The trip home was a gruelling one. We rode from Cape Town to Doha, Qatar, for 10 hours, then had an 8 hour layover in Doha. Got on a plane from Doha to Washington, D.C. for 15 hours, then a 6 hour layover in D.C. for our flight home to Atlanta.
We were very glad to hear the immigration officer in Washington say "Welcome Home". We told him we were so glad to be home. We were looking forward to food we could eat.
Food is very different in the places we visited. Meat is tough and doesn't taste like what we're used to. Not many kinds of vegetables and only melons and pineapple for fresh fruit most of the time. And they don't cook things the way we do.
The poverty is overwhelming in the countries we visited. The housing made of any scrap materials like tarps, tin, cardboard or fabric and the carrying of water in containers in wheelbarrows from a distribution point was very sad. We have our share of poverty in our country, but nothing like what we saw in Africa. The beggars on every street in Johannesburg were off-putting as well as all the men on the streets of Zimbabwe in your face every few feet trying to pressure you to buy their wares. I'm not sure what hope there is for the children of these places.
The trip was an amazing one and we're so glad we did it. Lots of memories and lots of wonderful sights and animals that we probably won't get to see again in their natural habitats. Another check off for the bucket list.
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Now it was time to go to Capetown, South Africa, our last stop on the trip. We were in 3 countries in one day - Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Our first expedition was to Robben Island to see the prison where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 years. The island was quite a stark place with a quarry where the prisoners broke rocks and moved them from one place to another until there was a use for the rock. An ex-political prisoner gave the tour of the buildings and told of the routine followed by the prisoners.
We had a free day the next day, so we rode the hop on-hop off sightseeing bus to Kirstenbosch Gardens and walked on their tree canopy walkway. Very neat. Also took in the wineries at Groot Constantia and Eagles Nest. Good times.....
Our next day was spent on a bus tour of the Cape Town area stopping at Boulders to see the penguins. They had lots of young ones which were so cute. It was fun to watch them go into the water and come back out. We went to the Cape of Good Hope and rode up the funnicular for a good view of the point.
We had a free day the next day, so we rode the hop on-hop off sightseeing bus to Kirstenbosch Gardens and walked on their tree canopy walkway. Very neat. Also took in the wineries at Groot Constantia and Eagles Nest. Good times.....
Our next day was spent on a bus tour of the Cape Town area stopping at Boulders to see the penguins. They had lots of young ones which were so cute. It was fun to watch them go into the water and come back out. We went to the Cape of Good Hope and rode up the funnicular for a good view of the point.
While we were in Zimbabwe, we went to the Chobe National Park for a game drive and saw lots of elephants and giraffes. About 30 giraffes in a group. The baby elephants were playing in the water and having a great time. Too cute! To top off the day, we were sitting outside at the hotel bar and were told there was an elephant right outside the fence, so we went to see him just outside the fence (about 20 feet away) munching on trees. He moved along the fence line and was so quiet that you couldn't even hear him walking. Just another day in Africa.......
On a side note: we visited with the bartender at the hotel about his country and he said that he and his family were very poor. He said he was paid a poor wage as well. There is 60% unemployment in Zimbabwe and that many businesses had closed. The major businesses are copper, diamonds, agriculture (tobacco, cotton and corn) and tourism, though tourism was down considerably. Everyone in Livingstone was trying to see trinkets to you and would exchange their merchandise for clothes, shoes, or the U.S. dollar. When they heard we were going home that day, they didn't understand why we didn't have clothes or shoes or socks to leave behind with them. A sad, sad situation.
On a side note: we visited with the bartender at the hotel about his country and he said that he and his family were very poor. He said he was paid a poor wage as well. There is 60% unemployment in Zimbabwe and that many businesses had closed. The major businesses are copper, diamonds, agriculture (tobacco, cotton and corn) and tourism, though tourism was down considerably. Everyone in Livingstone was trying to see trinkets to you and would exchange their merchandise for clothes, shoes, or the U.S. dollar. When they heard we were going home that day, they didn't understand why we didn't have clothes or shoes or socks to leave behind with them. A sad, sad situation.
