This was, without a doubt, one of the best trips we ever took. Sally would say it was the best. We spent nine days in four camps, eight days in three cities (1), and three days traveling to and from Africa.

The cities were pleasant and/or informative. I would say we are both much more knowledgeable about South Africa’s history than we were before the trip, and much more aware of the conditions on the ground. My biggest learning was this: South Africa, under Nelson Mandela’s leadership (2), transitioned from the horrific oppression of apartheid to a functioning though messy democracy inclusive of all people, one which still faces significant issues. And it did so without a civil war, and without a bloodbath.

The camps were something else. While we knew what lions, giraffes and elephants looked like we had no idea of how they lived. We had no idea how they interacted with all the other wildlife in the bush. We had no idea how the ecosystem that is the bush worked, and how the pieces all fit together. It was sad and gruesome to watch the lions catch and kill the water buffalo, but the alternate outcome is clear: if the lions don’t catch and kill their prey, they will die. That is truly the circle of life.

The animals were spectacular. The birds were spectacular. As I mentioned, Africa could turn you into a birder – there’s so much to see.

While the city hotels were, well, hotels, the camps were a completely new experience for us. They are a strange combination of luxury and roughing it.

Luxury: you never touch your luggage, there’s food and drink set out for you throughout the day, the view from your tent/villa is extraordinary (3). Your every whim is catered to, within the limits of what the camp staff can accomplish in the bush. Free laundry. Hot water bottles and blankets in the game drive vehicles as well as your bed (4). Watching the sunset from a private pontoon boat with a G&T in your hand, just the two of you (and your guide). Sitting for an hour and watching an animal live. A free high end camera to use (5). Binoculars to use (5).

Roughing it: no heat in two camps, limited in another. No electricity in one camp. Dim lights at best. You’re not allowed outside after dark. Limited or no wifi in three camps, and no phone service (even to call the front “desk”). Driving around at dawn and after sunset, in the cold and even the rain, in open vehicles. We were cold, a lot.

I’m not sure whether to characterize being flown from camp to camp in your own private plane as “luxury” or “roughing it”.  It was, as the pilots said, “a little rough”.  At the very least it was new for us.

But there was another dimension to the trip, one that made this different than any other trip we’ve taken.

Mind blowing: being close enough to lions to touch them, although you don’t dare reach outside of the vehicle. Watching a male ostrich chase a female across the plain at high speed. Watching a leopard cub annoying it’s mother, just like any toddler. Hearing a pride of lions, which surrounds you, announcing to the world that they’re there with their roars. Seeing hundreds of water buffalo appear out of the brush and cross the meadow in front of, and all around, you. Seeing lions bathed in the golden light after sunrise. Seeing two lions catch the scent of, chase down and kill their prey. Seeing hyenas anxious to get the scraps the lions left, but afraid the lions are still around. Seeing an elephant herd rush to protect their young from a leopard, bellowing all the time. Watching a father baboon caring for and playing with a newborn, and a (slightly) older sibling joining in the fun. Seeing a herd of elephants come down to the river to drink, and to play in the mud.  Sunrise and sunset over the delta.  Rushing through the brush in our open Land Rover as our guide tried to follow some animal’s tracks.  Following a pack of wild dogs as they patrolled their territory, looking for food. 

Did I mention the birds?

And I’m sure I have forgotten maybe one or two (6).

Once we had decided on this trip, I gathered up my camera gear and went to the Bronx Zoo to see if I could actually take pictures of animals. I got some good portraits. But I may never go to a zoo again. The idea of seeing these animals confined to cages (even “big” cages camouflaged as natural areas) is just so unappealing. The animals don’t interact with any others as they normally would; they don’t hunt or forage, but get fed by humans. Life for animals in the bush is unforgiving, but it’s life. It’s not cruel; the concept doesn’t exist.

Perhaps there’s a lesson there for all of us. Perhaps all of Africa, where we all came from, is a lesson for all of us.

(1) I use the term “city” loosely regarding Vic Falls.

(2) Countries seem to do better when they have good and effective leaders.

(3) Jack’s Camp excepted; there we saw a bush.

(4) An attempt to offset the lack of heat in the tents, or a roof and windows in the vehicles.

(5) A camera in one camp, binoculars in two.

(6) John Sebastian, Younger Generation.

Imagine you took Niagra Falls and put it down in the middle of the wilderness, hundreds of miles from anything. Just rugged mountains upstream, with no industry to encourage any commerce and therefore shipping on the river. Hundreds of miles of scrub brush downstream, with rocky and dry land unsuitable for crops.

Then you built a large Victorian style hotel by the Falls, and a railroad to deliver tourists. A small town would grow up around the hotel to support the workers and provide some services to visitors – restaurant, gift shops, art galleries, cheaper hotels and campgrounds.

You would have Victoria Falls.

Dr. Livingstone, I presume?, August 2017

David Livingstone, the famous English explorer and missionary, was the first European to see the Falls. The Zambeze River, which forms the Falls, is also the local border between Zimbabwe, where we stayed, and Zambia. The town of Livingstone is a few miles away in Zambia.

Everything you need to know about Victoria Falls, August 2017

After six nights on safari in Botswana, Vic Falls (1) was a good decompression point before our long journey home. While the hotel is large and fairly luxurious, it does show it’s age somewhat, and the service is not as crisp or attentive as the other places we’ve stayed on this trip.  Even the Cape Grace Hotel in CT (2) had much better service than this.

As far as I can tell, there are four things you can do in Vic Falls.

1. You can visit the Falls.  That’s why you’re here.
2. You can take a helicopter ride over the Falls.
3. You can take a boat ride on the Zambeze RIver upstream from the Falls.
4. You can take a safari ride through the bush near town, either in a motor vehicle or on an elephant.

We opted for (1) and (3).  (2) seemed uneccesarily risky for the 12 or 22 minute view, while (4) seemed uneccesary after nine days in the camps.

Horseshoe Falls section, August 2017

The Falls stretch for over a mile wide and about 250-350′ high.  It’s impossible to see the entire width of the Falls from any vantage point on the ground; that is only possible from the air.  We were wisked over to the Falls, which is surrounded by a National Park, by our guide as soon as we arrived at the hotel around 3:30 in the afternoon.  This is actually the best time to visit, as the late afternoon sun is behind you and you get rainbows in the mist rising from the water.  The falls themselves are mostly in Zambia, but the best viewing points are on the Zimbwabwe side of the river.

