We woke at 7 AM for a 10 AM cab ride to the airport. Today we will fly to Johannesburg to spend one night at the Sandton Hilton. It is a very nice hotel. We checked into our room on the sixth floor, which was also the location of the executive lounge, and never left the floor! We had a light dinner in the lounge, plus breakfast the following morning.
Thursday morning before breakfast we did go downstairs to confirm that a car had been ordered for us to take us to the airport at 7:45 AM. Good thing we checked since the concierge had not ordered it, but no worries, it was arranged. When we left the hotel, we realized that the clock for our journey of 43 hours to go home had begun. The next hiccup was the Johannesburg traffic. The main freeway was all backed up due to an accident, but our driver knew all the back roads, and we still made it to the airport in 35 minutes. We checked in for our flight to Sao Paulo on South African Airways and proceeded to the premium lounge. Oddly, business class on the plane was nearly empty. Their were two compartments with 16 seats each. Our compartment had 8 passengers, and the other sat empty. The flight left on time at 11:10 AM. Rob watched two movies: Joy and Carol, and we stayed awake for the entire flight. We landed in Sao Paolo on time and proceeded to yet another lounge to sit for the next 5 hours. We are already quite tired.
Our United flight to Washington, D. C., also left on time. Rob went to sleep pretty quickly (after scoring a large quantity of pillows), forgoing the meal. Roy ate and then went to sleep about 1/2 hour after Rob. Rob got about 6 hours of sleep; Roy maybe 4 1/2 hours. We landed in Dulles airport at 6:30 AM local time (it is now Friday) and cleared customs in 15 minutes -- wow! Since our next flight was on an independent itinerary, we collected our luggage and exited to the arrivals hall, then went upstairs to check in for our flight to San Francisco, not scheduled to depart until 1:15 PM -- ugh!
Fortune is with us, however, as we are allowed to move up to the 8:54 AM flight, cutting over 4 hours out of our travel time -- yay! Roy contacted the limo service, and they could accommodate our early arrival. Our flight departed on time, and oddly the plane was not full. We had window and aisle seats in an exit row with no one in the middle seat. Gloria Borger, CNN political analyst is also on our plane, and Rob told her that he enjoyed watching her on TV. She said it's been a crazy election cycle. That's an understatement.
The plane landed at 11:00 AM, and one limo ride later we were home -- 43 hours total travel time shortened to 39!
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Parks in Cape Town and Other Sights, Tuesday, May 3
Our last day in Cape Town will include some good destinations. After another good night's sleep, we took a late breakfast in the executive lounge. Sometime after 10 AM, we set out in a taxi for the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. It is a large space in the southern part of the city and is highly recommended. On arrival, we bought our tickets and a map and proceed to walk through the gardens. It was really peaceful and pleasant, and the weather, yet again, is perfect.
The favorite plant that we saw was called the silver bloom or the silver tree. I was planted in several locations, but it took bit of hunting to find an example with a label. We wondered if this would grow in California?
We also learned about native plants called Fynbos. I photographed a sign which provided a definition. We completed our tour of the gardens around lunchtime and at 1 PM we took a taxi to another park.
We were back in the city center and planned to visit the Company Garden. This is a lovely urban oasis surrounded by impressive buildings such as St. George's church (where Archbishop Tutu preached), the South African parliament building, the Natural History museum and the art museum. There is also a prominent statue of Cecil Rhodes pointing north to indicate his desire to make South Africa a British colony. We stopped at a recommended restaurant for lunch in the middle of the park. We each had a Darling beer and a chicken sandwich, removing the lettuce for safety's sake.
After lunch, we continued walking through the Central Business District (CBD) to arrive at Cape Town's city hall with a large open space called the Government Parade opposite the entrance. This is where Nelson Mandela addressed the people after he had been released from the prison at Robben Island.
We then proceeded to the Greenmarket Square to look at the souvenir stands where we bought an elephant carved from mahogany. We notice that there is a lot of outdoor shopping in this town -- from socks to soap! From here we made our way back to the Hilton to relax a bit, but not before a quick detour to the nearby Muslim neighborhood that features beautifully painted houses.
Dinner tonight is again in the executive lounge: chicken with veggies and butternut squash.
We also learned about native plants called Fynbos. I photographed a sign which provided a definition. We completed our tour of the gardens around lunchtime and at 1 PM we took a taxi to another park.
We were back in the city center and planned to visit the Company Garden. This is a lovely urban oasis surrounded by impressive buildings such as St. George's church (where Archbishop Tutu preached), the South African parliament building, the Natural History museum and the art museum. There is also a prominent statue of Cecil Rhodes pointing north to indicate his desire to make South Africa a British colony. We stopped at a recommended restaurant for lunch in the middle of the park. We each had a Darling beer and a chicken sandwich, removing the lettuce for safety's sake.
After lunch, we continued walking through the Central Business District (CBD) to arrive at Cape Town's city hall with a large open space called the Government Parade opposite the entrance. This is where Nelson Mandela addressed the people after he had been released from the prison at Robben Island.
