January 25, Norma Jean's Lodge, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe means big house made of rock.

Up and on road by 7 am... these early mornings are a killer! But there is so much to see.
We got through South Africa immigration fairly fast but had a 2, almost 3 hour wait to get visas in Zimbabwe. Just wait.. not so bad...as van was in shade and everyone was having to do the same thing! There was not much of a queue when we arrived but shortly after it was lined up outside the building.

A change in drivers and we were off!

This is a lodge set out in the middle of nowhere, or so it seems! Beautiful place set in the bush. The design is very colonial and seemed to be caught in the 70s! Many small sitting rooms with fireplaces, big chairs and couches around a fireplace. We go up graded and got a house. A nice large balcony that over looked the garden and the man made lake. The water level is very low, there is still a drought here as well. This is the end of the rainy season and there has not been much rain, although it did rain very hard over night you can not really tell that much rain fell at all!


January 24, Northern part of South Africa, not far from Zimbabwe border

Up at 3 am for a 4 am safari! Saw lots of birds, some hippos but not much else. We have been spoiled very badly from the previous safaris! It is still amazing and so difficult to put into words! Breakfast and then on the road. We left the National Park and are heading north towards the border.

Stayed in a small private game reserve, out in the middle of nowhere! The place is beautiful. All small round brick huts with thatched roofs! Very nice. It has power but all solar power with battery storage! The water is heated using a wood fired tank and then pumped! Amazing.

January 23, Oliphants Camp, Kruger National Park, South Africa

In the van and off for a drive. The amazing part was saw some lions, just lazing under a tree and on the opposite side of the road was a herd of zebra. Then 2 lions got up and started stalking the zebra. They walked around the vans and cars parked on the road, but I swear they did not even see us, they were so focused on the zebra. What a sight to see them in full stalking mode......just beside the van. They did not get anything.

Evening safari baby hippo, sevat (looks like a cross between cat and mongoose). Amazing that the hippos will travel a long way out of the water to eat the grass. They are traveling further now as the grass is more difficult to find due to the drought! We also got a glance at a spotted dog but very shy.

January 22. Manyletti Private Game Reserve, Kruger National Park, South Africa

Amazing safari today. We saw the big 5! Buffalo, elephant, hippo, lion and leopard! We are in an open vehicle driving around the park. There are animals every where! The most common is the impala. Several birds which I can not name. There were also giraffe, water bucks (deer like), white rhino, wildebeest.....

Took a million pictures and that tells the whole story! It is amazing to be here and driving around with all these animals so close.


January 21, Manyletti Private Game Reserve, Kruger National Park.

On the bus by 7.15 and on the road, heading east towards Kruger National Park. The highway was pretty good. First stop was a large gas station that has its own animal park. I only saw an emu but there were buffalo and a rhino.
The country side is rolling hills and very green. This is the high velt (grasslands). It is similar to southern Alberta or Saskatchewan in the spring.

Even saw a grass fire...most likely a managed fire burning off the sour grasses.
Now this is camping. In a tent, but is on wooden platform and there is an en suite bathroom with shower!
This is a private reserve, the land is owned but here there is no fence between the reserve and Kruger. The animals are free to run.

January 20, Johannesburg, near airport

Up early for a 7.15 departure from the hotel for a 2 hour plane trip back to Johannesburg. We met the bus and then a tour of Soweto (South Western Townships) by bike. Old ones and bit rough going to start but still interesting Funny as the locals were giving us a very wide berth.

We stopped at Peterson memorial, the 15 year school boy that was the first shot during the 1976 Student protest over the introduction of Afrikaans as a language in school. A short ride to the place where he was shot.

Then to Mandela's house, and then another that he spent more time when out of prison. Just as we arrived it started to rain, and then it really poured. Timing was good as we did not get too wet. His house is a typical 5 room house. I would guess about 6 or 700 square feet. 2 bedrooms, small kitchen and living room and a bathroom. Very interesting.

Dinner at casino complex and then to a private lodge. The lodge is great! Sitting on balcony we can see ostrich, deer, gazelle, and guinea fowl. Very peaceful and quiet broken by the occasional plane taking off. We are not that far from Johannesburg!


January 19 Cape Town, South Africa

Lazy start today. We needed to get some things for the trip.....something to camp in and some local mosquito repellent.