Big rainbow, August 2017

When we visited the US National Parks several years ago, we were impressed  by the apparent stupidity of people who felt they were invincible, and that the parks were just as safe as Disneyland.  That behavior is not limited to the US; we saw people bathing in pools a few feet from the edge of the waterfall.  Craaaaazy.  Or Darwinian …

Not likely to pass on their DNA, August 2017

Victoria Falls Bridge, August 2017

Just downstream of the Falls the Victoria Falls Bridge spans the gorge for 650′, and about 420′ above the river.  It was comissioned by Cecil Rhodes, the British mining magnate who gave his name to Rhodesia (the predecessor to Zimbwabwe and Zambia), the Rhodes Scholarship, and was a founder of the De Beers diamond firm.  He was also an unabashed white supremacist.

Victoria Falls Hotel, August 2017

The next day we hung around the hotel, and went for a walk into town where we found a large market place that seemed to specialize in large stone and wood sculptures. Despite the tempations, we managed to not buy anything.

At 3:30 we went on our last activity, a sunset cruise on the Zambeze River complete with snacks and unlimited drinks.  Our last African sunset …

(1) Just like Joburg is local slang for Johannesburg, Vic Falls is how Victoria Falls is referred to around here.

(2) “CT” = Cape Town

The camps are all full of eating and (mainly) drinking traditions. Around 3:30pm, most camps seem to gather for afternoon tea. This consists of tea, of course, but also pastries and sometimes fruit, and other soft drinks such as lemonade. At 4:00 you head out on the afternoon drive. Around 6:00pm, you might stop for a “sundowner”, which is drinks in the bush to watch the sun go down. We often had G&Ts (gin & tonics), and there would again be snacks – chips, some dried beef, maybe something else. All very civilized, all very British.

Sundowners – there’s always an excuse for drink and food, August 2017

Zarafa is located in the Selinda Reserve, a 500 square mile private area.  All of our camps were on private reserves.  The big advantage of that over the National Parks (like Kruger in South Africa) is that they are much less crowded.  The second big advantage is that the guides can drive off-road in search of animals.  The disadvantage is the cost – an order of magnitude higher than you would pay if you stayed in one of the parks.  But the wildlife is the same: they can’t read the signs at the boundaries.

Sally with the big gun, August 2017

On our first drive with our guide Isaac at Zarafa, Sally was fully equipped with binoculars and a big Canon camera with a telephoto zoom. As the camp only had two couples staying there, we had a private car and guide. He asked what we wanted to see, and Sally asked for leopards and giraffes. Isaac drove off and eventually took us to a leopard den, where a mother had her cub stashed. The mother was lying in the grass besides a log, and we waited patiently.

Golden light, August 2017 (Photos by Sally)

We learned a lot of things on this trip. One was that the wild animals are completely unpredictable, yet also follow patterns of behavior. So once you’re in a situation where the pattern is likely, patience becomes a huge asset. You simply wait for the expected behavior, which will probably but not necessarily occur. In this case, we were waiting for the cub to emerge from the den to see its mother. After a while it did, and Sally got some fabulous pictures in the late afternoon golden light.

Mother and cub leopards, August 2017 (Photos by Sally)

I know I’ve shown pictures of some of the birds we saw in earlier posts, but here are some more.  If you weren’t a birder before you came here, the variety and beauty might turn you into one.

Selinda Reserve birds, August 2017

When Isaac first took us out in the morning, he asked what animals we hadn’t seen yet.  We really had seen pretty much all the animals we knew about, but our giraffe sightings were not very clear (one was in near darkness).  He almost immediately found us some giraffes.

Adult and young giraffe, August 2017

After the excitement of our first two game drives at Zarafa, Isaac suggested a pontoon boat ride for the late afternoon and sunset.  We did our sundowners on the water.  You get a different view of life there.  For one thing, it’s quiet and smooth, not at all like the noise and bouncing of the Land Rovers we drove around in all day.

Elephant by the water, August 2017

Hard to beat this, August 2017

The next and final morning of our safari adventures Sally decided to sleep in (1), while I got up in the dark to go out one more time with Isaac.  We (2) tracked a pride of lions and I got a shot of three of them warming in the morning sun.

Sunning, August 2017

Then back to camp to finish packing and to say goodby to the safari life.

(1) 7:00 am

(2) Isaac tracked; I sat on my throne and held on tight as he sped through the bush

Our fourth and final safari camp was Zarafa, located in the Selinda Reserve about 30 minutes north of Vumbura by bush plane.  It represented a continuing improvement in modern conveniences from the previous camps:

Our tent at Zarafa Camp, August 2017

Jack’s – no heat, light by paraffin lantern, mostly canvas walls in the tent with small screened windows (so dim even during daylight), no real storage for clothing etc., electricity in main tent from 8-5 daily.  Did I mention there is no heat anywhere?  No wifi or other connectivity.

Vumbura Plains – much much larger tent, electric lights, fully screened walls for lots of daylight, 24 hour electricity in tent, tons of hanging and storage space.  Still no heat anywhere.  Still no wifi or other connectivity.

Zarafa – large tent with “living room” and “bedroom suite” areas separated by a canvas wall, electric lights, fully screened walls with plastic covers at night, gas heater in bedroom area, 24 hour electricity in tent. Wifi, although pretty limited in speed.

Even in Zarafa, the toilet room was unheated and cold in the morning or at night.  And I had to start the gas heater in the morning, as we were asked to not keep it on all night.

There was also the question of what to do if you needed to leave the tent, or needed assistance, at night.  In no camps are guests allowed to walk unescorted in the dark, as there’s always the chance that a dangerous animal could wander into camp.   Singita, our first camp, had phones in the villas.  The other camps did not.  Jack’s and Zarafa relied upon air horns for you to call for help if needed, while Vumbura added a walkie-talkie radio.

We never needed any of these.

All the modern conveniences of 1935, August 2017

Zarafa, like Jack’s, was decorated in early 20th century British camp style – lots of trunks, campaign chairs, etc.   But Zarafa also had serious amenities.  Each of the four tents had Swarovski binoculars (1).  The camp has four serious Canon cameras with big zooms lenses available for your use (2).

