Final Day in Africa

Today is our final day here, and the final day in Africa. We hoped it would be special. I had hopes to see some giraffes, and the other three in our group of tourists wanted to see lion cubs. So Matt and Moses (our guide and spotter) set out with us in the direction they thought might fill all our dreams. For most of the trip, it was a pretty dry run: lots of scenery, some stops for pretty birds and flowers, but not too much else.

But then they got wind of a leopard in the area, and the guides were off and driving fast to try and find it. We met up with another two vehicles. One of the went into the bush a ways, and the staff from the other two decided to go on foot to see what they cold find. They were gone a while, but did manage to find the leopard. For me, remembering the three leopards we had unexpectedly found last year, it was a bit melodramatic. But the others were excited, and so it was worthwhile.




The really exciting things began after that. We found a herd of elephants (perhaps the ones we had seen the previous day), and decided to investigate. Turns out that one of them was lying down in the mud to cool off (itself a rare enough thing to happen). We watched as she tried to get up, with eventual, but gradual, success. And we parked on the road, as they walked by us, as close as another car would have been, and close enough to look into their eyes, and hear their breathing. They are magnificent creatures, and I felt honoured to be in their company like that. We moved the vehicle a bit, but mostly just sat and let their interactions flow around us. One of them was a little baby elephant, and one was a big male. The others were in between, probably a total of ten elephants. An amazing morning.








So we were late for breakfast, and then went over to the Sabi Bush Lodge (where we had been three years ago), to look at some gifts, and also to try and meet up with our guide from the previous trip, Jabu. We succeeded in both tasks, and returned home to a hot afternoon. A sleep and a shower were in order, before the afternoon drive. And they were had.

More elephants on the afternoon drive, along with a good range of Cape Buffalo, antelopes (kudus, impalas), some wart hogs, wildebeests, and so on.










Late supper, then tired and to bed, before our final morning. It was with a lot of sadness that we packed up. But the staff helped by starting a bath for Darlene, and putting candles by the tub, and rose petals on the bathroom floor and on our bed. The moon was in the waxing gibbous phase, and visible out the windows from the bath, much to Darlene's delight. So I guess it was pleasant, ignoring our upcoming departure.

And the next morning, our last game ride, had some tension. I still had not seen any giraffes, and was a bit disappointed by that. Matt and Moses were helpful, and we took off in pursuits of where they might be. It turned out to be a momentous morning.

First, as we looked in the more forested areas, we found a mother leopard with her cub. This mother had had two cubs in the spring, but one had been killed, so this was the remaining one.









We watched for quite a while, but eventually the mother got fed up with our presence, came close to our vehicles, and hissed at us; we beat a hasty retreat, and she settled down.

And then...there they were, the giraffes we had been looking for. What magnificent creatures, ungainly and elegant at the same time. My trip was now complete, and I was joyful.









And so it ended, and we were left with our 36-hour travel day to get back home. This was somewhat relieved by the long part (Jo'burg to London) being on an Airbus A380, which is a huge plane (450 passengers on two levels) with lots of room for the passengers in Premium Economy. And then the trip to Toronto, where we got bumped to Business Class, and the perks that go with that.

A great vacation.

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Location:Sabi-Sabi Little Bush Camp

Final Leg of the Journey

We had a day and a half in Pretoria, and thought we would do some exploring with this. And when we were picked up at the Rovos train station, our driver gave us a bit of a tour around the sights while driving us to our hotel, the Court Classique. This included the Union Building, which is the home of the President (the actual Parliament is in Cape Town), the grounds around the Building, and the rows of Embassies and Consulates close by the Union Building. The hotel is in an area called Hattfield, which is a middle-class area, and one we would have assumed was safe.

Two things conspired to keep us pinned to our hotel. The first was that it rained quite hard for much of the first night and through the next day. And the second was that the staff told us we might need accompaniment (granted, this was when we asked where the nearest ATM was, so we could get out some more money). So we ventured to the ATM, a distance of perhaps 500 metres, and the rest of the time was in the hotel complex. We got a lot of reading done. And re-packed for Sabi, where we were allowed only one soft-sided bag. We did well with this task.

The following morning, we got picked up at 0800, and driven to the OR Tambo Airport, to a terminal for the small airline taking us into Sabi Sands airstrip. And the plane was small, as you can see.



The ten or so of us passengers got in, the steward turned into the co-pilot, and we taxied to take-off. The hour flight consisted of climbing to 25,000 feet, then descending to the airstrip. And so we were there, met by a ranger, Matt, who drove us the twenty minutes to the camp. High veldt is not lush vegetation, but rather scrub-sized bushes with the occasional taller tree, and grassy patches interspersed—and all on a sandy soil. It was a lot greener, we were told, due to recent rains. Southern Africa has experienced a serious drought this year, the area in effect totally missing the nourishing rains of January and February. Much wildlife, and many farmers, have suffered. So the rains are very welcome.

