you about our leader and our group. Sending big hugs.
Love, Mary & Elaine
Dear Friends and Family,
This is a good news, bad news letter. The good news is we have arrived safely in Pretoria and are established in our hotel. The bad news is that not one of our bags has arrived as yet. Luckily, we carried a complete change of clothing in our carry on bag and also all medications, cameras, etc. But a lot of the stuff we need for our upcoming safari is in the checked luggage and we are REALLY hoping that it arrives today! We have spent a few hours today buying a couple of new shirts, some sandals, gel insoles, and a manicure kit. Perhaps this will be a trip in which we will learn just how lightly we can travel with regard to STUFF.
Our flights were not too bad, although the South African Airlines flight left Dulles about 3 hours late. They also had lousy service which they said was because of the delay, they had to allow their cabin personnel extra rest time, so most of the flight, they weren't even anywhere to be found. Then when our luggage didn't arrive and we had to file a claim, that wasn't handled very efficiently either. And there were hundreds of bags just sitting around in that area, which didn't make us feel any better about the way they were handling things. After such a long travel time, and the loss of our bags, we were very relieved when we exited the customs area to see that the guy was still there waiting to take us to the hotel, even though we were so late. We have been trying to adapt to the time change ever since, and also get over jet lag.
Yesterday we walked around in the downtown part of Pretoria and so far have not had a very good impression of this city. There are not a lot of tourist attractions and even though this city is recommended over Johannesburg with regard to safety, we are always cautioned never to go out of the hotel at night. Everyone suggests leaving all money and valuables in the room safe and not even showing a camera most of the time. We have been severely reprimanded twice by people who thought we were doing something offensive, such as entering the wrong door of the store, and taking a picture of a costume on a mannequin in a restaurant. But overall, most people have been friendly and helpful.
In the central part of Pretoria, we visited Church Square yesterday, which is surrounded by old stately sandstone buildings from centuries ago. Very interesting but mostly not available for entry. Today we walked down to an area called Hatfield, which is one of the only areas recommended for walking around and finding decent restaurants and shopping. On the walk down here we passed lots of consulates and embassies, including the US embassy, and most were stately and had nice gardens and flowers. The US Embassy looks like a modern fortress however. Every property of any value has high fences and the windows are often barred.
Our tour starts tomorrow, although we don't leave Pretoria until Monday. So in the next report, we will tell you about our leader and our group. Sending big hugs.
Love, Mary & Elaine
Monday, February 25, 2008
2/25/08 This is the night before we leave Park Sierra to drive to the Bay Area to start the long travel process which will get us to Johannesburg, South Africa and ultimately Pretoria on the 28th. Tomorrow, after closing up our rig, we will meet Elaine's daughter, Tarra, in Fremont for a late lunch. Then we take BART up to the San Francisco Airport and a shuttle to the Travelodge where we will stay tomorrow night. We have to be back at the airport by 6 AM on Wednesday to catch a flight to Dulles, where we pick up our South African Airlines flight to Johannseburg. The whole process takes about a day and a half and costs $1260 each. Now you know why we want to stay there for nearly 3 months - dollar cost averaging. It will be a long flight and we hope we can weather it well.
Of course, we have been using this very rainy week to pack and do paperwork, getting ready for our departure. Happily, we also had a nice visit with my oldest granddaughter, Paige. We picked her up at her other grandparents' place in Merced on Monday and took her back there on Wednesday. Besides teaching her to make pizza (see below), and playing games, we also took her thrift store shopping on her way home. We got a few things for our trip and she got some new tops and everyone had a good time. She is now swimming for her new high school team and has made some new friends there.
Don't know if you can tell from the picture below that Elaine has almost totally healed from her run-in with the slideout. She just has a little red spot in the middle of her forehead and a small scar which you have to really look closely to see. She is a tough Broad, isn't she?!
Thanks everyone for all the caring and supportive messages you sent which aided her recovery.
The next message will be from South Africa, where we hopefully will be having exciting adventures enabling us to write a more interesting travelogue.
Of course, we have been using this very rainy week to pack and do paperwork, getting ready for our departure. Happily, we also had a nice visit with my oldest granddaughter, Paige. We picked her up at her other grandparents' place in Merced on Monday and took her back there on Wednesday. Besides teaching her to make pizza (see below), and playing games, we also took her thrift store shopping on her way home. We got a few things for our trip and she got some new tops and everyone had a good time. She is now swimming for her new high school team and has made some new friends there.
Don't know if you can tell from the picture below that Elaine has almost totally healed from her run-in with the slideout. She just has a little red spot in the middle of her forehead and a small scar which you have to really look closely to see. She is a tough Broad, isn't she?!
Thanks everyone for all the caring and supportive messages you sent which aided her recovery.
