The Final Frontier..Africa!

We finally saw the zebras and wildebeast as well as a giraffe.  I am pretty sure that Matt knew that they were there and would be easy to find so left them for thursday night. 

Sundowners that night were pretty special.  We parked on a hill looking over the river and Matt pulled out a table and table cloth and tiffen full of treats then opened the champage.  Meryl would have approved.  After that we went out a found the African Wild Cat.  Which pretty much looked like a house cat, but apparently was very rare.  Just after we left they say a "kill"..which apparently consisted or a cat killing a mouse.  To celebrate the rhinos we had seen in the AM, we rewarded Matt with beer and more beer.  Of course we had to drink along to be polite.  Moira was especially sociable that night.  We were talking to Matt about what was the hardest thing and his response was "the discovery channel was his nemesis".  He then talked about the Youtube video of the cape buffalo being eaten by the lions and then the crock and then the buffalo huting down the lions.  It takes place in Kruger...google it, it is really something.  Anyway after that the night digressed into Youtubes culminating with Rebecca Black Parody and of course...Double Dream Hands.  We have evidence of Sharon and Moria double dream handing away!

The next morning we got up and had a drive before we left.  This was pretty special, we started out by seeing 3 teenage hyeneas in their den.  The mom was not around.  They were quite curious and came right up to the truck.  Matt knew they were there so took us to them specially.  Their den was at the most southern part of the reserve so it was a bit of a hike.  This is where Cynthia's master tracker status kicked in.  She was spotting animals right, left and center.  It started with the hyeneas and then she spotted 5 giraffes, then a kudu and then a worthog.  The worthog was just the thing that Sharon wanted to see so that capped it off for her perfectly..then the radio started going like crazy.

We saw the remains of a kill!!!  And the amimal that did it was the elusive cheetah so we ended up with 200 points for the cheetah and another 200 for the kill.  She had killed a small impala and was chomping down on it.  Apparently she only has about 30 mintues to finish it before the other vultres and heyenas start to push her away from it.  She started by eating the best parts (the hind quarter) and then the innards.  She would eat for about 5 minutes then sit up and look around to see if anyone else was coming to take the kill from her.  We had to leave before she finished but it was pretty freaky to watch.  I can hardly wait to see Sharon's pictures, she had the zoom lens so I am sure they are amazing.

We then got back to the camp and packed up to go to the airplane to go back to Joburg.  Of course there was a giraffe waiting on the runway for us.  It was funny after the first two days of seeing elephants everywhere, we never saw them again until we got up in the air over Mala Mala.  Goes to show  you need to enjoy with animals when you see them because you might not see them again.

When we landed in Joburg, we got picked up and took a tour of the downtown...a bit like Detroit.  It was very depressed with a lot of abandoned buildings.  After that we took a tour of Soweto.  It was much less depressing than I thought it would be.  There were shacks for sure but there were also some nice well kept brick homes with lovely gardens.  We also saw Bishop Desmond Tutu's house and Nelson Mandela's house.  There is a street dedicated to both nobel prize winners.

From there we went to the Arptetide Museum.  This was very interesting and moving and took you through the progression from the 1920's to the elections in the mid 1990s.  There was also a Nelson Mandela exhibit where they had the jersey from the rugby world cup depicted in Invictus.  It was signed by the team captain and Mandela.  Very cool.

We are now in Schipol airport in Amsterdam.  Moira has gone to visit her aunt and we are charging up devices for the last leg of the trip home. 

It has been the trip of a lifetime and would not have been the same without my travelling companions.  I know I got grumpy sometimes, but they humoured me, so thanks for that.

When I get home I will post a bunch of pictures.

Thanks for following!

Lorr

4th time is a charm

So Moira has gone on three previous safaris but has never seen the elusive rink...well her streak is over...last night we saw rinos!!! She could not have been happier. We first say 3 then another two and then as we were heading back to camp we saw six on the landing strip..to call it an airport would be an exaggeration. We dubbed them the runway rinos. We then saw another three on this mornings drive.

Last night we also saw 3 lions ( two males a and a female). We followed one of the males down the road for quite a while in the pitch black. It was really moving and a bit scary when he stared right at you. He was less than 3 feet away when he wales by. We could have reached out and touched him.