As I write this, we have been here a day. Already, three days seems too short. But we have had some good safaris so far: last evening, among other sitings, we saw a "clash" of thirteen white rhinos, and a horny female leopard looking for a mate. This morning, we were surrounded by a herd of elephants, including a set of quite young twin calves. And a hippo, lots of antelopes, many zebras, the odd wart hog, and some birds. Also this morning, Matt (the ranger), myself, and a German couple went on a ninety-minute hike through the area, looking at plants, and also seeing termites, butterflies, a dung beetle, and so on. So with all this, I had to have a nap.

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Location:Sabi Little Bush Camp

Rovos Rail Revisited

The last two days, we have had the wonderful privilege of being again on Rovos Rail in Africa. This time, we boarded in Cape town, on the 48-hour trip to Pretoria.

Darlene had had the good sense to write to them before we came, asking if we could again connect with Joe Mathala, the train manager we had three years ago. We had found him at that time to be intelligent, well-read, balanced in his views, and liberal. As well as being a very competent and hard-working train manager. We were both amazed when Rovos wrote to us within a day of our sending the emil to them, saying they would try to have Joe on our trip. So when we got to the Rovos Office in Cape Town (after feeling a bit lost in the larger train station next door, and being nicely re-directed by a stray Rovos employee), they told us both that Joe was there waiting for us, and that we had been upgraded in our booking to the middle level of accommodation (sadly, not the Royal Suite this time). It was wonderful to see him, and we enthusiastically shook hands in welcome.








As we climbed out of the Cape Town "bowl" onto the higher Karoo plains, I was struck by how much it resembled Australia and their Outback. Although neither quite as flat nor as dry, it was (to me) remarkably similar.






We went through an area where there were bush fires happening as we passed. Other areas which had clearly been burnt recently. We were told that SA had suffered a serious drought over the past year, a result of El Nino; and this area is dry to begin with. We also learned that this area is a part of the larger Kalihari Desert, which stretches from the West coast of Namibia south to just east of Cape Town, north to the top of Botswana, and East almost to Pretoria.

There are too many highlights of this trip to write them all down. The food, as usual, was excellent. The accommodation was superb. We met some of the other passengers (all, unfortunately, were white) and enjoyed their company. (Some of the others were from Canada—Nanaimo, Halifax, Victoria). But certainly one of the pluses was two long talks with Joe about the past and future prospects of South Africa. While everyone acknowledges the need for Zuma to go, and the need to have time to repair the damage he has done, the country has done a good job in providing education for its citizens (even university-level fees have just been reduced significantly, and are on the way to being eliminated). There is serious corruption, with Zuma in cahoots with the private Gupta family of India to control the government to their own ends and profits. But there remains a high level of electorate participation, and the opposition parties look poised to win major gains, and likely the overall government, in general elections next year. Meanwhile, the SA Rand is falling, trading at 16 to the US Dollar today. Great for tourists, but not for the economy and its peoples. Joe taught us a lot about the problems facing this beautiful country, and we are thankful to him for it.

And he also got us to Pretoria on time and safely. One of the pleasures we had was that the final kilometre of our journey was "under steam": they brought out an 1890's-era coal-fired steam locomotive, hooked it up to the train, and pulled us into the station. They can do this, since they have their own station in Pretoria.











People were so kind. One couple we met invited us to come on a safari with them in Kruger the next time we come to Africa (they travel by car, live in a bungalow on the property, cook their own meals, and so on. So not as expensive as what we are doing this time.) And Joe, our great Train Manager, has invited us to visit with him the next time we are here. He says he will arrange his time to get some time off, and wants us to meet some of his anti-apartheid friends in Cape Town. Sounds like we are coming back, and that's not a bad thing.


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Location:Francis Baard Street,Pretoria,South Africa

Cycadian Rhythm

Our last day in Cape Town, and we had not done everything we had planned. Some indecision, a bit of stomach unease on my part, more tiredness than we expected: it all led to us having less time and more to do than expected. We began by talking with Don, who insisted that we go to Kirstenbosch. He said it is world class and well worth the visit. He would take us to the bus, which would get us there. So, in spite of my reluctance, we went with that plan, and perhaps some beach in the afternoon. On that front, Don has suggest Kalk Bay, because it would have less wind than other places, and was quite a pretty little town to boot.

So we were off, and very pleasantly surprised by the gardens. A wonderfully divers, and amazingly presented, garden of plants native to South Africa, along ith open public spaces for people to gather.