We then proceeded to the Greenmarket Square to look at the souvenir stands where we bought an elephant carved from mahogany. We notice that there is a lot of outdoor shopping in this town -- from socks to soap! From here we made our way back to the Hilton to relax a bit, but not before a quick detour to the nearby Muslim neighborhood that features beautifully painted houses.
Dinner tonight is again in the executive lounge: chicken with veggies and butternut squash.
South Africa's Wine Country, Monday, May 2
Today was our day to explore the nearby wine county of South Africa. Our driver, Allie, who is an Indian Muslim non-drinker of all things, arrived at 9:15 AM to collect us. He is a chatty man, which is to be expected for someone who offers tours, and we told him what kind of winery experiences we liked. We prefer smaller wineries that are less touristy and offer higher quality wines.
It was not a long drive to our first destination near the town of Stellenbosch, a wine farm (this seems to be the preferred term in South Africa) called Warwick. It is a historic property that has been growing grapes for quite a while, but only began making its own wine recently.
A nice young man name Soko led us through the tasting, and he was extremely knowledgable. We were seated outside overlooking the farm, very pleasant. The wine here was very good. The grape varietal that is most popular in South Africa is a hybrid that was also developed here called pinotage. It is a hybrid of pinot noir and hermitage, which today is more commonly called cinsault. One of the wines we especially liked was called a cape blend. This term means that it is a blend of pinotage (could be anywhere from 30 to 70 percent) with any other red grape varietal. Warwick also made an outstanding cabernet franc. We ordered an assortment of six bottles to be shipped to us, which was not terribly expensive since they were not actually going to be shipped from South Africa, but rather fulfilled by their American distributor in California.
Our next stop is only five minutes away and is call Kanon Kop (means small cannon hill). We enjoyed the lovely tasting room here and the adjacent art gallery featuring local artists. One ceramicist has made some lovely bowls and we bought a piece. The winemaker, Abrie, happened to be on site, and we had a nice chat with him. Our server, Elistine, was also quite knowledgable. The pinotage here is the star. Their top pinotage is made from grapes harvested from 30 to 60 year old vines. A second label, called Kadette, is made from the vines that are younger than 30 years. This wine can also be ordered from a U. S. distributor, and we will be sure to do that when we get home. We also were able to taste their top of the line wine called Paul Sauer, named for the owner. It is fantastic, and when we later consulted our guide book, we discovered that it was the #1 recommended wine to sample!
We had time for one more winery before lunch, so we pulled into a more modern looking facility called Neil Ellis. We were the only customers at this time, and the staff was very charming. The main server told us she wanted to visit the U. S. in order to try a corn dog, which she thinks everyone on TV and in the movies is always eating! We were also told the story of the French tourist who tasted every wine on the list (a total of 17), only to pronounce at the end, "I did not like any of them." We, on the other hand, liked two of the wines in particular: the grenache and a syrah/grenache blend called Rodanos. We bought a bottle of the Rodanos.
Lunch was over-the-top! Our drivers had made reservations for us at a winery/restaurant called Delaire Graff, owned by the Graff family who apparently have diamond wealth. We were seated on an outdoor patio with views of vineyards and spectacular mountains. The views were so beautiful that they seemed unreal. We started with soup and then Rob had chicken (breast and stuffed thighs) and I had fish called kinklip served on a sort of caper tartar sauce, which I quite enjoyed. We enjoyed this with a sauvignon blanc/semillion blend white wine. There is a tasting room here also, but we decided to pass and save our time to go somewhere else.
Someplace else was supposed to have been another small wine farm, but when we got there, they had closed early. Today was some sort of bank holiday for celebrating May Day. So we continued on to a larger, more commercial place called Spier. The wine here was okay, but not as good as the previous places that we had visited. We did appreciate the opportunity to stroll around the historic Dutch style estate/farm -- lovely buildings.
It was time to call it a day and return to Cape Town, but our driver wanted to take us on a village tour. I assumed he meant that he was going to drive us through Stellenbosch, South Africa's second white settlement after Cape Town, but I was mistaken. He meant to take us through Khayenitsha. Khayenitsha is a township where native Africans were forced to resettle in the 1980's. It looked like a horrible slum from our ride in the car. He told us that 2 million people lived in the township, but a more accurate estimate is 400,000. We saw an endless mass of shacks with corrugated iron construction, presumably with no heat or running water. As bad as this seemed, my research has uncovered that half of the township's population actually do not live in a shack, but house. This statistic is up from 1/3 of the population ten years ago. So perhaps conditions are improving, but the ongoing influx of people for the eastern Cape area continues to impact overcrowding. There must be a way to help these people have a decent quality of life, but I don't know what it is. We had not expected to be brought to a place like this, and we can only assume our driver wanted to make a political point to us. He seemed very upset that his government would allow people to live like this.