This morning we went out and ended up finding the lion again. We lead us directly to where there were the remains of a impala that was likely killed the night before. The only part left was his spine, brain and horns. We watched him gnaw on that for a while and then we followed him to the rest of the family which consisted of a lioness and her 4 cubs. The cubs were about three months old. We ended up watching them play for almost 30 minutes. It was so much fun. They were so cute. It was like a scene from Born Free. On the trip back to camp we also saw a cape buffalo. He was quite intimidating . We tracked some hyenas today but did. Not find them. We have discovered if we bribe our guide Matt with beer he seems to find what we want to see. I already owe him one for the giraffe he found me this morning. if he can find the zebra and wildebeest tonight he will have a very fun night!

Tomorrow we start our trek home. I will try to post our last day at some point in the journey.

Until then

Safari day 2

This morning the wake up call came at 5:30 for a 6am drive. We started out and immediately I spotted 4 hippos in the water. Did you know they are the most dangerous animal..don't get between them and water. We then saw some elephants very close up which was a little scary but also quite amazing. We then caught a lioness having her morning snooze. She was quite old In her pride and looked very peaceful. From there we heard that there was a male leopard around so we went in search of him. Matt tried tracking him for ages but we eventually gave up. We then saw a female leopard and went to follow her but lost her in about 10 seconds. We tried to find her again with some serious off roaring but no luck. On the way back to camp we saw lots of birds, mongoose and tiny squirrels the size of chipmunks.

After breakfast we went for a walk in the bush and got a bit caught in the middle of a bunch of elephants. We managed to get around them in the trucks and finished our walk.

We have another drive planned for later this afternoon. I really want to see a zebra and Moira wants to see a rhino. Keep your fingers crossed!

Love is in the air...

We arrived at the MALA MALA game reserve where we were met at the airfield by our ranger Matt. We got our rooms at the resort which are amazing. Sharon and I have an outdoor shower. Almost immediately we went on our first game drive. First we saw elephants including babies and also a cape buffalo. We then saw some impala and then the the highlight of the evening...leopards mating. It was amazing. We watched them for several "times". Sharon got some amazing pictures. At one point they were less than 2 feet from our truck. It was almost too close for pictures. We then went on and saw a mother lion and three cubs. They are not allowed to shine a light on the babies. From there we saw more lions mating. Love was in the air. We had our sundowners while watching lions do it. We were also able to see the very rare blue cooler...Sharon throughout it was an animal...we had to explain it was a cooler with ice to keep our drinks cold.

I wanted to keep this blog g rated, if you are over 18 and want the specifics of the mating email me for the alternate blog!!!

How is this our life?????

Yesterday we went to Plettenburg Bay and dipped our toes in the Indian Ocean!!! We collected shells on the beach and then walked around the town. After town we went to this little restaurant on the beach where dolphins were frolicking...again!!! (thanks Lisa!)

When we got back to our country house Moira had a reflexology session and I had a pedicure by the pool. Are you kidding me? We then went back to the room for sundowners and then onto dinner. Dinner started with drinks by the fire and the menu was personalized with are names..how is this my life? We then ordered our dinner at the bomba and when our dinner was ready we went into the dining room and shut up it was a private room with 28 candles...is this my life? Dinner was wonderful and included something they called pre dessert...that is another tradition I will be bringing back along with sundowners.

This morning we headed off to the George airport where we tool a flight to Joburg The flight was on a new CRJ with SAA. Ironically the funding for this plane was arranged by Moira's husband Steve when he worked with EDC...thanks Steve! After landing we were transferred to a small charter terminal for our flight to MALA MALA. Now, who do we run into at the terminal but John Madigans brother Rob. This is a very small world indeed!!!!

My life is pretty great! Hopefully will be ble to post from safari.

Meryl Would Approve...

