The Last Post

This morning we took off very early for Chobe in Botswana. The border crossing was really interesting. It's obvious that the women do most of the work there. The crossing was packed with day workers, balancing packages on their heads and babies on their hips. They cross over every day to go to work. We were accosted by boys trying to sell us wooden statues. Begging us to buy them so they could eat. Ira finally gave up and bought one just to get them to leave us alone. We traveled on safari in Chobe National Park. After a picnic lunch we went by boat on the Chobe River. Saw lots of elephants frolicking in the water - pretty amusing. The hippos are not friendly at all and are sometimes agressive. It was a long day and now we have to repack our suitcases in anticipation of a long trip tomorrow. See you all back in the states where Ira will mesmerize you with the 100 videos he made of elephants and giraffes.

Victoria Falls

We had one last game drive at the MalaMala reserve yesterday morning. Our guide was able to lead us to 3 lion brothers who were relaxing on the road. The night before they had been just a few yards from our Land Rover and we actually followed them right into the camp. Fortuantely they kept going. It was pretty exciting. Yesterday morning we were able to see a leopard mother and cub- they were in a tree right above us. We were sad to leave this wonderful place. It was a great experience. From there we took a very long drive on the way to the airport. We took a panoramic tour which included a beautiful waterfall and a very impressive canyon - South Africa's answer to the Grand Canyon. A short flight later we were in Johannesberg for the night. This morning we flew to Victoria Falls. The Hotel Livingstone is a gorgeous hotel - everything that the English did right. The grounds are beautiful and the lobby and bar are a throwback to the old English Africa. We walked to view the falls which are incredible. Got soaking wet but it was worth it. When we returned to our rooms the maids had turned down the beds, lit a candle, turned on the TV, laid out our robes and slippers and spread leaves on the bed. I could get used to this. We were warned however that the monkeys here are quite naughty and know how to open the sliding glass doors and get into the rooms looking for food. They walk all over the place and the bartender had to shoo them out of the bar. Zebras walk all around near the pool and giraffes, which are shy, hang out on the other side of the hotel. Steve had his picture taken with both of course. The president of Zambia arrived this evening and is staying a few doors down from us. The hotel is crawling with millitary and official looking people. Tomorrow the presidents of several other African countries will be arriving for a conference. The staff is pretty excited. The president was eating dinner while we were and our waiter told us that he brings his own chefs. Tomorrow we leave early to go to Chobe which is in Botswana. We will be on safari in a jeep and on the river. We should see a lot of animals. We are trying to plan a 15 minute helicopter trip over the falls on Thursday before we leave. This might be the last posting since we will be gone all day tomorrow and will be flying home on Thursday. We leave here and fly to Johannesberg and then on to Dakar for a quick stop and on to NY. We will be back Friday morning and I'm sure exhausted. It has truly been the trip of a lifetime.

Saturday and Sunday - MalaMala

After a short 2 1/2 hour plane trip we loaded into the van for a 3 hour trip to the MalaMala safari lodge. We never thought to ask how long it would be. The last hour of the ride was over some pretty rough roads. On arrival at this beautiful place we were greeted with wet cloths to wash our faces and pitchers of cold drinks - most welcome after the long trip. Our room is fabulous with a thatched roof and the best part -his and her bathrooms. Stephen and Lynn have the honeymoon suite which is larger than my first house. Next we were treated to afternoon tea with sandwiches and cookies. Then off to our first safari drive with our guide Lucky. What a treat! We saw a mother lion and her 4 cubs. We were able to watch them up close as they played with each other and jumped all over mom. Later we saw another lion couple who were resting after a mating session which we missed. Apparently they go at it for 4 days. The male lifted his head to look at us and he was magnificent. Pix to follow. Lucky got word that there was a leopard so we went in search of it. That's when Lynn revealed a special talent -animal spotter. She was always the first to spot him. We now call her Lynn sharp eyes Forte. The leopard was beautiful. Lynn later admitted that sheer terror produces her special talent. After our return to the lodge we had dinner in the boma, which is an outdoor area with a fire. It is surrounded by a tall reed fence. The food was delicious and I even tried eland which tastes like fillet mignon. There is a beautiful bar in the lodge which we also made use of. Lynn has discovered a new drink called Amarula. Since we have been on safari she has taken to ordering the American size- you can guess what that is. Again it's her response to terror. We were up at 5:30 today and after coffee and a biscuit we were off on another safari drive. This time we were lucky enough to see a large herd of elephants crossing the river. It was quite an amazing site. Also got to see zebras, giraffes and 2 male lions resting on the road. Got close to some rhinos and other animals as well. it started to rain very heavily so we came back to the lodge for breakfast. Now it's time for lunch. Then a few hours later time for tea and another game drive then dinner. Good thing I bought big pants for this trip! We will be leaving here tomorrow. Would love to stay longer. Put this place on your bucket list- it's well worth it.

Saturday

Good Morning Faithful readers,
We are awaiting our plane to MalaMala. For those of you wishing to post a comment-and we would like to hear from you -you need to select follow this blog from the main screen or ask Jay and Jeanne how they did it.

More later.