We then took a taxi to Kirstenbosch Gardens. Beautiful gardens.
We went for lunch in the Garden restaurant. One of the starters was mopane worms, deep fried with a spicy sauce. Had to try even after the waiter asked if we were sure! He said that many order but get 'scared' when they arrive. Not battered or coated with anything, just the worm! They are quite large. No they don't taste like chicken and they were not juicy! They were a bit of a chew. OK not great. It will be a 'done that' moment!

Dinner was at the home of Hazel and her family. Dinner was chicken, potatoes and vegetables in a very nice curry. Dessert a donuts type thing with sugar, cardamon and ginger. Very good. A niece is a teacher of Grade 4 and she has 57 students, with 2 special needs. She must teach 6 courses in both English and Afrikaans. I don't know how she does it!


January 18 Cape Town, South Africa

We hired a taxi to take us to the Cape Peninsula. It is about a 2 hour drive. Beautiful drive along the coast via the Christopher's Peak scenic road. Something like 140 curves in a 10 to 15 km stretch.

First stop was Cape Point. This is a small peninsula on the big peninsula, with Cape of Good Hope near by. On Cape Point there is a light house. We took the funicular up to the top. Great views, and fascinating that the next piece of land to the south is the South Pole! Took a short walk out on the rock and saw many lizards. Good thing not windy as we would have been blown off and it is a long way down!

I walked the trail to the Cape of Good Hope, only about 30 minutes and most along a boardwalk. There was an great looking beach between the 2 points. A bit of a climb to the peak, around and then down to the car park.

We had lunch in a great seafood place in Boulder and then a short walk to see the African penguins. Hundreds of them! Also lots of people. Great as the penguins are very close, we are on a boardwalk and the penguins seem very used to people. Never did figure out who was watching who! It was also a lesson on the life cycle of penguins! We saw all phases from the mating, eggs, chicks of various ages and the maturing chicks! Too funny as one girl took a selfie and I swear 2 penguins were mating in the background!

A drive back to the city to get ready for a meeting with the tour group. Dinner at the restaurant attached to the hotel.

The hotel is apparently 'the' place to be and be seen in Cape Town! Lots of young people and the place has a very positive energy. Great place to meet and talk to people from all over. We were told that this is the place for the international models stay.

January 17 Cape Town, South Africa

Today we caught the boat to Robben Island. This is where the political prisoners during the Apartheid where held. Mandela was here for 18 years of his 27 year term in prison. On the 45 minute boat trip out I saw what I think were dolphins swimming past and lots of seal just floating with flippers up! There was even a whale! All the trips I have paid to see a whale and nothing... and here it was included!

The bus tour around the island and the tour of the prison were done by ex prisoners of the island. They did a great job of the tour telling us some personal stories. Then a tour of the prison itself. So difficult to imagine just what life, if you can say that, would have been like for these guys! They seem to have moved on with their lives... amazing people!


January 16 Cape Town, South Africa

After a 20 minute walk to the city centre we bought Hop on Hop off tickets. We had to walk through through the Green market square. This is full of stalls that are selling African things. All very nice but it it is the same as what we have already seen. This market used to be the place where the farmers brought their produce to sell to the boats!

This bus took us to the bottom of Table Mountain. So nice to get up it after watching it for 2 days. It has been closed due to 'gale force' winds. The wind has been 40 km/h with gusts to 60! Huge but last night I am sure the gusts were much higher!

The gondola holds about 30 people and turns as it goes up the mountain. Amazing views! Very busy at the top, lots of people around. So head off on one of the 'trails'. Actually they are concrete sidewalks.

There was a dazzie, and rodent of some sort. Tailless, sunning himself. The views from the top are amazing as well. I went for a 20 minute walk to MacClear's Beacon, the highest point on the mountain. Great walk. You can tell it can be windy as no trees, just low bushes. At one place there were some slough type reeds but in the low spots... but no water. It has been very dry. All great.

Back to the main area and had lunch at cafeteria.

Back down the mountain and onto the bus. We stopped at the harbour front. We did the harbour cruise. Only 30 minutes but nice. Lots of seals and they were resting in the large tires along the docks. The tires are used as bumpers for the boats.

Dinner at a seafood restaurant. Spending big time! lol I had mixed seafood platter with hake, calamari and mussels. $17. Excellent!
Too late to catch the bus back so taxi!


January 15 Cape Town, South Africa

An earlier start today! About 9! We don't want to rush anything.
We walked a couple of blocks to the District 6 Museum. This is a museum dedicated to the people of this area of the city that were force-ably moved to another area about 25/30 km away because they were of non-white race and the government decided that it should be a white only area. The community was made up of many different races which lived very well side by side and together.