When we originally conceived of this trip it was loosely based on Meryl Streep in "Out of Africa"...."I had a farm in Africa..."  I know it is silly but we had visions of tea in a garden surrounded by buildings with thatched roofs.  That is not the new South Africa...then we came to Hunters Country House.  OMG.  Meryl would approve!  When we arrived Roxy the manager said and I quote.."You must be tired from your long journey...would you like a cup of tea?"  We had just driven 4 hours in a air conditioned car not traveled days by ox cart!  We then proceeded to have tea in the garden surrounded by thatched cottages.  Then she took us to our rooms.  Yes we are in a thatched cottage with a fire place, private garden and any other decadent indulgence you can imagine.  Moira was having back problems so after a few glasses of Pinotage to take the edge off, a massage therapist came to work out the kinks in her back while Cynthia, Sharon and I had our "sundowners" in the bomba.  Now a bomba is an outdoor fenced area in the bush, or in our case, a tented area with a fire pit, fire place, camp chairs, couches with ostrich stuffed pillows and Frank Sinatra playing in the background.  We had champers while we waited for her.  She came back feeling much better, not 100% but better.  We then headed down the candle lit path to the property next door for dinner which was lovely.  On the way back the other 3 stopped for after dinner tea in the bomba, I headed to bed.  We are heading into Plettenburg bay today for a half day and then are planning to come back to just hang out before we head to safari tomorrow.

Not sure how much I will be able to post while on safari but if not, I will do a full update when I get back to the airport.

All I can say about the past 24 hours is....Meryl would approve!!!!!

Did you know?

Today's blog is brought to you courtesy of Rustenburg sauvignon blanc 2010...did you know...

South African toilet paper has a puppy imprinted on it
A sundowners is a drink with nibbles at about 4 in the afternoon
A smiley is a cooked sheep's head
A walkie talkie is the feet and neck of a chicken
A whale breaching is when the whale comes out of the water backwards ( btw we saw whales today)
Cape of good hope is not where the oceans meet, that is about 200km away
Pinotage is a hybrid of the pinot and hermitage grape
And I have forgotten the rest...they were much funnier at about 4 when we were having our sundowners.

We are now at a beautiful guest house on the ocean at Hermannus. Tomorrow we continue up the garden route towards Plettenburg bay.

More tomorrow.

Wine is good...

Today we were picked up by Rob our fab guide. This was our last day with him which we are sad about. We started in the town of Stellenbosch which is a college town with lovely shops and art galleries. We waked around for a while and I poked into an antique book shop and found two old editions of Jane Austin's Pride and Predjuice and Sense and Sensibility.

We then went to a winery and did some tastings which were very yummy. From there we went to another winery and tasted wines and olive oils. Who knew olive oils could taste so different?

We had a lovely lunch at the winery and finished it off with some rooisbos tea which was quite a production.

We then stopped at a Dutch cape house museum that was really interesting..also on a winery...are you sensing a theme?

Our last stop was another winery where we got to test some sparking wine made in the champagne method. The winery was a small family run place. For those of you looking for recommendations we took pics of all of the labels for future reference. We are eating dinner now at our guest house and drinking one of the wines we bought.

Franschhoek and double dream hands

Today we were picked up by a new guide Marilyn and taken to Franschhoek which is in the valley in the middle of the wine region. It took about an hour and a half to get out of the city and here. The b&b we are staying at is AMAZING!!! There are only 8 rooms with a lovely courtyard out back. when we arrived we made ourselves some tea and sat in the sun by the pool. We then took a stroll into town and picked up some sandwiches at the grocery store. We had planned to eat in the courtyard of the church down the street but apparently Sharon and I did it wrong and we in the courtyard of another building. It was still lovely. We then stopped to pick up a bottle of wine and sit in the courtyard of the hotel...and then it all went downhill! We started to talk about the double dream hands video on YOutube (if you have not seen it, run to search for it...a classic). Needless to say the afternoon has deteriorated with Moira and Sharon reenacting the dance..it was not pretty. I cried. We are planning a fancy dinner out where Cynthia will be our designated walker and hopefully there will be no double dream hands.

Update 9:49 PM: made it through dinner but now Sharon is doing it again and planning to practice for a more formal performance...there will be video.

Robbin island and it's good to hang with the locals...

Apologies, I was unable to convince anyone else to blog...I will keep trying. This morning was another beautiful day in Cape Town, 22 and sunny for our trip to Robbin Island. This is an island 11 km off of CT that was a penal colony for hundreds of years. It is best known for housing Nelson Mandela for 18 years along with many other political prisoners. We took a catamaran ferry across which was quite windy. We arrived shrouded in fog which only added to the Erie feeling of it all. Before I get into the specifics can I just say Germans have no concept of the queue. This is a strange occurrence I have observed for many years traveling but it was once again reinforced again today. How they fought for both world wars without being able to form a simple line is beyond me! Anyway, onto the tour. We hoped on buses that took us for a drive around the island including a stop at the quarry where the prisioners worked at hard labour. On the bus doing the speaking was one of the former prisioners that was jailed here. He was interesting but more interesting was when we stopped at the actual prison block. We were guided here through the cells by another former prisoner that was very soft spoken but very moving. Here we saw the cell that Mandela lived in for most of his time in Robbin. He spoke of the educational system that they developed "each one, teach one". There were prisoners that came to the island illiterate and left with degrees, it was very moving.