We returned to the hotel feeling a little down. Dinner (since we had such a substantial lunch) was in the executive lounge once again. It was hard to get motivated to go out and find a restaurant given that the concierge had told us it was not safe after dark.
It was not a long drive to our first destination near the town of Stellenbosch, a wine farm (this seems to be the preferred term in South Africa) called Warwick. It is a historic property that has been growing grapes for quite a while, but only began making its own wine recently.
Our next stop is only five minutes away and is call Kanon Kop (means small cannon hill). We enjoyed the lovely tasting room here and the adjacent art gallery featuring local artists. One ceramicist has made some lovely bowls and we bought a piece. The winemaker, Abrie, happened to be on site, and we had a nice chat with him. Our server, Elistine, was also quite knowledgable. The pinotage here is the star. Their top pinotage is made from grapes harvested from 30 to 60 year old vines. A second label, called Kadette, is made from the vines that are younger than 30 years. This wine can also be ordered from a U. S. distributor, and we will be sure to do that when we get home. We also were able to taste their top of the line wine called Paul Sauer, named for the owner. It is fantastic, and when we later consulted our guide book, we discovered that it was the #1 recommended wine to sample!
We had time for one more winery before lunch, so we pulled into a more modern looking facility called Neil Ellis. We were the only customers at this time, and the staff was very charming. The main server told us she wanted to visit the U. S. in order to try a corn dog, which she thinks everyone on TV and in the movies is always eating! We were also told the story of the French tourist who tasted every wine on the list (a total of 17), only to pronounce at the end, "I did not like any of them." We, on the other hand, liked two of the wines in particular: the grenache and a syrah/grenache blend called Rodanos. We bought a bottle of the Rodanos.
Lunch was over-the-top! Our drivers had made reservations for us at a winery/restaurant called Delaire Graff, owned by the Graff family who apparently have diamond wealth. We were seated on an outdoor patio with views of vineyards and spectacular mountains. The views were so beautiful that they seemed unreal. We started with soup and then Rob had chicken (breast and stuffed thighs) and I had fish called kinklip served on a sort of caper tartar sauce, which I quite enjoyed. We enjoyed this with a sauvignon blanc/semillion blend white wine. There is a tasting room here also, but we decided to pass and save our time to go somewhere else.
Someplace else was supposed to have been another small wine farm, but when we got there, they had closed early. Today was some sort of bank holiday for celebrating May Day. So we continued on to a larger, more commercial place called Spier. The wine here was okay, but not as good as the previous places that we had visited. We did appreciate the opportunity to stroll around the historic Dutch style estate/farm -- lovely buildings.
It was time to call it a day and return to Cape Town, but our driver wanted to take us on a village tour. I assumed he meant that he was going to drive us through Stellenbosch, South Africa's second white settlement after Cape Town, but I was mistaken. He meant to take us through Khayenitsha. Khayenitsha is a township where native Africans were forced to resettle in the 1980's. It looked like a horrible slum from our ride in the car. He told us that 2 million people lived in the township, but a more accurate estimate is 400,000. We saw an endless mass of shacks with corrugated iron construction, presumably with no heat or running water. As bad as this seemed, my research has uncovered that half of the township's population actually do not live in a shack, but house. This statistic is up from 1/3 of the population ten years ago. So perhaps conditions are improving, but the ongoing influx of people for the eastern Cape area continues to impact overcrowding. There must be a way to help these people have a decent quality of life, but I don't know what it is. We had not expected to be brought to a place like this, and we can only assume our driver wanted to make a political point to us. He seemed very upset that his government would allow people to live like this.
We returned to the hotel feeling a little down. Dinner (since we had such a substantial lunch) was in the executive lounge once again. It was hard to get motivated to go out and find a restaurant given that the concierge had told us it was not safe after dark.
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
The Cape of Good Hope, Sunday, May 1
We got a good long sleep and rose after 8 AM. I did hear the Muslim call to prayer at 6 AM, however. The hotel is adjacent to an Islamic neighborhood, mostly of Indonesian origin, I believe. Indonesians were brought to Cape Town as slaves, obviously long, long ago. We had a reservation at Hertz to pick up a rental car at 10 AM, although when we arrived at Hertz, it seemed unclear if this reservation actually existed. Nevertheless, we secured our car (a white compact Ford), and we were off!
Our plan today was to drive to the tip of the Cape peninsula, Africa's most southwestern point. It is not the most southern point, as some people think, nor is it the place where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet. However, it is extremely scenic and a wonderful place to explore. Despite the unhelpfulness of the Hertz attendant, we had no trouble exiting the Central Business District (CBD) and finding our way south. The highways and signage are excellent here -- as good as any first world county.
Making our way through very nice southern suburbs (all white, most likely), we reached the coast at the town of Muizenberg. We see the painted cabanas that line the beach that are featured on the cover of our Top Ten Cape Town guide book. We continued along the coast to a town called Kalk Bay, which is lovely and lined with attractive restaurants and shops. We passed through on to the next town called Fish Hoek. Fish Hoek seems a little more downtrodden than its neighbors.