As I mentioned, Zarafa is small – just four tents for two people each (3).  It’s managed by a couple, Sas and Dave.  Dave is/was a professional photographer and all-around very knowledgeable about many things.  I had several good chats with him.  When I asked him why he had moved from England to Botswana, he replied “Sas”.   She was born in Africa, and has been knocking around the tourism and safari business for a long time.  She was never going to live in a place like England.

Due to the lack of any useable wifi (or any at all) for the last week, I’ve been trying to catch up.  I still have two more stops to go: Zarafa camp, and Victoria Falls.  

Tea, anyone?, August 2017

Right now, Sally and I are in the British Airways lounge in Johannesburg’s airport.  We should be on our flight to London in two hours, and back in the US of A in about 24 hours.  

Did we miss anything?

August 8-10

As I wrote earlier, the Okavango Delta is an area of marsh and grassy plains that is rich in wildlife. After our days at Jack’s in the Desert, it was nice to be in areas that contained more wildlife in our next two camps.

Given our plan of visiting three camps in succession for two days each, our schedule went something like this:

Day 1: travel late morning to early afternoon to a camp. Unpack quickly, then take the afternoon game drive.

Day 2: wake up in the dark, get dressed and have a light breakfast. Leave for the morning drive or activity at first light. Come back late morning, have lunch, perhaps rest or cleanup. Afternoon tea at 3:30, then the afternoon drive or activity until after sunset. Dinner. Try to pack as much as possible for departure the next day.

Day 3: wake up between 5:30 and 6:30 am in the dark, get dressed and have a light breakfast. Leave for the morning drive or activity at first light. Come back, finish packing. Drive to the airstrip for the flight to the next camp.

Rinse and repeat as needed.

Vumbura was the first of two in this climate. It’s at the edge of the Delta, and we were often crossing water in our Land Rover.  The camp was located at the west edge of a wet area, giving us beautiful sunrises each morning.

Sunrise at Vumbura, August 2017

There were an endless number of birds. Our guides at each camp made sure to tell us the name of each one that we saw, and often some interesting facts about them, but all I can remember is how pretty they were. 

An ostrich, an eagle, and a bunch of other birds, August 2017

We tracked a pack of African Wild Dogs through the bush for a while, and they came to a water crossing. They all lined up to think about the best way to cross.

Should we stay or should we go, August 2017

The King of the Jungle made an appearance. Lions sleep most of the day – up to 18 hours. This one was awake but not wasting any energy. When they make a kill, they’ll eat until they’re gorged, then fall into a food coma. They may not find any more food for several days.

Lazing on a sunny afternoon, August 2017

We came across a group of baboons with some youngsters. Chris, our guide at Vumbura, estimated this baby was only a few days old. It’s being cared for by its father.

Father and child reunion, August 2017

August 8-10

Sadly, we were happy to be leaving Jack’s Camp behind. The staff was very friendly and helpful, although our guide Harold, didn’t seem to like talking too much. Not a good trait in a guide. But we were going to Vumbura, a much more luxurious camp at the edge of the Okavango Delta.

The delta is an inland swamp formed when several major rivers got trapped by seismic action. The flood plain originally extended southeast to the Kalahari Desert, where Jack’s is, forming a giant lake. When the plates shifted they formed a barrier that prevented the water from reaching the Kalahari, making it a desert. Since the water flow is highly seasonal, the resulting water dries significantly in the dry winter, leaving a huge fertile area with waterways and plains. That’s where Vumbura lies.

Bush travel, August 2017

Traveling to all of these bush camps is interesting. First you drive from your camp to the airstrip, which is typically 30-40 minutes away, using the same vehicles as the game drives, on the same rutted, dusty roads. Then you climb into a small plane, which carries anywhere from four to ten people. The flights are under an hour, some as short as 25 minutes. And depending on what else the pilot needs to accomplish that day, you may make one or more stops along the way to pickup or drop off other passengers.

I think we made at least ten take-offs and landings to visit our four camps. We were the only passengers on about half of the hops. Every plane was very noisy and “a little rough” (1).

Vumbura in the delta, August 2017

Anyway, Vumbura Plains camp was a significant uptick from Jack’s. The tent was huge and light, with three sides being fully open (2) during the day. And electric lights at night! Normally, we would have been unhappy that the lights were so dim, but after packing by candlelight, this was heaven. The tent also had outlets to charges our batteries, a huge closet area, and a really cool shower. There was a huge deck, where I had a massage.

The only similarity to Jack’s was our long walk from the tent to the main area, and the lack of heat other than bush babies.

Is that an elephant in your backyard?, August 2017

Vumbura also had abundant wildlife. While we were unpacking, an elephant was grazing next to our tent.

———–
(1) Every pilot, before each takeoff, gave a safety briefing (“there’s the door and fire extinguisher”) and apologized that the flight was going to be “a little rough”.

(2) Fully open but screened. There was plenty of natural light during the day. 

August 6-8

Our travel yesterday was far in distance and far in style. We went about 1,300 miles from Cape Town to Jack’s Camp. We also went from state-of-the-art luxury to primitive shabby elegance.

First the trip: Nick picked us up at the hotel at 8:00 am and deposited us at the airport 15 minutes later . Our flight to Maun, Botswana was on time at 10:15. Maun is basically a transit point for safari travelers. Scheduled flights come in from big cities, and small craft go out to the camps. In our case, we somehow got assigned a pilot and plane from a different carrier, and so Johannes flew Sally and me in his single engine plane about 100 miles to Jack’s (4). We were met at the dirt landing strip by Harold, our guide there.

Jack’s is deliberately designed to emulate the safari experience from the early 20th century. You stay in real tents. They have hot and cold water and a flush toilet, but that’s about it. No electricity – light comes from paraffin lanterns or battery powered lamps, both of which are pretty dim. No heat – we found two bush babies (1) under our heavy quilt. No Internet or cell service, of course. Charging is done at the charging station (2) in the meal tent from 8-5 each day.

Little tent in the bush, August 2017

The overall decorating style is what someone imagined an English safari camp would have looked like 100 years ago. Campaign chairs, wooden toilet contraption, big four-poster canopied bed, etc.

