Leaving Sabi-Sabi

Unfortunately, i developed some food poisoning similar to what I had had in Cuba, so the final day at Sabi was not as cheerful as I had hoped it would be. But our morning safari was productive—seeing two giraffe at close quarters and watching a leopard catch and eat a hare. Back to the lodge for breakfast ( water for me), then leaving at about 1 for the Nelspruit airport for our next leg of this journey.

The driver, Herbert Dubé, was black and had a home in the local Township, which he described as being freehold, with some land around his house. Apparently, the community (or, in some cases, the chief) gives you the land, and you have a period of time during which you must build a house, or the land reverts. In the Townships in South Africa, you do not pay land taxes, but pay for water and electricity. Some of the Townships in major cities are basically slums by another word. But those in the country are pretty reasonable.

While the flight to Jo'burg was pretty easy, the rest of the day was not. The big city airport is complicated, and there were, it felt, a hundred people trying to push their services on you; Darlene got quite aggressive at saying "no, I don't want help, thank you". We eventually found the shuttle to the assigned hotel, and thought we were fine.

A mistake: the hotel was part of a casino complex, huge in scope, with a mock-Roman theme coupled with ultra-modern ugly decor. The complex included a Hooters bar, and an inside mall complete with artificial sky! The rooms and hallways could perhaps be described as 1960's prison (with more space, granted. I was glad I felt unwell, so did not feel like eating at all, and went to bed early.

What a contrast from Sabi. We really felt we had left the bush. But Victoria Falls was next, and. Were looking forward to that.
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Location:Johannesburg