Our first stop today was at the town called Simon's Town. This town has a large naval installation and also has a great Victorian era main street, very charming. We parked the car and strolled up and down the main street, making stops at the visitors' center and at a street vendor selling lovely beaded flowers, which we bought!
Just to the south and east of Simon's Town is a real popular attraction: a penguin colony. Of course, we parked and walked to see the penguins -- very cute!
From here we continued driving south along the coast, admiring the rugged scenery -- wow!
When we got to the entrance of the national park that contains the Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, we found a long line of cars to get in, but it was only a 20 minute wait to pay our entrance fee. We first drove directly to Cape Point, where we parked and climbed up to the lighthouse, as did every other visitor it seemed. It was not too crowded, though, and the weather was gorgeous, yet again.
Returning to the parking lot, we checked out the gift shop and found Cape Point fingernail clippers to add to my collection! There are two dining options here, but both were crowded and not very appealing. It was after lunch time, but we passed -- hopefully we won't get too hungry. From here it was a short drive to the parking lot at the Cape of Good Hope. There was another hill here to climb, which we passed on.
We decided to opt for the photo op at the sign instead, which required fighting off many Asian tourists who are here by the busload.
After this, we departed the park and chose a more western route back up the peninsula (avoiding baboons who decided to sit in the middle of the highway).
We thought we might stop back at Kalk Bay for a bite to eat, but there was a road construction project that impeded us as well as a lot of other people with the same idea, so we just continued on back to Cape Town. It was our objective to make it back before dark, and we did, thanks to the car's GPS.
We enjoyed an early dinner in the hotel's restaurant called Signal Hill Terrace (not Halaal certified). Rob had roast chicken, and I had a delicious steak -- very nice!
Our plan today was to drive to the tip of the Cape peninsula, Africa's most southwestern point. It is not the most southern point, as some people think, nor is it the place where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet. However, it is extremely scenic and a wonderful place to explore. Despite the unhelpfulness of the Hertz attendant, we had no trouble exiting the Central Business District (CBD) and finding our way south. The highways and signage are excellent here -- as good as any first world county.
Making our way through very nice southern suburbs (all white, most likely), we reached the coast at the town of Muizenberg. We see the painted cabanas that line the beach that are featured on the cover of our Top Ten Cape Town guide book. We continued along the coast to a town called Kalk Bay, which is lovely and lined with attractive restaurants and shops. We passed through on to the next town called Fish Hoek. Fish Hoek seems a little more downtrodden than its neighbors.
Our first stop today was at the town called Simon's Town. This town has a large naval installation and also has a great Victorian era main street, very charming. We parked the car and strolled up and down the main street, making stops at the visitors' center and at a street vendor selling lovely beaded flowers, which we bought!
Just to the south and east of Simon's Town is a real popular attraction: a penguin colony. Of course, we parked and walked to see the penguins -- very cute!
From here we continued driving south along the coast, admiring the rugged scenery -- wow!
When we got to the entrance of the national park that contains the Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, we found a long line of cars to get in, but it was only a 20 minute wait to pay our entrance fee. We first drove directly to Cape Point, where we parked and climbed up to the lighthouse, as did every other visitor it seemed. It was not too crowded, though, and the weather was gorgeous, yet again.
Returning to the parking lot, we checked out the gift shop and found Cape Point fingernail clippers to add to my collection! There are two dining options here, but both were crowded and not very appealing. It was after lunch time, but we passed -- hopefully we won't get too hungry. From here it was a short drive to the parking lot at the Cape of Good Hope. There was another hill here to climb, which we passed on.
We decided to opt for the photo op at the sign instead, which required fighting off many Asian tourists who are here by the busload.
After this, we departed the park and chose a more western route back up the peninsula (avoiding baboons who decided to sit in the middle of the highway).
We thought we might stop back at Kalk Bay for a bite to eat, but there was a road construction project that impeded us as well as a lot of other people with the same idea, so we just continued on back to Cape Town. It was our objective to make it back before dark, and we did, thanks to the car's GPS.
We enjoyed an early dinner in the hotel's restaurant called Signal Hill Terrace (not Halaal certified). Rob had roast chicken, and I had a delicious steak -- very nice!
Cape Town, South Africa, Saturday, April 30
Our first day in Cape Town began with a nice breakfast in Hilton's executive lounge. This is a free perk afforded to us, since we have "diamond" status in the Hilton frequent guest program. Hardly anyone was in the lounge, which was nice -- at other Hiltons, these lounges can become free for alls! After breakfast, we went to the hotel lobby to meet with the concierge. We had several questions for him and needed some help in planning activities. He was very helpful. He explained how we could rent a car with Hertz for our drive down to the Cape of Good Hope and told us he could arrange a driver for a tour of wine country. One question we had, though, received a disappointing answer. We had asked if it were safe to walk around Cape Town after dark, and his answer was "no." That's too bad.