Dinner at Jack’s Camp, August 2017

The dinner is eaten family style around a big table, and just like when you feed your family, you get what mamma cooked (3). Sally and I agree that the food is top rated.

The camps in Northern Botswana are much warmer than Singita was. Where Singita was about as far from the equator as Savannah, Jack’s is more like Miami. So it’s pretty warm in the sun during he day. And since we are in the middle of a desert, it rapidly cools down in the evening and at night (hence the bush babies).

Sally heads off on safari, August 2017

We arrived just in time for afternoon tea, so we threw together our safari kit and headed over (7). After tea we went immediately out to look for some brown hyenas; we found one. As this is the desert, one does not come here to see abundant wildlife – and after Singita’s bounty, it was only mildly interesting. Also because this is desert, the dust is pervasive.

As I mentioned, dinner at the big table was tasty. A staff member escorted us to our tent afterwards (5), and then we had to unpack, prepare for the morning and get ready for bed in near darkness. The five paraffin lanterns and four battery lamps along with mini-flashlights just didn’t cut it.

Our wake-up call (6) will be at 6:30 tomorrow, an hour later than Singita.

———————–
(1) Hot water bottles. Big ones.
(2) Lots of power strips on a table.
(3) Not necessarily my family, where there seem to be as many food choices as there are people.
(4) Not to criticize since he got us there safely, but he kept a map balanced on one knee and what looked like the plane’s EZ-Operation Guide on the other.
(5) This is the same as Singita – guests are not allowed outside alone after dark.
(6) A staffer came up to our tent and called us; there’s no phone in the tent, of course.

(7) This needed scheduling, as it was a five minute walk.  

August 6-8

Singita was wildlife paradise; most of our game drives wound up going longer than planned because we kept finding more stuff to look at. Jack’s Camp is in the Kalahari Desert, and we are here during the dry season, so the wildlife is pretty sparse. The first afternoon we spent a couple of hours to find a hyena. It was cute. Over the course of the next two days, we did manage to get a few interesting sightings.

Cheetah, hyena, and Mr. & Mrs. Ostrich, August 2017

The second morning we took a ride into the salt pans, which are large expanses of open land where the water has dried leaving behind salty soil. While they look white from the distance or air, they are just light colored soil. Rather than ride in the game drive vehicles, we took an ATV or quad bike. It was fun. You have to wear these scarves as turban/face masks to protect yourself from the sand and dust, just like a real desert dweller on a motorized bike.

Sally learns geology from Harold, August 2017

Bushmen, August 2017

In the afternoon of the second day, we went for a walk with a group of Bushmen. Bushmen are the original settlers of Southern Africa, and have traditionally been hunter/gatherers. Since Botswana has outlawed all hunting, and because they are gradually moving into fixed villages, their way of life and culture is inevitably changing. Jack’s has hired two dozen of them to live near the camp and give us this walk. It was fairly interesting. About a dozen – men, woman and two babies – led us into the bush. Along the way they explained traditional medications they extract from plants and even elephant dung, firemaking, clothing, etc. They played a game analogous to rock/paper/scissors around a fire they built rubbing two sticks together.

These people were real bushmen. But they are employed by Jack’s to put on a little show for us demonstrating their traditional way of life. They actually live in a village 700 km away, and spend several weeks at the camp as part of a rotation.

Meerkat scout, August 2017

The third morning was probably the highlight of the stop – we rode out to watch the meerkats wake up. Meerkats are members of the mongoose family found in the deserts of Southern Africa. They live in burrows in a group called a “mob” (1). Every morning, the mob sends a lucky scout out to see if there are any lions or hyenas around. If they don’t hear back from him, they suspect bad news. Since we aren’t lions or hyenas, the scout reported back and a dozen or so came out of the burrows and stood in front of Sally looking around for a while.

Sally and the Meerkats, August 2017

From here, it was back to Jack’s, a quick packing and then off to the airstrip to head for Vumbura.

————–
(1) They exhibited no mob-like behavior while we were there.

We’re in Zarafa, our fourth and final safari camp. There is internet service here but it’s very slow, so I may not be able to post much.  If at all.  

But we are alive.  

Just a reminder … we leave Cape Town this morning and head up to Botswana for six nights in three different camps. I don’t expect to have any internet connectivity for at least the next four days, so this blog will go silent until then. By that time, I should have a couple of thousand more pictures to go through 😉.

Later …

Today, our last day in Cape Town, started with a beautiful sunrise reflected in the clouds and the marina outside our hotel room.

Sunrise at Harborside, August

Our plan for the day was a was a drive down south from the city along the Cape Peninsula, which is largely covered by the Table Mountain National Park. There are a number of upscale suburban communities just south of Cape Town, with expensive high-rise apartments lining the Atlantic Coast. It reminded me of the south Florida shoreline.

There are a number of other communities scattered along the peninsula, ranging from off-the-grid towns to slums to former fishing villages.

The Cape of Good Hope is not the southern most point in Africa (as many believe), nor is it the point at which the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet (as many others believe). The former is a fixed point about 100 miles southeast of Good Hope, while the latter drifts with the currents and gets as far west at Cape Point, just half a mile around the bend from Good Hope. But Good Hope is the most southwestern point of Africa.

Cape of Good Hope from the lighthouse (Sally in purple jacket), August 2017

Nonetheless, the Cape of Good Hope is a well known landmark and quite impressive. There is a lighthouse on the hill above both Good Hope and Cape Point, which is cute but actually no longer used.

Unused light at Cape Point, August 2017

We took the cable-driven funicular from the parking lot and I walked the remaining way to the lighthouse itself.

Penguins in Simon’s Town, August 2017

On the way back north, we made three stops. The first was a penguin colony at Boulders Beach in Simon’s Town. They are cute. The most interesting fact about this colony is that it’s only existed here for 30 years, and no one seems to know why they came or where they came from.

We had lunch nearby, and then stopped at the Kirstenbosch Gardens, a large arboretum in the CapeTown suburbs. While the Gardens were nice, it’s still winter here and nothing will be in bloom for a month or more.

Now we’re packing for our trip to Botswana tomorrow. First stop: Jack’s Camp.