The "cycad" in the title refers to the type of plant in the above photo. I will include some pictures of them further along. They have been on this earth since the time of the dinosaurs, and survived the Great Extinction to go on and be part of our world (only to be threatened, of course, by humans). The look like palms, but aren't. They have fruiting bodies that resemble the cones of conifers, but they aren't that. The have two genders of plants. And the leaves are very tough and sharp, not fine at all. The reminded me of some of the tree ferns I had seen in Australia.






There were lots of other things there as well. One of these was a tree-top walk among the native forest that was still (or again) present.





Not as many birds as I would have expected. But interesting, nonetheless. In all, we spent a very pleasant three hours there, before catching a taxi to Kalk Bay. And that as well was an adventure. I have maintained an Uber virginity, but this time used Uber on Don's recommendation. It was a pretty seamless experience, actually quite nice. We got a young man with a pretty modern car, an immigrant from Zimbabwe, and a good talker. Turns out that a lot of the drivers are from Zimbabwe. They rent cars to drive for Uber (to own their own car is very expensive in South Africa), so the first R2000 - R2500 (about CDN$200) per week made goes to the owner of the car. They work long hours, but that's the work they can get. We talked about Mugabe, and the need to dispose him. We talked about the discrimination that the immigrants get from native South Africans (white and black). We talked about the government's policies in SA. A good political trip as well as a pleasant actual trip. And we got to the ocean, found the restaurant we were looking for, ate some lunch and then went down to the water. Not as sandy a place as some of the other beaches we had visited, but sunny and warm, and welcoming.





Another Uber to get us back to Cape Town, and we saw why we were directed to a bay where the wind was less. Back in town, the wind almost took us off our feet. Darlene was chasing her hat down the street. And we both had to be careful not to get going too fast down hill pushed by the wind until we fell. It was actually a bit scary.

And so went our last full day. A pizza at home in the B&B, some packing, and to bed. For the next day, we got onto Rovos for our trip to Pretoria.

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Location:Stellenbosch Gardens, Cape Town

The Long and Short of it

Last night, after a busy day walking down to the Company's Gardens (a large public garden built by the Dutch a century or so ago), and the to Greenmarket Square for a lovely lunch at an Italian Restaurant (I say lovely, but my stomach has been upset all day today, so they may have poisoned me...), we had done it for the day. But there was a bit of hunger left in us. On the advice of Don, our B&B host, we walked a few blocks to the Deer Park Café. And it was terrific, a place to revisit when we can. There was a green space right next to it, with a very nice children's playground as well. So there was a few families with their young children there, having a good time. And the food was very good a a reasonable price. Of course, after being in London on our way down here, anything is a reasonable price, pretty much.

Today was a hop-on, hop-off kind of day. Here they have those open-topped red tourist busses that go around the city with pre-recorded messages. And here, it kind of makes sense (or did to us) to take it for the day. So we went around from the downtown to Table Mountain to the beach, and back around again. We had bought our tickets on-line and had to pick them up downtown. I felt the need for a walk, so walked the two kilometres or so to the office, while Darlene took the bus. Normally, we would go together, but we had a back-up plan for times like this. We both got SIM cards, so we could text each other. So when Darlene was delayed, she texted me dutifully. And I'm sure I got it on my phone. But in my fuzzy state this morning, I left my phone charging in the B&B. So much for Plan B!

However, once we got together, we got on the bus, and had a pleasant time touring the city. Up Table Mountain as high as four wheels will take you, looked at the cable car, and decided that we would not do it today, if ever. (It goes from about half-way up the mountain to the top of it, and rocks a bit with the wind [see previous blog]). So we stayed on the bus and went back to the Waterfront, in Cape Town a tourist area well done. There is music, there are restaurants. There is a museum for Robben Island, there are lots of shops selling interesting things. And the sky was clear, and the temperature warm. So we wandered, had a mediocre lunch, and then went through one of the markets they had there. But we were tired, and decided we would go once more to the beach (this time to Camp's Bay). An interesting weather phenomenon occurred: while we were on our way, a cloud of fog rolled into the bay, as well as over the central city. So the beach looked like this:


And it as cooler. We didn't stay as long as we had thought we would. Back on the bus, and heading downtown to catch the local bus to get home. This took us to the area of downtown along Long Street—a busy, somewhat shady, artsy, multi-cultural area of town which has life all day and night, we are told.

We got there, missed the hourly bus by a few minutes, so sat around and watched a group of about fifteen drummers play a hot rhythm for many minutes. And during all this, there was a parade of unusual people. Some were sad to us: children of six to ten begging; some were well-dressed and clearly better-financed; young couples, old folks like us; black, white, yellow; lots and lots of taxis (we have been warned not to take most of them, because they will bilk you on the ride); cars double-parked; street sellers bundling up their wares and pushing them to the night-time storage areas—heavy, heavy loads of push-cart being shoved by strong young men up the hills around us. So the time went slowly, but not boringly. And then the bus got us home again.