After our successful meeting, we decided to walk to the Victoria and Alfred (not Albert) Harbor, a main tourist destination in Cape Town. The original harbor created here was named for Victoria's son Alfred. At some point, it was decided that it was not large enough, so a second larger harbor was established, and this one was named for Victoria. Now, the two are just referred to using the combined names. There was really nothing notable to see on our walk to the harbor, except one nice looking church. At the harbor, there was a lot of new construction -- very active place -- and we made our way to the central area there.
As with most tourist destinations there are nice shops and lot of harbor-view restaurants. We stopped to admire an old clock tower that is a landmark.
This is also the place where one could get on a boat to tour Robben Island. Robben Island is the location of the infamous South African prison, most notable for being the place where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for twenty-seven years. A tour to the prison is part of many tourists' itineraries in Cape Town, but we had already decided that we would pass. We were afraid it would be too depressing. We continued on to cross a pedestrian bridge and then found a nice bench where we could sit and admire the harbor on this lovely, sunny morning. We stroll around a bit more, venturing into an art gallery to admire some photography and then decided to have lunch at a seafood restaurant called Harbor House that had pleasant views. We both ordered cape salmon with vegetables in a orange beurre blanc sauce. It was delicious! We had a sauvignon blanc to accompany it.
After lunch we continued our harbor tour. We took a little detour into a gigantic and very modern shopping mall called the Victoria Mall, supposedly the largest in Africa. Then we walked to Nobel Square, where there are four statues of South Africa's four Nobel Prize winners. They are Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, FW de Klerk and Nelson Mandela. All four played a part in bringing democracy to South Africa and ending apartheid. It is a honorable tribute.
Nearby there, we spied another shopping venue called WaterShed. We went in and saw a lovely variety of shops selling locally produced art items. We were absolutely taken with a shop selling beaded African figurines in various sizes. We bought a figure of an African lady decorated with blue beads and small sea shells -- can't resist!
At this point, I was struck with the idea that we might enjoy riding the "hop-on, hop-off" tour bus, which could give us a flavor for the environs of Cape Town (this would be very unusual for us -- we almost always avoid touristy activities like this when we are on vacation). The station where the tours depart was very close to where we were at WaterShed. As it turned out, this was a very good idea. The bus took us through various charming neighborhoods, which were former farms, and then to the base of the famous aerial cableway which transport passengers to the top of Table Mountain. Table Mountain is Cape Town's most impressive geological feature as it towers over the entire city. Normally, we would want to ride the cableway, but today, we admired the spectacular view that we had here at the base and decided that higher view might not be any better. Plus, we could see that there was a pretty long line to get only the cableway. We decided to pass and continue on with our bus ride.
The bus routed continued on to the west side of Cape Town (the other side of Table Mountain), where there are truly charming beach-side communities, most especially Camp's Bay. Since today was Saturday, the beaches were very popular. It was about 79 degrees and sunny. If we ever come back to Cape Town, I want to stay at the Bay Hotel, here in Camp's Bay. It looks great!
The route continued to follow the shore north, then curved back to the east at the top of the peninsula, eventually returning to the harbor. We saw other nice residential areas and also the giant soccer stadium that was built for when South Africa hosted the World Cup. After the tour, we walked back to our hotel along Long Street in central Cape Town. Our appetites are not so great this evening after our large lunch, so our dinner consisted of some snacks in the hotel's executive lounge. Again it was not very crowded.
After our successful meeting, we decided to walk to the Victoria and Alfred (not Albert) Harbor, a main tourist destination in Cape Town. The original harbor created here was named for Victoria's son Alfred. At some point, it was decided that it was not large enough, so a second larger harbor was established, and this one was named for Victoria. Now, the two are just referred to using the combined names. There was really nothing notable to see on our walk to the harbor, except one nice looking church. At the harbor, there was a lot of new construction -- very active place -- and we made our way to the central area there.
As with most tourist destinations there are nice shops and lot of harbor-view restaurants. We stopped to admire an old clock tower that is a landmark.
This is also the place where one could get on a boat to tour Robben Island. Robben Island is the location of the infamous South African prison, most notable for being the place where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for twenty-seven years. A tour to the prison is part of many tourists' itineraries in Cape Town, but we had already decided that we would pass. We were afraid it would be too depressing. We continued on to cross a pedestrian bridge and then found a nice bench where we could sit and admire the harbor on this lovely, sunny morning. We stroll around a bit more, venturing into an art gallery to admire some photography and then decided to have lunch at a seafood restaurant called Harbor House that had pleasant views. We both ordered cape salmon with vegetables in a orange beurre blanc sauce. It was delicious! We had a sauvignon blanc to accompany it.
After lunch we continued our harbor tour. We took a little detour into a gigantic and very modern shopping mall called the Victoria Mall, supposedly the largest in Africa. Then we walked to Nobel Square, where there are four statues of South Africa's four Nobel Prize winners. They are Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, FW de Klerk and Nelson Mandela. All four played a part in bringing democracy to South Africa and ending apartheid. It is a honorable tribute.