Today was our “city tour” of Cape Town, which was either a half day or full day tour depending on which document you believed. The truth was we got picked up at 9:30, deposited for lunch at 1:00, and our guide hung around until we finished around 2:45 to take us back to the hotel.

Table Mountain and Victoria & Alfred Harbourside, August 2017

In between we saw the sights of the city. Not terribly exciting, but interesting. And you learn a bit every day. For instance, we learned that South Africa has two capitals, Pretoria (the administrative seat) and Cape Town (the legislative seat). The President’s residence, a White House, is located here.

Muslim section, August 2017

We learned that there is a colorful Muslim section that has been intact for a couple of hundred years. The Muslim community, people whose ancestry was Indonesia and Malaysia, were brought to South Africa starting in the mid-17th century as slaves by the Dutch settlers. Slavery was ultimately abolished in the first half of the 19th century, before our Civil War. This group is known as “colored”, a term used to describe people who are neither white (of European decent) or black (of African decent). Under apartheid, colored people had a higher standing than blacks, but were still subject to oppressive rule.

The cannoneir and his cannon, August 2017

We learned that a canon has been fired every day at noon for hundreds of years as a navigation aid to sailors off the Cape, and heard it fired. It is loud. In fact, I never got the picture I was trying to take of the actual shot – smoke and recoil etc. – because the noise knocked my finger off the shutter button.

The Cape Wheel and Ferrymans Tavern at night, August 2017

We learned that, contrary to common wisdom in our country and what we had been told, there are areas in South Africa and specifically in and around Cape Town where it’s perfectly safe to walk around by yourself. Sally and I had long conversations about this before we left, mostly around how much, if any, jewelry she should wear, and whether I should wear a good watch or a Timex. We compromised on good watches, wedding bands and nothing else. But the Victoria & Alfred Harborside area is full of shops, shoppers, restaurants, a big Ferris wheel, and lots of people walking around. In fact, there is a huge shopping mall which has jewelry stores, proving the point that people here wear jewelry.

Security is maintained by private security guards employed by businesses who are both visible everywhere, and in plain clothes as well. I walked over for dinner tonight, and it was perfectly fine. Sally and I had already walked over there from the hotel two nights ago, and we walked back from the mall this afternoon.

Tomorrow will be our last day here, and our guide, Nic, is picking us up to drive down the coast towards the Cape of Good Hope. I don’t think we’ll actually go that far, but we shall see.

Ed. Note:  this was supposed to be posted yesterday, but I forgot.  

Well, not really sideways. But a very relaxing day and completely different from the last four – the biggest animal we saw was a duck. We woke up late (7:00am), showered and had breakfast in the dining room in our hotel, the Cape Grace here by the waterfront in Cape Town. Our guide Nic picked us up at 9:00am and we headed north to Cape Town’s wine country.

We spent the entire day – excepting 20 minutes or so getting out of, and into, town – in beautiful scenery. Vineyards surrounded by majestic mountains. What could be better?

Tourist stuff we didn’t buy, August 2017

We stopped a bit in a small and pretty town just to walk a bit. Nice shops, and some tourist shops, but also a fair amount of street art.

Art gallery, August 2017

After that, it was winery, winery, winery, fancy lunch, winery.

Sally ready to taste wine, August 2017

Landscaped garden at a winery, August 2017

Vineyard with mountains, August 2017

Lines, August 2017

View from our lunch stop, August 2017

After the action packed and adventure filled safari days, this was quite a change. And while there was no shortage of opportunities for wine or other beverages at Singita, four wine tastings – each with a selection of wines, and with nice portions – certainly led to a different outlook.

Dinner tonight at the restaurant in the hotel. I expect it to be nice.

This was our last day at Singita, and so our morning drive needed to be shorter than usual so we could leave to catch our 11:30 FedAir flight. While we flew right into Singita’s own airstrip a few yards from the lodge, it was undergoing repaving when we left and so we had to drive about 40 minutes to another airstrip to catch the flight to Nelspruit Kruger Airport, and then a scheduled South African Airways flight to Cape Town. So Mark arranged to be back by 9:00 to give us time to eat and finish packing.

Hippos relaxing in the Sand River, August, 2017

We really only had one animal sighting on the drive, but it was a doozy. The large lion pride was spotted along the river, and one group was watching them from the close side. Mark and Masa (our tracker) decided to cross to the river (we did see the hippos in the river while crossing) and watch from the other side. This was on a short drive from the lodge, especially as Mark rushed the Land Rover at top speed – maybe 20 mph – on the dirt tracks.

We crossed the river and we’re pulling down a track to a lookout point when some young adult lions ran across right in front of us, bringing us to a stop.

Pretty soon most of the pride had walked up to the track we were on, and were laying about, playing in a tree, or down on the dry river bed ahead of us.

We didn’t expect to see you here, August 2017

We sat for an hour and a half amidst the lions, with them walking around the vehicle close enough to touch, nuzzling and grooming each other and themselves, play fighting, and just sunning themselves.

Cats up a tree, August 2017

One highlight – which Sally and I had never experienced – was hearing the pride start roaring as a group, letting everyone and everything for miles around know they were there and they were strong. I managed to get video clips of this spectacle, which I haven’t been able to review yet.

I am lion, hear me roar, August 2017

Peering thru the leaves, August 2017

Brothers in the Sand, August 2017

Isn’t that what brothers do?, August 2017

Finally it was time to leave. We dashed back across the river to the lodge, where we packed up and ate breakfast in our room. Then a different guide and tracker drove us to our flight. Our luck held during this drive; we saw a leopard by the side of a pond. Unbelievable!

Masa, The Bassman, Sally and Mark

Breakfast in the room, then a 30 minute drive to an airstrip for a 30 minute, 1-stop flight to catch a scheduled flight to Cape Town.

FedAir, August 2017

Today was our second full day of game drives. Unlike yesterday, which was chilly and rainy at times, today started just overcast and much warmer. By mid-morning the Sun started to break through the clouds, although we still did not really see a sunrise.

We saw a lot of our old friends again today. At this point, after a couple of days of following the same animals around, you start to get a sense of their life and daily activities. We started by heading back to the first kill site we had seen early yesterday. On our way, we passed the pride of lions heading away from the site. That meant they had gorged themselves, and there was likely just bones and scraps left.