Friday

Yesterday at Table Mountain

I have received some criticism from Larry that my posts are becoming too factual - not humorous enough. Well it's 10:00 pm after a long day so I'm not feeling funny just tired. But I'll do my best.

This morning the boys played golf. They had a 7:08 tee time and planned to leave the hotel at 6:15. Ira got up and went to the lobby and waited, waited and waited for the others. Even after calling their rooms they didn't show. Turns out the Blackberry that his nose has been buried in all week and that he was using for a clock had reset itself to Athens time. So he was in the lobby at 5 not 6. But all worked out well and they had a good time. Tomorrow we will be using the hotel wake up call instead since our room does not have a clock.

After breakfast, where I almost made the same dramatic entrance that Lynn did the day before, Lynn and I met our guide Martin who took us to the Greenmarket = basically an African flea market. It was overwhelming so he took us to an African Women's Workshop where we were able to meet the artists and make some purchases. But before we went to the market he took us to the Diamond store - you will all have to wait to see what I bought there. We then proceded to walk around the city, visiting the Company Garden. This was originally a vegetable garden that supplied the sailors with food after their long trips. Now it is a beautiful garden in the middle of the city.

Upon our return we took off for Robben Island. This was at various times a leper colony, a prison for outlaw criminals and finally the prison for political prisoners, most notably Nelson Mandela.

Tomorrow we are leaving Cape Town and heading for Kreuger National Park - the Mala Mala safari lodge. We expect to see the big 5 - elephants, rhinos, tigers, lions and cheetahs. But if we don't see them, all we have to do is look in the mirror. We have eaten so much that we are now calling ourselves the Big 5. Stay tuned.....

Thursday

This morning started with a trip to the castle of Good Hope. Long story short the Dutch fought the English the English won but the Dutch got the castle back years later. Google it if you want to known more.
We had a special treat for lunch. We went to the home of a lovely Malay women, who is also a Muslim. Ghamidah had us all help prepare a traditional Malay meal. We rolled samosas and made some flat bread. After which we all sat down to eat. She was lots of fun and the food was delicious. We had some chicken and potato dish, the name of which I can't remember.Her home is a 300 year old house built by the Dutch. Inside is completely modernized. All the houses in the neighborhood are painted bright colors- hers is bright turquoise. It was a really special treat.
On to Table Mountain. Took the cable car up and waited for the fog to lift. It finally did and the view is spectacular. More later -have to go eat again.

Wednseday

Happy Campers

This morning started off with Lynn making a dramatic entrance to the dining room. Of course she does always turn heads! All was well and she carried on all day with the slightest of limps. Althugh truth be told, when we got to the penguin colony they mistook her for one of their own. More on that later.

We drove first to Hout's Bay where we checked out Mariner's Wharf.This was modeled on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. Got to see some interesting fish- Ira was in heaven. We also finally met the travel agent who planned our trip. In the fishmarket we learned about a local fish - the kingclic. This is the only scaleless fish that is allowed to be kosher. Seems it was too good to leave to the goyem.

From there we drove up the coast on the Atlantic side to the Cape of Good Hope. Originally named the Cape of Storms by Diaz but changed by the Portuguese king. He figured no one would want to go there with that name. False Bay was on our left - so named because the sailors thought they had arrived in Cape Town but since they had not they turned around and went back. Unwise.

A quick stop to buy stone statues made from black serpentine from the Zimbabwians on the side of the road. Martin our guide claims this is the real deal.

We drove through a section of the road where the baboons were hanging out. Got to see a family with 2 babies. Really cool. A little further down there was an ostrich.
On to Cape Point where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet. A very high climb and 60mph winds - wait for the pix. A beautiful view of the oceans, rocks and mountains beyond. From there down the many steps to the Cape of Good Hope - again wait for pix. We had the added excitement of witnessing a marriage proposal at the top.

Time for lunch.... to FishHoek where we ate at a fish restaurant. I ordered the special prawn dish and Lynn ordered Mozambique prawns. Mine came with the heads still on and was extremely spicy. Lynn loved hers. It wasn't until the meal was over that we realized that she had my dish and I had hers. She was glad - I was not. I was careful to order something different from her tonight.

We stopped to see the statue of Just Nuissance the dog - Just Nuisance was the only dog ever to be officially enlisted in the Royal Navy. He was a Great Dane who from 1939-44 served at HMS Afrikander, a Royal Navy shore establishment in Simon's Town, South Africa. He died in 1944 and was buried with full military honours. (from Wikipedia - read the rest here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Nuisance It's a great story for you dog lovers.

The penguin colony was great. The penguins roam all around and Stephen asked if we could walk among the penguins. The answer was a definite no - apparently they are quite agressive. We saw babies and penguins making babies. It was very entertaining to watch.

Last but not least we stopped to see a shark spotter. This girl stands on the side of the road on a cliff looking for sharks to alert the people on the beach below. A boring job made more exciting by Steve's annoying questions to her about her life-saving job. Obviously distracting her from this important work and putting surfers in danger.

Back to the hotel and out for dinner and now .......hope for sleep in this time zone. Check back tomorrow for our latest adventure to Table Mountain.