Nearby there, we spied another shopping venue called WaterShed. We went in and saw a lovely variety of shops selling locally produced art items. We were absolutely taken with a shop selling beaded African figurines in various sizes. We bought a figure of an African lady decorated with blue beads and small sea shells -- can't resist!
At this point, I was struck with the idea that we might enjoy riding the "hop-on, hop-off" tour bus, which could give us a flavor for the environs of Cape Town (this would be very unusual for us -- we almost always avoid touristy activities like this when we are on vacation). The station where the tours depart was very close to where we were at WaterShed. As it turned out, this was a very good idea. The bus took us through various charming neighborhoods, which were former farms, and then to the base of the famous aerial cableway which transport passengers to the top of Table Mountain. Table Mountain is Cape Town's most impressive geological feature as it towers over the entire city. Normally, we would want to ride the cableway, but today, we admired the spectacular view that we had here at the base and decided that higher view might not be any better. Plus, we could see that there was a pretty long line to get only the cableway. We decided to pass and continue on with our bus ride.
The bus routed continued on to the west side of Cape Town (the other side of Table Mountain), where there are truly charming beach-side communities, most especially Camp's Bay. Since today was Saturday, the beaches were very popular. It was about 79 degrees and sunny. If we ever come back to Cape Town, I want to stay at the Bay Hotel, here in Camp's Bay. It looks great!
The route continued to follow the shore north, then curved back to the east at the top of the peninsula, eventually returning to the harbor. We saw other nice residential areas and also the giant soccer stadium that was built for when South Africa hosted the World Cup. After the tour, we walked back to our hotel along Long Street in central Cape Town. Our appetites are not so great this evening after our large lunch, so our dinner consisted of some snacks in the hotel's executive lounge. Again it was not very crowded.
End of Safari, On to Cape Town, Friday, April 29
We enjoyed another morning that did not require us to rise early. We awoke at 7 AM and headed to breakfast at around 8:30 AM. We had been asked to have our bags ready for transport at 10 AM for a 10:30 AM departure -- no problem. After another wonderful breakfast, we had some time to return to our room, sit on our deck, and admire the Zambezi River flowing by.
The transport to the airport was pretty quick and took us through central Livingstone. This was our first opportunity to see the actual city. We saw a nice downtown shopping area and a few taller buildings. It seemed nice. We passed some nice looking houses -- quite a contract to our village tour of the day before.
As seems to be their practice, A&K got us to the airport very early for our flight to Johannesburg, at least two hours, maybe more. The airport, which had been closed for a few years due to an economic downturn, now seemed brand new and modern, although not very large. We had a lot of time to sit and talk, staying as a group. There were some nice shops for last minute souvenir hunting. The flight to Johannesburg was uneventful, and we were even served sandwiches on the plane. When we arrived at Johannesburg, the whole group proceeded to immigration, which took about 1/2 hour to clear. However, as we were standing in the line, we noticed that Andrea (Mac, short for MacRitchie) was missing from the line. I had been sitting next to her on the plane and detected some nervousness on her regard related to traveling on her own, and now I was concerned that she had taken a wrong turn. Well, I couldn't think of any options and hoped for the best. The mystery was solved when we met an A&K representative in the arrivals hall who was holding a sign for her. He explained that since our flight from Livingstone had been on British Airways, as were her flights to Boston, connecting through London, she had been ticketed all the way through to her final destination and could skip immigration in Johannesburg. What a relief! The rest of us in the group had independent itineraries for the remainder of our travel and weren't able to do as Andrea did.
Rob and I said our goodbyes to the group and made our way to the domestic terminal in Johannesburg. We found our gate and then hoped that the passes given to us by A&K for premium lounge access might be of some use. They were not -- only valid for a lounge in the international terminal. Nevertheless, there was a premium lounge in the domestic terminal whose fee was only about $15 each, so we paid to go in there. The lounge was very nice with an attractive spread of food and wifi for internet access. We both had salads with a few added snacks with some white wine. Our flight to Cape Town was called, so we were off.
The flight to Cape Town lasted about two hours. Neither of us was hungry, so we refused the food that was served. On landing, we found the official taxi stand inside the airport and took a cab to our hotel, the Cape Town Hilton City Centre. It was after dark by this time of day. In fact it was 9 PM by the time we checked in. We ordered some wine from room service, watched a little TV and went to bed. Our only issue with the hotel is that it appeared that it catered to an Arab/Muslim clientele. The main restaurant is Halaal certified (meets Islamic dietary standards) and does not serve alcohol. There is also no alcohol in the mini-bar, although it can be ordered (which we did). This is certainly not a deal breaker, but I am hoping not to feel uncomfortable tomorrow, as if for example we were the only westerners in the hotel -- we'll see.
The transport to the airport was pretty quick and took us through central Livingstone. This was our first opportunity to see the actual city. We saw a nice downtown shopping area and a few taller buildings. It seemed nice. We passed some nice looking houses -- quite a contract to our village tour of the day before.