Lioness & Lion, August 2017

When we got there, the hyenas and vultures were scrapping over the bones, each taking a turn. The vultures sat in trees, then swooped down to pick at the remains. The hyenas were very cautious, as they knew the lions had just been there. Sixteen lions against nine hyenas is not a fair fight; the hyenas would be decimated. So they kept sniffing and looking to where the lions had gone, and finally started to chase off the vultures.

Vultures working the site, August 2017

Cautious hyenas, August 2017

After leaving that site, we went looking for the leopard (again). Along the way, we passed the elephant herd and Mark guessed they were headed for a water hole where Singita had an observation blind. So we went there and were rewarded by more than a dozen elephants stopping to drink and play a bit.

Drinking and playing, August 2017

The family that drinks together, August 2017

Somewhere along the way, we saw this large bull elephant. Not sure when.

No bull, August 2017

We also passed any number of other animals along the road during our drive. Here are three water buffalo resting in the grass.

The Three Amigos, August 2017

We did finally find the female leopard and her cub resting along the Sand River.

Mother leopard and cub, August 2017

We heard over the radio that the male leopard was walking further up the river, so we headed over there to see if we could catch a glimpse. When we got there, another truck was already there, and that guide told us that the leopard was deep in the brush and not visible. We parked and waited, and he came up from the river banks and posed for us. Then he tried to attack one of the baby elephants – our favorite herd had moved up here – which resulted in a lot of bellowing and stamping as the elephants gathered all the babies inside a defensive circle that the adults made. The leopard wisely gave up; while he might have injured one of the elephants, they probably would have killed him.

Leopard pose, August 2017

Trying to find an opening, August 2017

Much later, after seeing more elephants, hippos, rhinos, lions, endless impala, and who can remember what else, we ended the day with a traditional sundowner – drinks and snacks in the bush served by our guide and tracker.

We get up at 5:30 am again tomorrow for our last abbreviated game drive here in Singita. We need to leave the lodge to drive to a small runway about 40 minutes away, where we will catch a FedAir Unscheduled Charter to Mpumalanga, and then we’ll board a South African Airways flight to Cape Town.

Everyone goes on safari to see the amazing animals. And yesterday I showed some of the amazing animals we saw in just one four hour drive. Today, especially this morning, we saw a darker side of Africa. One that is inherent and necessary to the survival of many species.

Our plan when we left not long after our 5:30 am wake up call was to go looking for some leopards. Leopards are hard to see, partly because of their camouflage, partly because they are relatively rare (perhaps less than 11,000 in South Africa), and partly because they hunt at night. Before we could go too far, we got a call over the radio that a pride of lions had made a kill, so we hurried over to see it.

Kills are often thought of as the epitome of safari experiences, as they are not that frequently seen. When we got there, we found a pride of 14 lions feasting on a water buffalo they had killed earlier. It was pretty brutal. We watched for a while,and I took a bunch of great pictures which I won’t publish here. Then we left to continue our search for the leopard.

Along the way we found two lionesses sitting quietly along side the road. It’s pretty amazing how they ignore the trucks and the people in them. After watching them for a couple of minutes, they both got up, obviously alerted to something, and took off through the bush. Mark, our guide, followed them, crashing through brush and over small trees.

Attack, July 2017

They had smelled an injured water buffalo. We got to that site just as they attacked it, and watched as they took it down and ultimately killed it. It made what we saw earlier seem tame. Later, Mark and another guide described this kill as the most disturbing one they had seen.

Elephants coming by, July 2017

After this enlightening morning, we returned to the lodge for a late breakfast. Before we could even sit down, about 30 elephant came strolling down the river right in front of the deck. This was quite a sight, and included a number of young elephants.

We had lunch, then Sally went to look at our sister lodge, Singita Ebony (we’re at Singita Boulders). I stayed behind, cleaned up, did some camera and battery maintenance and generally rested.

African wild dogs and pups, July 2017

At 3:00 we went out for the afternoon drive. The highlight of this was visiting an African wild dog den, where there were a dozen pups along with the adults. Again, we spent quite some time watching them run around, feed the pups, and try to give them a few of the life lessons they’ll need to survive here. While they look cute, especially the pups, they are among the most successful predators in the area – their kill rate is very high, and the pack can take down pretty large animals.

Eagle looking for prey, hyena waiting for scraps, July 2017

Throughout the drive one always sees a multitude of birds. We saw an eagle perched on a tree, some vultures waiting for the lions to finish, and any number of other birds that I cannot identify. And a pack of at least nine hyena waiting in the grass for the lions to leave the carcass.

We all were sad to see the water buffalo die. But if they don’t kill, the lions and other predators – leopards, eagles, wild dogs, etc. – will die. This is life. Tomorrow we’ll again try to find the leopard.

I’ve been boring you all with pictures and writing that has nothing to do with why we (and pretty much everyone else) visit Africa: to see wild animals on safari. After our trip in the 10-seater toy airplane (including two pilots) to Singita Boulders (which is amazing), we didn’t even make it the 200 yards from the private airstrip to the lodge before we saw a tree full of baboons. At lunch on the deck we saw an elephant, crocodile, a mongoose family, and some antelope of some sort. I will never keep all the species straight. Monkeys ran around the restaurant stealing people’s bread.

Young elephant by the Sand River, July 2017

Then we met our guide and group of two other couples and went for our first (of 18) game drives. You hop into a specially outfitted Land Rover with three rows of stadium seating, plus the diver/guide and a tracker sitting on a bench mounted on the front fender. Then you go off driving around the game preserve looking for stuff. I think we had an exceptionally productive afternoon.

Zebra looking at the sun, July 2017

To some extent, the drives are random: the guides and trackers won’t always know where any specific animals are, but they know where they may like to hang out. They also communicate with other guides who are out and about regarding the more difficult animals to locate.

Pretty bird, July 2017

My experience with zebras (in the zoo) is that they always turn their butts towards you. This one didn’t. He just looked west towards the sun, low in the sky.

Hippo in the water, July 2017

It turns out (who knew) that hippos spend much of their time mostly submerged because their thick skin gets sunburned.

Impala herd, July 2017

The only impala I had ever seen were the ones made by Chevrolet. When I was in sixth grade, my BFF’s parent bought a 1963 Impala which had the first seat belts I ever saw in a car. I though it was the nicest car I had ever been in. Frankly, these were much more beautiful. And notice that there’s one guy and his harem here.