Churches and mosques next to each other, teams and band of all colours! Shocking that the government decided to separate them to new areas of similar race....breaking up the community. It was very well done. The museum is staffed by people who lived there. The guy at the front was in a band and made a movie interviewing several people. Another lady lived there and her family would have been separated as her father was black and her mother was not!

Then another short walk to the Castle. At first thought it was a fort, as many fort like things - moat, large gate and many rooms including an arsenal and barracks, but there were some very fancy rooms as well. We arrived just in time to see the 'key ceremony' which is the getting of the key from the Governor and opening the front gate. The ceremony included the setting off of a small 1/2 pound cannon ( that is the shot size). Very interesting, the local cannon club does the presentation!

Then a short walk through the flower market and then into the Slave Lodge. This building was build in the 1600s and was used as housing for slaves waiting for auction. The slaves were African, Indonesian, Sri Lankin, and Malaysian. We basically got kicked out at 5 pm. But that is ok.... bit of an overload on museums todays. We walked through the Company's Garden and then headed back to apartment. Along the way we found this great little restaurant that had an eclectic interior and funky dressed staff. The owner loved to chat as well. The food was excellent! A short walk back and down for the night!


January 14 Cape Town, South Africa

Walked into the city center and caught a walking tour of Bo Kaap. This is an area where many Malaysian people live. Well known as the houses are very colorfully painted! All different colours. Very nice. The Malays were here as slaves to help build up the area as a stopping/restocking place for the sea traders.

We had lunch in a restaurant in the Green Market Square. This is the location of the first fresh produce markets. Local farmers would sell the produce to the ships! While having lunch, about 1 1/2 hours, we were entertained by a jazz group, lead by Joe (everyone seems to know Joe), acrobats, horn band and a break dancer! They seem to have a program.

We then did the Historical Walking tour. These are free tours that are offered... and the guides are great, working for tips only! The walking tour stopped at the Anglican church where Bishop Desmond Tutu will give the service 1 time a month. Apparently he is seen often just walking down the street.

We did go by a great street food market! Definitely have to come back to this area. We stopped at the Court house where people were classified by race during Apartheid. Shocking that a pencil in the hair was a test to see what race you were... white if pencil fell out! They have an example of white and non-white benches out front as a reminder of segregation!

Then on to the Company's Gardens. That is what they are called! These are gardens first established by the Dutch East India Trading Company. Very nice. The park is full of pigeons which will land on your arm and apparently the best looked after citizens of Cape Town... the squirrels. WE did not see any squirrels.. I guess it was after lunch and they were having naps!

We walked around the Parliament buildings and then over the the Supreme Court/Parade area where Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and where he made is first speech as a free man. The grounds are huge and apparently the place was packed!

A short stop and grocery store and back to apartment. Relax for the evening.
Although we have been warned by the guides that we have to be careful when out, we have not had any problems, but then we have not been out walking around after dark. Amazing as the streets are very very quiet after dark! Not much going on anywhere! It is a beautiful city!

January 13 Cape Town, South Africa

Up and out early as 8.30 am flight to Cape Town.
We are in an apartment which is very nice and we have a great view of Table Mountain.... well sort of, it is covered in cloud!

We wandered around the corner and found a great coffee place. They actually roast their own beans, one of the 4 remaining fire coffee bean roasters in the world! The place smelled great and the coffee was pretty good too! The staff have a costume/wardrobe area where they can pick what to wear for the day! Some very interesting outfits. Many interesting hats, some feathers, vests, leather pouches. All great.

Spent the rest of the day just relaxing and trying to plan the next few days. We are missing the jungle!


January 12 Johannesburg, South Africa

Another slowish morning.

We headed off to the train station and went to Rosebank, just 1 stop. Here we went to an African Market. It took me about 20/30 minutes to do the market but the others took hours! Lots of very nice stuff but nothing caught my eye to carrying and take home. I spent a lot of time just having coffee in a nearby coffee shop. I did walk around the mall which took about 30 minutes. These are huge malls!

We then headed back to the Sandton train station where we met a woman from the Spain tour for dinner. It was great to see her. She worked just down the street from the mall. She actually bought us dinner which was very nice of her.
Off to bed early as an early morning the next day.