As seems to be their practice, A&K got us to the airport very early for our flight to Johannesburg, at least two hours, maybe more. The airport, which had been closed for a few years due to an economic downturn, now seemed brand new and modern, although not very large. We had a lot of time to sit and talk, staying as a group. There were some nice shops for last minute souvenir hunting. The flight to Johannesburg was uneventful, and we were even served sandwiches on the plane. When we arrived at Johannesburg, the whole group proceeded to immigration, which took about 1/2 hour to clear. However, as we were standing in the line, we noticed that Andrea (Mac, short for MacRitchie) was missing from the line. I had been sitting next to her on the plane and detected some nervousness on her regard related to traveling on her own, and now I was concerned that she had taken a wrong turn. Well, I couldn't think of any options and hoped for the best. The mystery was solved when we met an A&K representative in the arrivals hall who was holding a sign for her. He explained that since our flight from Livingstone had been on British Airways, as were her flights to Boston, connecting through London, she had been ticketed all the way through to her final destination and could skip immigration in Johannesburg. What a relief! The rest of us in the group had independent itineraries for the remainder of our travel and weren't able to do as Andrea did.
Rob and I said our goodbyes to the group and made our way to the domestic terminal in Johannesburg. We found our gate and then hoped that the passes given to us by A&K for premium lounge access might be of some use. They were not -- only valid for a lounge in the international terminal. Nevertheless, there was a premium lounge in the domestic terminal whose fee was only about $15 each, so we paid to go in there. The lounge was very nice with an attractive spread of food and wifi for internet access. We both had salads with a few added snacks with some white wine. Our flight to Cape Town was called, so we were off.
The flight to Cape Town lasted about two hours. Neither of us was hungry, so we refused the food that was served. On landing, we found the official taxi stand inside the airport and took a cab to our hotel, the Cape Town Hilton City Centre. It was after dark by this time of day. In fact it was 9 PM by the time we checked in. We ordered some wine from room service, watched a little TV and went to bed. Our only issue with the hotel is that it appeared that it catered to an Arab/Muslim clientele. The main restaurant is Halaal certified (meets Islamic dietary standards) and does not serve alcohol. There is also no alcohol in the mini-bar, although it can be ordered (which we did). This is certainly not a deal breaker, but I am hoping not to feel uncomfortable tomorrow, as if for example we were the only westerners in the hotel -- we'll see.
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Victoria Falls and Zambia, Thursday, April 26
Sleeping all night was great! We finally didn't have to wake up early or set an alarm. After eight plus hours of sleep, I woke up at 6:30 AM.
At breakfast we celebrated another birthday; today the party was for Tom.
At 10:30 AM we were collected for a tour of Victoria Falls from the Zambian side. Our tour guide was a young Zambian man named Haafwuma, which he instructed us to pronounce as Ha-Hoo-Ma. He is a member of the Tonga tribe, located nearby. As we drove to the falls, he pointed out an interesting fact that we were traveling on the Great North Road, which stretches from Capetown in the south to Cairo in the north. We enjoyed learning quite a bit about the area and country from him while we were on our ride. The information he shared included:
- Livingstone was founded in 1905 and has about 350,000 residents. It is the second largest city in Zambia.
- Zambia was formerly known as North Rhodesia. Its name changed in 1960.
- There have been six presidents of Zambia (he told us all of their names), and a presidential election is scheduled for August.
- For the first 27 years, the president did not allow any other political parties. The presidential ballots consisted of his name and the image of a frog. Then, fearing he would lose to a frog, the ballot changed to a choice of "yes" or "no." "Yes" meant retain the current president; "No" meant that no change in president was desired. Kind of like, "Heads I win, tails you lose."
- The money is called kwacha if paper or ngwee if coins. "Kwacha ngwee" translates to bright morning.
- The food that everyone eats is ground maize, served with any kind of relish.
- There are 73 tribes; 74 if you count white people.
- The main industries are mining (lots of copper, number two producer behind Chile), agriculture, and tourism. Agriculture has been improving. When Zimbabwe seized all of their white persons' farms, Zambia invited these farming experts into their country.
- The country's flag features the national bird, the fish eagle.
Whoa, that was a lot to learn!
At the falls, the views were again spectacular! We viewed the rapidly flowing water at the top of the falls and then, of course, the falls. In many viewing locations, the mist was so thick that you could barely see the falls, but there was still plenty to admire. We were provided ponchos today, but still got pretty wet, especially as we crossed the slippery metal footbridge.
At breakfast we celebrated another birthday; today the party was for Tom.
At 10:30 AM we were collected for a tour of Victoria Falls from the Zambian side. Our tour guide was a young Zambian man named Haafwuma, which he instructed us to pronounce as Ha-Hoo-Ma. He is a member of the Tonga tribe, located nearby. As we drove to the falls, he pointed out an interesting fact that we were traveling on the Great North Road, which stretches from Capetown in the south to Cairo in the north. We enjoyed learning quite a bit about the area and country from him while we were on our ride. The information he shared included:
- Livingstone was founded in 1905 and has about 350,000 residents. It is the second largest city in Zambia.