One thing I forgot to mention, when we were at the ferry dock to go to the island there was a union protest going on in front. They spent the whole time singing their demands (I thin). It was lovely and very civilized.

After the trip we were met at the docks by Moira's English friend Lisa. She was so very lovel and welcoming. She took us to a hotel in the sea for lunch where we cranks mojitos and watched cheeky dolphins jumping out of the water. It was amazing! From there she took us for a drive sound upper downtown including a walk around the city. We stopped at St Georges chuerch where Rev Desmond Tutu was the archbishop and then onto a monument to the struggle for equality. We then walked through the gardens surrounding the parliament buildings. It was more of an amble than a walk. Ambling was not Cynthia's thing. She likes to walk fast with a purpose. It was kinda funny! From there she took us to Camp Bay which is a suburb just north of CT ( I think) to this super Fu ky restaurant on the beach to have a light super and watch the sun go down. We never would have found it on our own. It was awesome. Lisa, if you are reading this thanks again and hopefully we can meet again! Lisa then drove us back to the hotel along the coast which was breathtaking. The other girls are out shopping at the mall next door. I was all mallee out so came back here to chill out. Tomorrow we start up the coast leaving beautiful Cape Town...but I will be back. No idea when but I will!

Seals and Penguins and Heights ... Oh My!

Today has been an action packed day. We were picked up at 8:30 and taken to a fishing village where we hopped on a boat to go to a small island that was covered in seals. It was pretty smelly but fun to watch the animals dive in and out of the water. Then we visited the Cape of Good Hope which is the south western most point of the continent. It is not the most southern point. That is about 200k away...who knew! At the cape you could take a hike to the top which Sharon, Moira and Cynthia quite bravely did. I got about half way up and started to freak out..not a big fan of heights. I got down and waited for them. From there we took a drive up to coast to a lovely place for lunch. The drive up the coast was a bit like the california coastal highway but way prettier. Lunch was good and we had traditional south African dessert that I cannot recall the name of. We then walked down the street to penguin colony on what used to be the best beach around Cape Town until the penguins moved in about 25 years ago. We saw them digging holes for nests, feeding their babies and generally waddling around. They were pretty cute.

We then continued to drive up the coast through some of the costal towns where our guide Rob told us a naval story about a great Dane that was hired by the navy and guided with full military honors. The dog was called Just Nuisance. It was a pretty cool story.

Eventually we made our way to the cableway at table mountain. We took the cable up to the top which was beautiful until I found out that yes we were going to walk around the edge. It was scary...I am indeed a suss. I refrained from jumping across the crevice to stand on another rock because that seemed like all kinds of stupid! I did take a picture of them standing on the outcropping.

We just got back to our hotel exhausted and are now contemplating our next meal and most importantly our next wine! Tomorrow is Robbin Island which I expect to be very moving. Bye for now..maybe tomorrow we will have a guest blogger...stay tuned.

Cape Town day 1...another craft shop?

We arrived in a cape town last night and were met at the airport by our guide Rob. Rob is a native of Cape Town, an engineer by trade but now is a guide and has his own picture framing company. He has been lovely. He knows so much about the history of the county. He is very passionate about the new south Africa. When we got to the hotel Moira was waiting for us. We ended up having quite an interesting exchange of who's on first around room numbers..for the record,Moira and Cynthia are in 102 and Sharon and I are in 104 right next door.

After an amazing breakfast at the hotel (who knew there was such a thing as fresh strawberry juice) we met up with Rob. We were supposed to go to table mountain but the winds were too high so we ended up in the botanical gardens which were huge and amazing. He kind of tricked us into climbing up part of the mountain by walking up very gradually. The view was spectacular. Once we finished the walk we stopped at the first of what would be many gift/craft shops.

