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 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.

The next highlight of the trip was a stop at St. Lucia.  We took a river cruise to see lots of hippos and crocodiles.  That was lots of fun to see.  The signs at the campground warned to watch for hippos at night.  They come ashore to feed at night and can travel 17 km in search of vegetation before they get back to the water in the morning.  We saw several babies and they really are cute. 
There were lots of monkeys around and we were warned to keep all vents and windows closed or they would get into the campers and destroy everything.  There were lots of mongoose families too.
The first game drive was held in St. Lucia to a game preserve called Hluhuwe (pronounced shoo shoo ee).  There was a very big giraffe in the middle of the road to greet us.  Quite a sight!  We saw lots of rhinos, warthogs, buffalo, elephants and impala and zebras.  One big elephant decided to walk right down the middle of the road at our jeep.  The driver backed up, but the elephant kept coming.  Quite scary seeing something that big and powerful coming right at you.  We did keep out of his way, though.  Amazing.....
After the game drive, we walked to the Indian Ocean.  We never expected to be so near it.  It was quite rough and there was an undertow reported, so nobody went swimming.

To prepare for our trip, we watched a mini series from 1984 called "Shaka Zulu".  It was the story of the king of the Zulu people in the 1800's and his reign of terror.  He was a much respected fellow and a commercial resort site has been built on the site of the movie set.  There is a lot of history and dance presented and it was very interesting as well as entertaining.  Dave got to participate in one of their dances - he did a pretty good job for an old man. :)
On the way to Shakaland we saw lots of huts that looked just like the ones we saw at the Basotho Cultural Center.

Midmar Dam

We visited the Basotho Cultural Center which is a collection of structures used from the 1600's to the 1900's.  We had a guided tour to explain the culture of the Basotho people and how things changed with the European influence. 
We camped at a place called Midmar Dam that was on the edge of a lake.  It was very restful.  We learned that the bathhouse is called the ablution.  Interesting word for it.

We finally got to Johannesburg after an all night flight.  We found a very poor city with beggars on every sidewalk and corner.  Quite disconcerting.  We picked up our campers and made a trip to the grocery store to supply.  Some interesting things about groceries in South Africa:  Paper towels are called roller towels, laundry soap is washing powder and you don't find any brands that you recognize.  The only item that has more selections than we have is candy.  There is more candy than I've ever seen in one place.



Our first night out was in Free State and we had dinner prepared by a lovely couple that have lived in South Africa for 40 years.  We learned lots about the history of the country and had some great native food.  Our elevation in Johannesburg was 5,447 ft. above sea level.

We traveled to Golden Gate National Park with an elevation of 6,298 ft. above sea level.  We encountered lots of potholes in the roads and observed that the roadwork is done by men instead of machine.  There were lots of "shanty towns" along our route and the landscape was very agricultural - sunflowers, corn, hay bales, cattle.  Rather like driving in the U.S. except on the other side of the road.  The landscape changed to cliffs and mountains as we got closer to the park.  We drove through the park and saw zebras, buffalo, and baboons.  We also got to see several emus and springboks on our first night out.

Hi there,
We had a good crossing.  We kept busy on board with computer classes, trivia, lecture series, caravan meetings, dancing lessons and dancing every night, shows, culinary demos and of course, eating.  We skipped breakfast most every day so we could eat more at dinner.  Seas were moderate until Thursday night, then I had to take something for the queasiness.  We've had a mixture of clouds and sun and got some rain.  We kept looking for ocean life, but only saw a flying fish, a 50 gal. barrel and a short piece of 2x4 lumber.

On April 5th we made our first port of call, Funchal, Madeira.  We took a bus tour of the island and found it to be quite beautiful.  Mountains and lots of clouds this day so we saw some great views, but the best one was obscured by the fog and clouds.  They grow lots of bananas there on the type of tree that produces only one bunch of fruit each year.  There are plastic bags on the bunches to keep the varmints out until the bananas are ripe.  Lots of people in a small space and they all have gardens in the yards to grow lots of produce. This is where the Madeira wine comes from.  We didn't get to taste any of it.

April 7th was Cadiz, Spain.  We walked through the old city and visited a cathedral.  There were several nationalities of rulers throughout the centuries and the architecture reflects that.  Lots of variety.  We attended a flamenco dance exhibition and reaffirmed that we can't move that fast so we'll never have that dance in our repertoire.  We learned that Columbus started his 2nd and 4th voyages from there.  Another interesting old city with vary narrow streets and lots of plazas with benches, trees and pigeons.

April 8th found us in Malaga, Spain.  We took another bus tour and visited the Gibralfaro Castle.  It was built in 1487 as a look out post and military garrison.  It sits on a hilltop overlooking the city.  Malaga grows avocados as their big export to all of Europe.  All other vegetables are grown in the northern part of Spain.  Less cathedrals here than in Cadiz, but more ornate decorations around the little chapels.  It's another city where people are living right on top of each other and shopping is in the narrow streets and plazas.  The ruins of the Roman Theatre are interesting.  They're in pretty good shape for having been buried for 400 years.  The ones in Cadiz aren't in as good a shape.

Cartagena, Spain was next on the agenda.  We didn't visit any cathedrals here, but the history was really something.  Carthagenian and Roman ruins are being excavated all over the city. This place wasn't as crowded as the previous cities.  Their architecture includes something they call modernism.  Lots of decoration and ornate iron railings on balconies.

April 10th we landed in Barcelona, Spain.  We spent the day riding the Hop On Hop Off bus and saw lots of the sights.  Antonio Gaudi was the famous architect from this city and his wild work is featured on all tours.  It's pretty indescribable.  If you Google him, you'll get a better idea of his work.  Seeing is believing.

Tomorrow evening we fly to Johannesburg.  We hope to visit a diamond mine there before starting our main trip.

Sorry we don't have any pictures attached, but the photo guy hasn't had any time to get some ready for uploading.  Maybe when we get to S. Africa.

Until next post.....