We flew from Johannesburg to Livingstone, Zambia, to get to Victoria Falls. We stood in a line for over an hour to get a dual entry visa for Zambia. We had to get from Zambia to Zimbabwe to get to the falls and we ended up walking our luggage across the border to a different bus. Very strange. We went on a walk at Victoria Falls and it's quite a sight. They are 2 times taller than Niagara Falls with enough water going over to supply New York City for a year. Don't know how accurate that is. There were many references and a statue to David Livingstone, the European to "discover" the falls. There was lots of water and mist being generated and lots of rainbows. It's truly "the smoke that thunders".
We were lucky enough to take a helicopter ride over the falls and the rivers that feed them. The gorge of the waterfall was much narrower than it appeared from the path on the other side. Just a small crevice that opened up to let the water flow over it. The Chobe and the Zambizi are the rivers that converge to form the falls. This was a good time to see them because there was lots of water flowing.
We ended the day with a cruise on the Zambizi river and was several hippos, beautiful colors on the "smoke" over the falls and a pretty sunset. A nice way to end the time at Victoria Falls.
We were lucky enough to take a helicopter ride over the falls and the rivers that feed them. The gorge of the waterfall was much narrower than it appeared from the path on the other side. Just a small crevice that opened up to let the water flow over it. The Chobe and the Zambizi are the rivers that converge to form the falls. This was a good time to see them because there was lots of water flowing.
We ended the day with a cruise on the Zambizi river and was several hippos, beautiful colors on the "smoke" over the falls and a pretty sunset. A nice way to end the time at Victoria Falls.
Sabi Sabi was a private game preserve that we had the good fortune of staying at for 3 days. It is a wonderful resort with lovely accomodations and a very attentive staff. We went on jeep safaris each day. In the early morning and late evening we went with a guide and driver and had the great good time seeing a pride of lions with two cubs. We were about 10 feet away from them. Watching the cubs play on tree limbs was so much fun. Then they attacked their mother and that was fun to watch too. We saw leopards and watch one of them climb a tree, sprawl out over a branch, and just let his feet dangle over each side of the limb. We were so close that if he had fallen out of the tree, he would have landed in our laps. Amazing! On another of our game drives, we drove through a herd of buffalo and saw rhinos and their calves. It seems every species had babies with them.
We took a nature walk out in the bush and learned about some plants and trees that were native to the area. We learned that native peoples aften burned cow dung to keep the mosquitos and bugs away and that they inhaled the smoke to cure colds. We had several people in our group that had colds, but we didn't try the remedy. :) We saw a flannel leaf plant which is very soft and was used to apply lotions to the skin. We also learned that the weeping wattle was called "the toilet paper of the bush" because it was so soft and was easily layered to get just the right ply thickness for the purpose. A very interesting tree is the Buffalo Thorn. It has thorns pointing one way on one side of the stem and thorns pointing the other way on the other side of the stem. A double whammy if it catches your skin. The leaves are very appealing to all the herbivores. Giraffes take the whole branch in their mouths and strip the leaves off. The thorns don't bother them. The Shagaan people believe the branches symbolize life and the turns it takes because the branches actually do twist and turn. They also take a branch from the tree to a funeral of a friend or family member to pass the branch over the person to "capture their spirit". They will buy 2 tickets back home (one for the spirit of the deceased) and bring the branch back home so that the loved one's spirit will live with them. Another great day in the bush.
We took a nature walk out in the bush and learned about some plants and trees that were native to the area. We learned that native peoples aften burned cow dung to keep the mosquitos and bugs away and that they inhaled the smoke to cure colds. We had several people in our group that had colds, but we didn't try the remedy. :) We saw a flannel leaf plant which is very soft and was used to apply lotions to the skin. We also learned that the weeping wattle was called "the toilet paper of the bush" because it was so soft and was easily layered to get just the right ply thickness for the purpose. A very interesting tree is the Buffalo Thorn. It has thorns pointing one way on one side of the stem and thorns pointing the other way on the other side of the stem. A double whammy if it catches your skin. The leaves are very appealing to all the herbivores. Giraffes take the whole branch in their mouths and strip the leaves off. The thorns don't bother them. The Shagaan people believe the branches symbolize life and the turns it takes because the branches actually do twist and turn. They also take a branch from the tree to a funeral of a friend or family member to pass the branch over the person to "capture their spirit". They will buy 2 tickets back home (one for the spirit of the deceased) and bring the branch back home so that the loved one's spirit will live with them. Another great day in the bush.