After the shopping he took us on a drive through downtown Cape Town where we saw some lovely Victorian buildings including the old fort which was in the shape of a pentagon. There were flags in order of rule flying from the building starting with the British and culminating with the new flag of South Africa! We even saw the balcony where Nelson Mandela spoke from after his release. And then we went to another craft store...

Rob then took us to the Malay section of CT. The Malay people were brought over as slaves originally. This part of town has several historic mosques and all of the stucco houses are painted candy colours like pink and purple and yellow and blue. It is so beautiful. He then took us to a cape Malay restaurant which served curries and the best samosa ever for lunch.

After lunch rob dropped us off and the others went shopping for...crafts.

I met up with them a bit later for a drink. We had dinner at a traditional SA BBQ place that was incredible. The wine especially was delicious. After dinner we stopped to pick up another bottle of wine but got distracted with..a craft store. Note to future travelers...you can not buy a bottle of wine after 8pm..they wall off that section of the store.

That is about it for today unless someone decides to stop at another craft store!!

Planes, trains and trams, trams and more trams!

I think it is safe to say I am tram challenged. First thing we went to the Ann frank museum which was very moving. It took us a while to find the building thanks to my superior navigation skills (not!). Eventually we decided the only person that could read a map was Cynthia (she is awesome at it). After Ann frank we stopped at this neat little pancake house that Sharon found. It was pretty yummy, salty and sweet combo was definitely the way to go.

The afternoon was spent at the keuekenhof gardens which was breathtaking. The pictures that Sharon took were amazing. If I ever suss out the posting I will load a few up. It was holland cultural weekend so there were people in traditional clothing. They explained what was signified by each of the outfits . Apparently single men have a red bandana which is good to know!

It was a bit of a hike to the gardens were well worth it. The weather was about 22 and sunny. We could not have ordered up a better day weather wise. When we got back to the city we wandered around the central section until I could not take the crowds and noise. I was on the verge of a meltdown so we hopped on a tram to goodness knows where and jumped off in search of a restaurant. After a very long forced march we found a little turkish place with great food and horrible service. Three beers and a half litre of wine later we wandered out to find our way home. I think we got on at least four trams going in different directions before we ended up on the right one. That does not include the four or five we missed either standing at the wrong place or on the wrong side of the road!!! It was hysterical..typical tourists! We made it home eventually. We are now sitting at the departure lounge waiting to board our flight to cape town. Africa here we come!!!!!

Having trouble loading pictures will try when I am not so tired

Amsterdam day 1

We have arrived in Amsterdam safely and on time (early actually). We managed to find Richard and his apartment ok. Turns out that it is in the same block that Ann Frank lived in before she went into hiding. Apparently the book store around the corner is where her father purchased the first diary. Once we dropped off our stuff we went out in search of adventure! We had a few missteps navigating the map but eventually made it to a tram station and figured out how to paid to get on it (no small feat). We went to Museumplein and found this really funky little deli with a teeny tiny loft and extra yummy sandwiches which definitely hit the spot. If you are in the area I would highly recommend Renzo's deli.

After that we split up and Cynthia and Sharon went to the Van Gogh museum and I went to the Stedelijk on my friend doug's recommendation. It had some really cool art and some really strange stuff (remind me to tell you about the neon). When we met up afterwards we headed to the canal area which was amazing. We found this candy shoppe that made excellent easter eggs..look for us to bring those back home.

After we had exhausted ourselves and our feet we stopped at a very nice Indonesian place for a rice taffel.

We are back now and getting ready for bed (at least Sharon and I are..Cynthia not so much)

Tomorrow is the Ann Frank museum, tulip garden, beer and who knows what .

My Travelling Companions..

Forgot to mention I will be making this trek halfway around the world with my friends Cynthia, Moria and Sharon.

They are all leaving their husbands and kids to join me on this adventure.  I am setting the bar pretty high for the half century.  I am hoping they continue the tradition so I have more exciting trips ahead of me!

And so it begins...

This is my first entry to set up my site. The trip lays out as follows:

Depart YYZ (Toronto) to Amsterdam March 31, arrive April 1.
Leave Amsterdam for Capetown April 3.
Leave Capetown to travel up the coast of South Africa April 7.
Franschhoek April 7 to April 9
Cliffs of Hermanus April 9 to 10
Plettenburg Bay and Mountains April 10 to 12
Fly from George to Johannsburg to Mala Mala April 12
SAFARI until April 15!!!

Home via Amsterdam April 15/16.