January 11 Johannesburg, South Africa

It is great to wake up and coffee is made! I can get very used to this!
Caught the train in again and then the Hop on/off bus. This time stopped at the Apartheid Museum. This shows the history of South Africa, the move to segregation and then the elimination of segregation. It certainly filled in a lot of the history that we never heard! All very well done with lots of pictures and long narratives. Once again very shocking! What was the most shocking was a paper from yesterday reporting on some apparent segregation issues that still exist! All these years and still problems.

Train back to hotel and then went to the Woolworth s mall for coffee. Very good. Take away pizza for dinner.

January 10, Johannesburg, South Africa

Caught the train in and bought Hop ON/off bus pass. Rode for about 1 1/2 hours through the city. Some amazing old buildings. The city is only about 150 years old and started when gold was found in the area. We got off at Constitution Hill. This is mostly a prison area. This is where Mandela and Gandhi were held for a while. Conditions must have been awful and the treatment of prisoners was terrible for nonwhites, but good for the whites!

The Constitution Court is also in this area. A beautiful building that has been designed with Africa in mind. The main lobby designed to be an area under a tree where tribal decisions are made. Skylights, pillars as tree trunks and leaves up above. Even the carpet is designed to look like sunlight shining through to the ground!

Caught the train back and then into the mall close to train station. Huge and really 2 malls joined. One was Nelson Mandela square. There was a huge bronze statute of Mandela with several restaurants around. We stopped and had coffee! Once again, very good.

January 9 Johannesburg, South Africa

After a 3 am crawl into bed, up about 8. We are in a nice apartment so made coffee and relaxed.
Breakfast of peanut butter on toast! It was great!

We finally got moving about 2 in afternoon, we walked to the Gautrain (pronounced howtrain) station, about 20 minutes away.

We caught the train into the main station, only a 10 minute ride. This happens to be the main intercity train station and bus station. Not the busy and the place is huge. Lots of restaurants, fast food places and banks. Walked through the station and ended up in a small market. This market had lots of things.... watches, clothes, jewelry etc. We had something eat at a South African grill fast food place. I had a steak.... very good. It came with pap ( a grain cooked to a thick sticky consistency), salad, potato salad and another spiced salad that had carrots. All very good and it cost about $7. Caught the train back to hotel and crashed early!


January 8 Volcano National Park, Rwanda and part of night in Johannesburg, South Africa

A slow start to the morning.... no 5 am alarms!

Breakfast and then off to tour the city of Kigali (pronounced Che gali).

We stopped at the Kigali Genocide Memorial. This is a history of the country leading up to the 1994 genocide. The museum was excellent... very well done.... but the information and description of the events are shocking!

Our guide/driver lost all of his family except his sister. And it took 9 years to find her! It was all very disturbing but I had to keep thinking that according to our guide, they are focused on the future, and education to make sure that it does not happen again. Then to the memorial to the 10 Belgian soldiers that will killed protecting a dignitary.

Off to airport, and really do not want to leave. A great country and there is much more to see. A 4 1/2 hour flight to Johannesburg with a stop in Lusaka. Arrived about 1 am got through immigration and into taxi for 20 minute ride to hotel. Nice as there is not much traffic.

Up until about 3 am catching up with Jayne.

January 7 Volcano National Park, Rwanda

And another amazing day! Up and off at same time in morning.... this time we are headed to see the Golden Monkeys.
It was about a 2 hour hike along mostly potato fields until we reached the park wall. Once again the wall is a pile of rocks with a deep ditch on the park side. This a hike through a bamboo forest! Very interesting as there is not a lot of vegetation on the ground.. but there are several squash vines everywhere with small squashes on the ground. They are about the size of a softball.

This was supposed to be a 'baby' hike but there was a bit that was up hill for a ways... maybe 20 minutes.
Once again there were trackers out locating the monkeys. The park does an amazing job of the protecting the monkeys as well. Same rules... no food, sticks, backpacks.. only cameras and we are only allowed to be near them for 1 hour, same as the gorillas!

There are hundreds! On the top of the bamboo and on the ground, young and older ones! Very cute but here are constantly on the move so difficult to get any shots. Still a great experience. It was fun watching the people as well.... they were chasing the monkeys all over the place... it took them a while to work out that if you stood there many would just go by you! Too funny! We ended up talking to a guide as we were standing

there and watching...both the people and the monkeys. He ended up leading us around to have a look at some of the monkeys that were a bit more secluded..... this way we did not have people trying to sneak up and get too close to the monkeys, which really just scared them off!