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Location:Florida Road,Cape Town,South Africa

The Doctor is In

Let me explain the title of this entry. Cape Town, as you may know, is dominated geographically by Table Mountain, a mesa-like mountain which acts as a backdrop to the city, about two kilometres back from the harbour. And if course, this and the other mountains around here affect the weather.

Often, there is a thin covering of cloud just touching the top of the mountain. This is known as the "table cloth", appropriately. And often as well, there are winds here blowing pretty hard. These winds are known as the "Cape doctor". And last evening, through the night, and this morning, they are blowing hard. Over 50 kph pretty steadily, with gusts going higher. In Dundas, this would be a wild storm; here it's a yawn. Pretty normal.

Yesterday we had a successful day on a few fronts. First, we went to the local mall and got our phones localized. This was needed, we felt, to allow better communication between us while here (if we went separate ways for a while).

Then we walked down the hill to the District Six Museum: a place we had tried many times to visit on our previous trip, scuttled by the Easter weekend and various unusual closures. But this time we succeeded in seeing a truly awesome account of the destruction of the District Six community for political purposes (in this case, apartheid). There were testimonials, pictures, maps, artifacts. And a part of it was a link to other areas in the world where communities were razed for "their own good"—one being in Malmö, Sweden, where a poor working-class area was levelled because of public health concerns.

We had lunch there, Bob eating a "bobotie" (suitable named), and we all enjoying a Whoopi Goldberg-like woman keeping the place alive with her energy. In all, the museum was a hit, and well worth the several attempts at visiting.

And from there, we had a visit to the beach—in this case, Queen's Beach. So we got to try out the bus system, and it works well. But we, or at least I, was tired by then, and the evening was a quiet affair at home with a bottle of wine and some cheese and crackers. Oh, and some biltong for Bob.


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Location:Exner Avenue,Cape Town,South Africa

What a Long Trip!

We are now lounging on Florida Road in South Africa (Cape Town), arriving here this morning. The day was bright and early, we were dark and tired.

So let me go back to the time in London. We had left Dundas on a Friday evening, taking the overnight flight to London. BA was good, and we were in Premium Economy, which meant extra room and more perks—you know, the kind of things we all used to get for free. And we (or at least, I) actually got to sleep a bit while in flight. Of course, just to make that more interesting, they serve supper at about midnight Dundas time. After cleaning up, it was after one when I got to sleep, and they wake you at about four AM Dundas time, for what they hopefully call a breakfast, and to get ready for landing.

London was cold and rainy, not terribly inducive to going out. But going out we did, taking the bus to see Trinity House where Dan and Katy are to be wed. This was a place built during the time of Henry VIII as a place where the guardians of traffic on the Thames could hang out, then becoming an administrative home for the Lighthouse Authority for the UK. It was bombed in the War, rebuilt and added to, but still has very much the feel of genteel power. And white male dominance (although Princess Anne is now a member—they call them "brothers"). It is beautiful, awesome in the complete sense of the word, but friendly as well, and very welcoming to both Katy and Dan. In short, wonderful.






A quiet evening talking about weddings and such, a fair bit of play with our grand-kitties, and an early bedtime completed the day.

Sunday included a mandatory trip to the Maltby Market, this time with Jim and Claire (Katy's parents) as well. Partly to see the location of the wedding reception, and partly to, well, just indulge. Again, a very nice time, marred only a bit by a fall that Claire had in the Market which left her with a sore knee and thumb. Both Darlene and I had some napping to do, to catch up on our time getting to London. So they day was lazy, but pleasant. And followed by a similar day on Monday, also at home (I don't think I went outside at all).






Which brings us to the Tuesday, another day of long travel. Another lazy day at home for the morning, before catching the taxi to Heathrow and getting on the plane for Cape Town. Twelve fitful hours, a few hours sleep, some discomfort, and just plain tedium got us to this warm, sunny clime at an early hour of the morning. A long cab ride into town through the morning rush hour, and we were back at Don and Patricia's lovely place for a second stay in the Mother City.

What we didn't expect was how tired we were. I thought I would lie down for an hour or so, and be fine. Darlene felt she didn't need to really lie down. We both slept for six hours, right though the remaining hours of morning and well into the afternoon. In the end, we walked over to Derry Street, did some shopping for the B&B, and had a lovely supper at the Sidewalk Café. Now home, I am fading fast and looking longingly at my bed for the night. We are getting old.


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Location:Florida Road,Cape Town,South Africa