Rhinoceros grazing in the grass, July 2017

We got right up to these rhinos. I mean, I could have spit and hit them. Not that I did. Although they are herbivores, they weigh upwards of 5,000 lbs. and have big horns. And they can move fast. Two of the rules on the games drives are:

1. Don’t stand up. The animals seem to ignore the trucks and their passengers, but you can change that equation by creating a new shape by standing.
2. Don’t get out of the truck, especially without the guide or tracker with you.

These drives are safe, but the animals are wild.

King of the jungle, July 2017

Mark, our guide got a call over the radio that a group of three lions, all brothers, had been spotted. The other guide gave him directions to where they were, which apparently weren’t quite clear. We wound up missing a turn (the “roads” are just dirt tracks, and there are no signposts). We eventually found them, but they were just sleeping in tall grass and not really easy to see. Apparently, lions sleep a good part of each day. We wound up sitting for a good hour, waiting for them to do something. Anything. One of them did stick his head up for a bit and I got a few nice shots..

Dinner was blah, blah, blah. There was entertainment blah blah blah. (1)

But really, today was all about seeing a bunch of animals.

We will get a wake up call at 5:30am tomorrow, and meet in the main building for coffee before heading out on our morning drive.

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(1) Singita and the staff are amazing. More later on that.

This morning is our first flight on a charter. Actually, an Unscheduled Charter, Federal Airlines. This was also the flight I had the most baggage anxiety about. While the total weight limit per passenger is very sufficient, the cabin luggage limit is 11 lbs. per person. My camera bag clocks in at over 20 lbs., so this was concerning.

We were picked up at the hotel at 8:30 and made the 30 minute ride to the FedAir terminal at O.R. Tambo Airport. We checked in and our duffel bags were taken and weighed; they were about 55 lbs for the two of us, as expected. Then we found out what an Unscheduled Charter is: they take off when they get a slot from air traffic control, which is 11:30 rather than the 10:30 they had told us. So we get to sit here in a comfortable, small lounge for almost two hours.

FedAir lounge, July 2017

They also didn’t bother to weigh our cabin bags. Sally’s was about 13 lbs when we left NY, and might be a pound lighter now. My camera bag is still about 20 lbs. So this is a relief – I won’t have to stuff my pockets with lenses and whatnot.

Flight #2, July 2017

We’re Flight #2.

Today was our day seeing Johannesburg, or Joburg in local parlance. The Joburg metro area has about 8.5m people, and the population ranges from the richest people in South Africa to some of the poorest. And that mirrors our day, which started at our hotel in our rich suburb of Sandhurst (1) and proceeded through two of the townships, Alexandra and Soweto. The middle of the day was a visit to the Apartheid Museum, which tells the story of the increasingly formal and institutionalized racism in this country, thru the end of apartheid subsequent to Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1994.

South African police prepare to storm an ANC area (photo of photo in Apartheid Museum), July 2017

I will not bore you with this history; it is readily available from Wikipedia and other places if you are interested. However I will make one point: this country passed from an oppressive “democracy” run by the whites, who exploited the black and colored (2) populations from when the first Europeans arrived, to a flawed democracy with an elected government of blacks – and without an endless and devastating civil war. Yes, there were deaths – largely from the oppressive government, and also from the freedom fighters – but somehow the number of deaths in the struggle was measured in 10s of thousands, not millions.

Alexandra residents, July 2017

We spent a good part of the morning going though Alexandra, one of the black townships established during apartheid to isolate the black population. This is a place of appalling living conditions and abject poverty. Yet, as the pictures show, people don’t exhibit misery in their everyday lives. Unemployment is 40%; the schools are terrible or worse; drug use and AIDS are rampant. Yet somehow people manage to live each day.

Alexandra streets, July, 2017

Alexandra’s future, July 2017

After the museum, we went to Soweto (3), the largest and most famous of the townships. This was the locus of the struggle to end apartheid. Mandela and the other leaders lived here, when they weren’t in jail, exile or hiding from the authorities. We had a pleasant lunch in a buffet restaurant on the street where Tutu and Mandela “lived” (4).

Historical center of Soweto, July 2017

Soweto is large, with millions of residents. The housing ranges from tin roofed and sided shacks, to small but tidy bricked homes, to dormitories that would compete with any tenement in NYC or Chicago. There is a lot of crime here and in Alexandra. Robin, our guide, hired a crew to wash and watch his car while we had lunch in Soweto. In Alexandra, he hired two bodyguards with a gun to follow us in their car while we drove around (we never got out of the car there).

Robin’s crew, July 2017

The Alexandra crew were all quite friendly, and jostled for the dollar or so he gave each of them: the washer, the watcher, the crew chief, etc.

It was an interesting and tiring day.

Tonight we have dinner out at a nearby restaurant. Tomorrow we get on a small plane for a 90 minute flight to Singita, a camp outside of Kruger National Park. We’ll be touring in a private preserve. I expect there’s some level of Internet service there, but if you don’t hear from us, then I was wrong.
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(1) Think Scarsdale, Short Hills or Saddle River with electric wire on stone walls
(2) “White”, “black” and “colored” have specific meanings in South Africa, different than in the US. Race is really a cultural concept and not a biological one.
(3) Soweto = SOuth WEst TErriTOries. It is southwest of Joburg proper.
(4) Mandela stayed in the house here for a couple of weeks in his life. Tutu did live here, and his family still owns the house. Winnie Mandela had a restaurant which is now empty.

I’ve written a number of incredibly long and boring posts about my photography gear for this trip. This won’t be long. You can decide if it’s boring,

One of the key factors in choosing what to bring was redundancy: two cameras, lenses that can partially offset another that has failed, lots of batteries and chargers, backup strategy for the pictures. One thing which doesn’t have a backup is my tripod, as it’s big and heavy. I almost didn’t bring it at all because of the weight.

So of course, it broke. Partially.

Looks healthy, but it’s not, July 2017

I had disassembled it into three pieces so that it would pack better into our constrained luggage. As I was trying to put it together this morning, the center shaft jammed in an unusable position. After about a half an hour, and at the cost of a skinned knuckle, I got it to the point where it is useable. But I brought this particular tripod because it converts to a monopod, which I can use in the game drive vehicles. Now I’m not sure I’ll be able to disassemble it anymore, or put it back together again if I do.