After an hour, we spent an hour getting back to the parking lot! Very fast. Another exciting day. No rain today so was very nice but the ground was still fairly wet from yesterday. Also you had to watch for buffalo pies.... lots of them, and wet and fresh! I did find one! Got it dead centre!



January 6 Volcano National Park, Rwanda

OMG what an amazing day! Even if we were up at 5 am! At least there is coffee in room, and breakfast is at 6!
We are off to see the gorillas today! We left the hotel at 6.45 for a ride to the park office where we met our guides. 2 of them, Patrick and Bosco. Then a 45 minute drive, getting an African massage along the way (the roads were very rough and rocky) to where the walking/hiking/trekking would start. Off through some potato, corn and flower fields.

They grow a lot of daisy like plants. They pick the flowers, dry them and then they get sent off to make pesticides and insect repellent.

At the park boundary we met a Park guard, gun and all. The park entrance was a rock wall at the end of a field with a deep ditch on the park side. This was to keep the buffalo in the park and out of the farmers Irish potatoes! He will lead us through the park.

 Mostly for protection from the buffalo that roam the park. The air is pretty thin so the hiking up the side of a volcano is tough going, especially as it is wet from the rain yesterday.
After about 2 hours walking we arrive at gorillas! There were 2 trackers that were ahead of us to locate the gorillas.

Wow.... amazing animals! We first saw the 2nd oldest male... he is huge. At first arms crossed as raining but when the rain stopped, he started eating wild celery...stocks and leaves! A bit further there was a mother with a 4 month old baby!

We moved on a bit and there was a young male. The rest of the group moved on but I stopped for a picture and the gorilla came right up to me and touched me.... he wanted to play. At first the guide grunted that we were friendly so the gorilla relaxed, then came up to me, and touched me.. the guide grunted no, and he took off. Wow... what can I say!

The rest of the group was watch 2 young ones playing. Then onto the alpha male, the silver back! He is huge, about 200 kg! He was just focused on eating!

I can not believe how close were were.... about 6 feet away! And they were so calm about it all! Apparently they know the guides and that helps. The young one that came up to me, watched the guide most of the time!

On the way out, there were some buffalo in the distance! Huge animals as well. This was a very expensive trip but soooooo worth all of it! It is hard to describe the experience of getting so close that we could hear the gorillas crunching the celery.


January 5 Volcano National Park, Rwanda

A very relaxing morning of breakfast. WE were up at 6 and off to breakfast. A huge buffet but as we were the only ones there we were given a lot of table service, very good service! Emmanuel the guide arrived at 10 and we went to airport to pick up my bag! Great news!

Off to pick up another passenger. Turns out he was staying at the hotel used for the movie Hotel Rwanda.

We then headed off for the 2 1/2 hour drive to the Gorilla Mountain View Lodge. The country side was beautiful. Everything is very green. Along the way there were bamboo bee hives high up in trees and even a few monkeys crossing the road! Roads are good but very hilly!

The Lodge is super....Lunch ready when we arrived. Very nice! Hotel room is a monster....with a fireplace! The Lodge is at the base of 6 volcanos, all inactive.

Beautiful country! There are 2 active volcanoes in the Congo. Very cloudy and some heavy rain.

Seemed like we just got up from lunch and it was dinner time. Excellent food.... and lots of it!
Crashed early!


January 4 Kigali, Rwanda

I forgot to mention that I went for a hair cut yesterday! Just down the street was a barber.. he was busy painting the walls when I got there, but stopped to cut my hair! The usual buzz cut... best part it cost 1500 shillings! or about $0.75 US! Amazing they do it so cheap, but here I think they get their hair cut very often... but then again I did see I guy shaving another with just a razor blade. He was just sitting on the curb!

Off to airport, arriving at 8 am only to find out the flight had been delayed by 3 hours! No problem as I had a long layover in Nairobi, others were not! The 3 hours turned into 4 1/2 by the time we took off.
I got to Nairobi and had to run to catch the next plane....I had 30 minutes.....I made it to Kigali but luggage did not! OK no problem.

Spent a couple of hours in coffee shop with our guide, waiting for Fran's plane. She made it, tired but smiling... i did have a coffee in my hand!

Off to hotel... well.... this is a long way above any of the other hotels we have stayed in! Huge pool, beautiful grounds...showers that work with hot water! Very nice.

Dinner at restaurant and then off to bed.