Kruger National Park was very exciting. When we first drove into the park, we saw lions under some trees, a leopard with a kill, and elephants in a beautiful valley. Just like on National Geographic. Baboons and impala were everywhere as well. The elephants had babies with the herd and they were adorable. We drove around Kruger the next day to see all that we could until the gates around the campground compound closed at 6:00. The three campground compounds at Kruger are fenced in. The animals run wild, but the people must be enclosed at 6:00 every night with an electrified fence. Quite a concept.
We saw giraffes, wildebeests, nyala, impala, zebras, warthogs, hippos out of the water and lots of monkeys. We stopped at one of the campsite compounds to eat lunch at their restaurant and it was an indoor/outdoor affair. We saw giraffes on the river bank and elephants grazing outside the restaurant, but the wildest thing was that the waiter asked if we wanted to see a deadly snake - I declined, but all the men went to see. It was a black mamba in the rafters of the restaurant. Dave didn't see it, but one of the other guys did see a small part. Right under the snake's perch there was a laptop computer, a lunch and drink, but no customer. Guess he saw the snake and just left.
We saw giraffes, wildebeests, nyala, impala, zebras, warthogs, hippos out of the water and lots of monkeys. We stopped at one of the campsite compounds to eat lunch at their restaurant and it was an indoor/outdoor affair. We saw giraffes on the river bank and elephants grazing outside the restaurant, but the wildest thing was that the waiter asked if we wanted to see a deadly snake - I declined, but all the men went to see. It was a black mamba in the rafters of the restaurant. Dave didn't see it, but one of the other guys did see a small part. Right under the snake's perch there was a laptop computer, a lunch and drink, but no customer. Guess he saw the snake and just left.
We drove through Swaziland as a shorter way to get to Kruger National Park. The border crossings were crazy - you show your passport in an immigration office to get out of South Africa, then you drive a few hundred yards and go into the Swaziland immigration office and get your passport stamped there. You do the reverse coming out. There is usually only one window open for this exercise and locals are coming and going as well. Quite the experience. One border agent asked that we open the camper so she could look around. I opened the door and mentioned that we were "on holiday" and she smiled and told us to have a good time. Go figure.
We got to drive ourselves through another game preserve on the way and we saw a huge herd of wildebeests running around like crazy, some warthogs, several giraffes, more monkey families and lots of impala.
The landscape of Swaziland is very pretty with sugar cane fields, citrus groves, and banana groves. We saw two sugar factories on our route. There were cows and goats in the road everywhere. They liked to cross the roads at their leisure causing some sudden stops.
Swaziland is exceedingly poor. The dwellings were just shacks in many cases and people everywhere were pushing wheelbarrows full of containers to carry their water from the nearest distribution point. No running water and no indoor plumbing. Our people should see how bad these folks have it and they might appreciate how good the USA is. There were lots of schools and the children were dressed in uniforms. Lots of colors which represented which school they attended. We're not sure about the opportunities that exist for these children, but it doesn't seem very hopeful. At least they are trying to educate the younger generation.
We had some very sad news this day; Ashley had to have her dog Banks put down. He had not responded to his chemotherapy and had reached the end. We'll miss him terribly.
We got to drive ourselves through another game preserve on the way and we saw a huge herd of wildebeests running around like crazy, some warthogs, several giraffes, more monkey families and lots of impala.
The landscape of Swaziland is very pretty with sugar cane fields, citrus groves, and banana groves. We saw two sugar factories on our route. There were cows and goats in the road everywhere. They liked to cross the roads at their leisure causing some sudden stops.
Swaziland is exceedingly poor. The dwellings were just shacks in many cases and people everywhere were pushing wheelbarrows full of containers to carry their water from the nearest distribution point. No running water and no indoor plumbing. Our people should see how bad these folks have it and they might appreciate how good the USA is. There were lots of schools and the children were dressed in uniforms. Lots of colors which represented which school they attended. We're not sure about the opportunities that exist for these children, but it doesn't seem very hopeful. At least they are trying to educate the younger generation.
We had some very sad news this day; Ashley had to have her dog Banks put down. He had not responded to his chemotherapy and had reached the end. We'll miss him terribly.
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