Arrrrrggggghhhhh!

We arrived in Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo Airport this morning after a long and uneventful flight. In at least one way, it was a throwback to the old days of air travel: someone met us at the gate.

I vaguely remember those days, before layers upon layers of security were added to air travel. You could walk your friend or family member to the gate, helping them with their hand luggage (there was no wheeled luggage in those days, either) and delaying the inevitable goodby to the last minute. And the reverse was true: people would crowd around the gates, waiting for their someone to walk down the ramp and emerge to smiles and hugs.

In our case, we were met by an escort waiting with our name on a sign – someone we paid for who guided us through the airport, helped us get our luggage at the carousel, and expedited our passage through passport control and customs. After a tip, he handed us off to our driver, also waiting with a sign, who took us to our hotel in the suburbs. Where he got his tip (1).

Guard at the gate to the Saxon, July 2017

The Saxon Hotel is quite lovely. It is also a fortress, completely surrounded by a high concrete wall. As are all of the other properties in this wealthy suburb. Many of the walls are topped with electrified wires.

Saxon Hotel, 2017

The staff here seems extremely attentive to the guests and are quite pleasant. When we approach one of them in the halls, they invariably stand to one side and wait there until we pass; this is a bit disconcerting to us, accustomed as we are to a less formal and more egalitarian relationship with people.

We kind of stumbled around the room for a bit, then stumbled around the hotel a bit looking for a place to eat, then decided on room service for lunch. A nap, some showers, and we felt better. We have dinner reservations in the hotel restaurant.

Tomorrow we leave at 9:00 for our full day “Soweto and Apartheid Tour with Robin Binckes as a guide”. Hope it’s interesting. It’s a full day.

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(1) We received detailed instructions on tipping from our travel company: drivers, porters, guides, trackers, etc. Each has a price and a currency. In South Africa, where we are for nine nights, it’s the South African Rand, or ZAR.

Despite getting out of JFK late, we got into Heathrow about 30 minutes early. Which did nothing for our sleep. We stumbled off the plane and found our way to Terminal 1, where BA operates two Club lounges. And this has been our home for the last six hours, with another hour or so to go – assuming our flight remains on schedule.

Lots of loungers, lots of drinks, July 2017

Unlike the JFK lounge, which definitely needed a refresh, this lounge is both quite nice and quite busy. There’s lots of snacks around all day, including beverages, and they put out a buffet lunch which we skipped for all kind of reasons. They also have robust wifi, which I’m using right now.

Feeling fidgety? Have a bite, July 2017

We took a walk outside of our gated community to the terminal concourse. It’s really a shopping mall surrounded by security and airplanes. You can buy pretty much everything you might need for a trip here – clothing, toiletries, luggage, cameras, fidgets, etc. We just had lunch in a place called, fittingly, Giraffes.

Well, we got everything packed. As far as I can tell, we weigh about 88 lbs. together, so we should be able to bring all of our stuff on some of the more restrictive flights that are coming later. In the meantime, we’ve checked in with British Airways at JFK. Uber was nearby and made a quick pickup, traffic was a bit lighter than usual, and there were about five people ahead of us at TSA. Our flight, scheduled for 10:55pm, is delayed about 25 mins. I checked it’s track record, and it seems to be delayed up to an hour and a half every night. And it seems to get into London Heathrow about on time, at 11:00am local time.

We have a very long layover in Heathrow – 8 hours. While that’s Sally’s longest, I’ve had longer ones in the past. And she actually had an overnight layover in San Francisco a couple of years ago, when she flew out to meet me there and we continued on to Hawaii.

A PRIORITY for a TRANSFER LONG, July 2017

Our bags are checked straight through to JNB (Johannesburg). In the past, when we’ve had a short-ish connection time, I’ve seen the bags tagged “short transfer” or some such thing to encourage the baggage crew to get them to the next flight. This time they were tagged “Transfer Long” to reflect our 8 hour scheduled layover. But because they’re also “Priority” because we’re flying Business Class, I guess the crew gives them priority to wait a long time.

You could shoot a shotgun and not hit anyone, July 2017

In any event, we’re in the BA lounge, which is capacious, has lots of food and snacks, and is pretty run down. And pretty empty. But it’s only for an hour or so.

So today we tried packing absolutely everything. Since I’ve been obsessing over this for months, including a spreadsheet with every item I am taking and it’s weight, this should have been an academic exercise that proved how valuable planning is.

Wrong.

I was over-weight and Sally was over-volume. While it’s not actually a problem tomorrow (British Air gives us lots of capacity for luggage), it will be a problem on Sunday when we fly Federal Air on a scheduled charter (1). FedAir restricts your carry-on to 11 lbs. Sally’s carry-on is only a little overweight, but her checked bag is stuffed and she doesn’t have room to fit what she planned, let alone more stuff. My carry-on (aka my camera bag) is way overweight, and the gear in that bag can’t be checked in a hard sided suitcase, let alone our soft duffle bags. And later we will be on several flights where everything must be 44 lbs or less.

This stuff didn’t make the cut, July 2017

So today we both started pulling stuff out of our bags. I don’t really need those shorts, or the extra t-shirt. I won’t bring a small case for my camera cleaning supplies, they’ll go into a baggie. Same with a filter bag and a belt carrier for a monopod. Detachable shoulder straps for both our duffles and a fleece beanie got jettisoned. A bunch of stuff that had accumulated in my toiletry bag all disappeared, as did miscellaneous small cables and adaptors in my electronics bag. Sally took out some shirts, a sweater, half her mouth wash, a dress, and some underwear. As a result she was also able to eliminate two pack-it bags as well.

I already know that my 11 lb. carry-on was only going to happen by using my photographer’s vest and filling its capacious pockets with 8 lbs of fragile consumer electronics.

We both think we haven’t quite cracked the code here, yet. We’ll try again tomorrow to fit into the weight and space constraints for all the different flights.

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(1) What exactly is a “scheduled charter”? It’s not a scheduled flight, as it has no flight number. But it flies a regular route at a regular time. I’m confused.