- Zambia was formerly known as North Rhodesia. Its name changed in 1960.
- There have been six presidents of Zambia (he told us all of their names), and a presidential election is scheduled for August.
- For the first 27 years, the president did not allow any other political parties. The presidential ballots consisted of his name and the image of a frog. Then, fearing he would lose to a frog, the ballot changed to a choice of "yes" or "no." "Yes" meant retain the current president; "No" meant that no change in president was desired. Kind of like, "Heads I win, tails you lose."
- The money is called kwacha if paper or ngwee if coins. "Kwacha ngwee" translates to bright morning.
- The food that everyone eats is ground maize, served with any kind of relish.
- There are 73 tribes; 74 if you count white people.
- The main industries are mining (lots of copper, number two producer behind Chile), agriculture, and tourism. Agriculture has been improving. When Zimbabwe seized all of their white persons' farms, Zambia invited these farming experts into their country.
- The country's flag features the national bird, the fish eagle.
Whoa, that was a lot to learn!
At the falls, the views were again spectacular! We viewed the rapidly flowing water at the top of the falls and then, of course, the falls. In many viewing locations, the mist was so thick that you could barely see the falls, but there was still plenty to admire. We were provided ponchos today, but still got pretty wet, especially as we crossed the slippery metal footbridge.
And a few videos:
Haafwuma provided us a briefing about the explorer Livingstone. He was the European discoverer of the falls in 1855 and named them for his queen. He had camped on Livingstone Island at the top of the falls when he discovered the falls. Later on his journeys, he contracted malaria and died from it. He had been accompanied on his African travels by his porters, Sussi and Chuma. After his death, the porters opened up his body, extracted his heart and buried it under a baobab tree in northern Zambia. This is a place you visit today. To ease in transit, they then dried his body in order to get it back to England. Livingstone was an unpopular man to some of the white people in southern Africa who were slave traders. He had actively opposed their immoral activity. As a result, these slave traders stole his body and buried it themselves in Africa. Sushi and Chuma, out of loyalty, dug up the remains. They then made the decision to chop his body into smaller parts, so that they could fit the body discreetly into a suitcase. They then were able to continue their mission undetected. They were successful in getting his body back to England, and Livingstone was buried in Westminster Abbey. The lesson from the story is this, though: when you come to Africa, you will leave your heart.
After the tour of the Zambian side of the falls, we (Jackie, Becky, Andrea, Rob and Roy) stopped at a local souvenir marketplace to do some shopping. There were nice carved animals and other items, but the bargaining soon became unsettling. We did buy some nice souvenirs and small gifts, though.
Back at the camp, lunch was again delicious: bream from the Zambezi River. Then we had an afternoon break that didn't seem anywhere near long enough.
At 3:30 PM, Jacky, Becky, Rob, and Roy were the only takers for what was described as a "village tour." A young man named Mabvuto began by providing information about the school in the village, which is supported by A&K. He then showed us his home and other dwellings in the village, as well as discussing the ravages of HIV (1 in 3 are infected in Zambia, 1 in 4 in this particular village). The experience was sad and unsettling. The dwellings were mostly mud huts with no doors or windows. To us, this seemed like terrible poverty. Mabvuto shared his email address with me, and we gave him $20 to show our appreciation for his time. In addition to supporting the school (which receives NO government support), A&K also supports a bicycle repair shop in the village. Later than day, when discussing this experience with Poniso. He told us that we shouldn't feel to bad about this. He explained that the children in the village (who had seemed happy to us) have opportunities in life. They are not condemned to this lifestyle.
As soon as we made it back to camp, we set out on a Zambezi River boat cruise. Our fellow travelers had already departed on a separate boat. While the Chobe River had been smooth and slow moving, the Zambezi River is fast moving (heading towards the falls). It is very wide, and there are many islands in the river. In some places it appears that the waves in the river are actually moving upstream. This is likely because of variation in the river depth which can create a variety of currents It is very scenic.
Dinner tonight featured a mini-buffet of local foods. The local staple food is ground maize, which can be augmented by any number of items. I chose two types of sautéed greens which were quite tasty. Everyone was encouraged to try to deep fried caterpillars, but not everyone did. I think I was the only person who actually thought they weren't so bad. I ate three -- they were chewy and mostly tasted of salt. At the end of the dinner, each person was asked to name their two or three favorite memories. When it was my turn, I listed three: (1) The lioness carrying the cub in her mouth that we had seen at Sandibe, (2) The elephants by the water that we had been so close to on the Chobe River, and (3) The amazing bird life, which I had not expected. Then I added a fourth: our amazing accommodations. This got a round of applause from everyone.
We turned in right after dinner. Fortunately, Rob and I were already packed for tomorrow's travel.
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