The next message will be from South Africa, where we hopefully will be having exciting adventures enabling us to write a more interesting travelogue.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
2/17/08
Thought I had better post an update to let you know about Elaine's recovery. She healed rapidly and on Wednesday her sutures were removed. Her cut is now almost totally healed and because her black eyes went away, she looks much better. Considering that it was a rather horrendous gash, all has turned out OK in a very short time. I will post a picture of her as soon as I can so you can see that she is her cute self again.
We have been using the time here to have doctor appointments, clean out our rig, start packing for our trip, and catching up on paperwork and tax prep. Additionally, we are having some social times with friends. Tonight Viv & Curt Rogers and Ann & Art Aiken are coming over for a spaghetti dinner and then we will all play pegs and jokers over at the clubhouse. More news and pictures in a few days.
Thought I had better post an update to let you know about Elaine's recovery. She healed rapidly and on Wednesday her sutures were removed. Her cut is now almost totally healed and because her black eyes went away, she looks much better. Considering that it was a rather horrendous gash, all has turned out OK in a very short time. I will post a picture of her as soon as I can so you can see that she is her cute self again.
We have been using the time here to have doctor appointments, clean out our rig, start packing for our trip, and catching up on paperwork and tax prep. Additionally, we are having some social times with friends. Tonight Viv & Curt Rogers and Ann & Art Aiken are coming over for a spaghetti dinner and then we will all play pegs and jokers over at the clubhouse. More news and pictures in a few days.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Hello from Park Sierra. We returned on Thursday after a 5 day stay at Jojoba SKP Park near Temecula, CA. Unfortunately, it wasn't all fun and partying there, as we had planned. Tuesday we were supposed to attend a gathering at Dick and Carole Schneider's to watch the election returns and do what Boomer friends do best, eat and drink and talk. Mid-afternoon we had a visit from friends Jim and Kathy Jensen who were also parked in the boondocking area with us. Jim was telling us an interesting story when Elaine decided to go out and turn off the generator. She was in a hurry to get back to hear the rest of the story so she didn't pay attention and on the way back in, she hit the corner of the bedroom slideout so hard with her head that she actually bent it. She also opened up a huge gash in her forehead and scalp. She was bleeding quite a bit but we put lots of paper towels on it and an ice pack, which slowed the bleeding considerably. Then the debate began as to whether we should go get it stitched up or not. Elaine said she would butterfly it herself if we could just get some butterfly bandages. Kathy and Bill, the workkamper guy at the park, decided we had better take her in and they found out where the nearest Kaiser urgent care center was and printed out a map to it. Jim and Kathy went with us but when we got there, the doctor took one look at it and said it was too big a gash and all the way down to her skull and we had to go to the emergency room at the Inland Valley Medical Center across the street. So we went over there and after about an hour in the waiting room, we got in and Elaine was treated by a physician's assistant. He cleaned it up and got the bleeding stopped with epinephrine, then meticulously picked all the hair out of the wound and spent about an hour suturing it. The amazing thing is that Elaine was not really in any pain until after the suturing and didn't even get a headache! They insisted that she get a cat scan to make sure she didn't have a fractured skull or bleeding on the brain. They gave her a couple of painkillers and a shot of antibiotics and we were able to leave the hospital at about 11:30 PM. The next day she still felt OK so about noon we started driving back towards Fresno, stopping along the way to get her Rx for antibiotics filled. By the time we got back to Park Sierra the next day, her eyes were swollen and blood had seeped down into her tissues so she had 2 "black" eyes. The left one wasn't bad but the right one looked like she had been mugged. Once she took a shower and washed her hair, she actually didn't look too bad. We went to our own doctor here on Friday and she will have the stitches taken out next Wednesday. It is very lucky that this injury wasn't worse because we are supposed to leave for Africa on the 26th and we do NOT have travel insurance!
It has been nice to be back at Park Sierra where we have already had a very nice Happy Hour with friends this afternoon. We will be getting ready for our trip, doing taxes, catching up on paperwork and packing in the next few weeks. Tomorrow we will be picking up my granddaughter, Paige, in Merced where she now lives with her Dad, and she will ride with us up to the Bay Area. We are having a meeting of our new tenants, our old tenants, and Elaine's daughter Tarra, to coordinate the changeover at the end of this month for our Santa Clara rental house. It will be a chance to see Tarra for a few hours too. Wish we had a little more time while we are there to visit other old friends, but this will be a one day visit.
It has been nice to be back at Park Sierra where we have already had a very nice Happy Hour with friends this afternoon. We will be getting ready for our trip, doing taxes, catching up on paperwork and packing in the next few weeks. Tomorrow we will be picking up my granddaughter, Paige, in Merced where she now lives with her Dad, and she will ride with us up to the Bay Area. We are having a meeting of our new tenants, our old tenants, and Elaine's daughter Tarra, to coordinate the changeover at the end of this month for our Santa Clara rental house. It will be a chance to see Tarra for a few hours too. Wish we had a little more time while we are there to visit other old friends, but this will be a one day visit.
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