The flight back sucked, as expected, no positive spin on 22 hours of flying/34 hours of travel. Interestingly enough, SAA had the most stringent security policies I've ever seen. At the gate, after you had cleared regular security, they put the men on one side and the women on another, then they randomly selected the men to go thru a thorough patdown and bag check. Then, after we stopped over in Dakar, they let the passengers who were departing get off then every one of their seats was given a thorough search. After this, everyone was asked to remove their bags from the overhead compartments and any remaining bags, if they existed were disposed of. I guess every international flight I have come back on has been direct so I had not been thru it, but it was a little odd.
But, I was able to finish up the last two posts of this blog. I know the idea is to publish while you are gone but to be honest, I was busy almost constantly and Internet access, particularly the last four or five days, was almost non existent. I wanted to get it written down so, in the future, I could look back and remember everything.
In the end, I'm gonna give this the best trip ever status. So many cool things that I never thought I'd see, met great people, had awesome food, great drinks. Everything was covered; wildlife, nature, geographical sites, history, adventure, politics, awesome accomodations, hell I even got a little tan.
Land in DC in about an hour and I'm pretty spent. One more flight back to Chicago and I'm hitting the sack.
Next stop?? I've got some ideas..... :)
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Zambia - November 28, 2011
Another early morning wakeup call and across the border to check out Devils Pool.
We departed for Livingstone Island The Livingstone Manor hotel. It is a colonial era style 5 star hotel that is over the top. The pool reminded me of the one you see in The Great Gatsby movie with Robert Redford. Awesome
After signing a release, we headed over to the island and were taken on a brief walking tour that ended at The shore right above the falls. As there was rain the night before, the water was up and the current was a bit stronger, oh and the fact that its right above a gigantic waterfall. After a briefing on how we were going to swim, yes swim, across a portion of the river. One last detail was throwing rocks at some hippos that were standing right where we would be swimming. I guess that works....
Now the good thing about swimming across the current is that you are in such self preservation mode that you completely forget about the crocodiles and hippos you are sharing the water with. It was a tad chaotic but as long as you don't panic when the current starts drifting you towards the edge of the falls, you're good. To be honest it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I don't consider myself a great swimmer but I can handle my own.
Once you get to the rocky island where the Pool is, there is another debriefing about where to jump, being very specific on how far out and in which direction, too far to the right and it's in the current and well, they just said you don't want that to happen. Too far to left or not far enough out and it's not deep enough and you will hit rocks. Gotta say, I nailed it. They took some great shots in the pool which almost is like a big hot tub. The water was pretty warm too. I don't know who the hell figured it out the first time but it's cool, way cool. More photos at the top of the falls and then another swim back across the river to the bank. I only got a tad hurt in the whole process as I was getting back onshore and my foot slipped into a crevasse and it hurt like a mother.
We had breakfast of eggs Benedict on the island and then back to shore where I was escorted back to the hotel to begin one hell of a long day of travel.
I had arranged Shepherd, my driver in Jo'burg, to pick me up at the airport to go do some final shopping in the African craft market between flights as I had about 7 hours to kill. Im glad I did because I found some really cool stuff, almost too much. Once again, stay tuned!!
We departed for Livingstone Island The Livingstone Manor hotel. It is a colonial era style 5 star hotel that is over the top. The pool reminded me of the one you see in The Great Gatsby movie with Robert Redford. Awesome
After signing a release, we headed over to the island and were taken on a brief walking tour that ended at The shore right above the falls. As there was rain the night before, the water was up and the current was a bit stronger, oh and the fact that its right above a gigantic waterfall. After a briefing on how we were going to swim, yes swim, across a portion of the river. One last detail was throwing rocks at some hippos that were standing right where we would be swimming. I guess that works....
Now the good thing about swimming across the current is that you are in such self preservation mode that you completely forget about the crocodiles and hippos you are sharing the water with. It was a tad chaotic but as long as you don't panic when the current starts drifting you towards the edge of the falls, you're good. To be honest it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I don't consider myself a great swimmer but I can handle my own.
Once you get to the rocky island where the Pool is, there is another debriefing about where to jump, being very specific on how far out and in which direction, too far to the right and it's in the current and well, they just said you don't want that to happen. Too far to left or not far enough out and it's not deep enough and you will hit rocks. Gotta say, I nailed it. They took some great shots in the pool which almost is like a big hot tub. The water was pretty warm too. I don't know who the hell figured it out the first time but it's cool, way cool. More photos at the top of the falls and then another swim back across the river to the bank. I only got a tad hurt in the whole process as I was getting back onshore and my foot slipped into a crevasse and it hurt like a mother.
We had breakfast of eggs Benedict on the island and then back to shore where I was escorted back to the hotel to begin one hell of a long day of travel.
I had arranged Shepherd, my driver in Jo'burg, to pick me up at the airport to go do some final shopping in the African craft market between flights as I had about 7 hours to kill. Im glad I did because I found some really cool stuff, almost too much. Once again, stay tuned!!
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe - November 27, 2011
We had an early excursion to see Victoria Falls National Park. There's really not a lot to say but wow. You just have to see the pictures to truly appreciate it. The whole waterfall is about 1.2km wide, or about 3/4 of a mile. As it is just the beginning of the rainy season there are parts of the falls that don't have water going over them. An added bonus is that Devils Pool, a swimming area right on the edge of the falls is open. Unfortunately, it's in Zambia and that would require another visa. Also, I had only purchased a single entry visit into Zimbabwe so I would have to buy another. End result, it cost about $15 more than it should have. No big deal.
I hadn't set up the trip to Zambia so I asked our guide to arrange it. He called the office and while I couldnt get in that afternoon, they had an opening on the first trip in the morning meaning I would have to be up at 5am on my last day. No big deal, I think I was up at 5am more times in the last 12 days than I had been in the past six months.
I stopped in town after Vic Falls and went into the local market. I, and every other foreigner were attacked by about 50 guys at various times. Very pushy but they are just trying to make a buck like everyone else. I was kind of in a pinch because I didn't really have a lot of room in my suitcase. However, they were in to trading and seeing as I went to Africa with a lot of clothes that are too big for me, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Mind you, I didn't see any Africans that would have fit in my clothes but they didn't seem to mind. I got quite a lot of stuff that I am pretty excited about. Stay tuned!!
That night we had a dinner cruise on the Zambezi river and saw quite a few hippos, elephants, crocodiles and assorted monkeys. It was fairly uneventful and a light dinner was served. I made it back to the hotel to have another dinner of warthog, so good!!
I hadn't set up the trip to Zambia so I asked our guide to arrange it. He called the office and while I couldnt get in that afternoon, they had an opening on the first trip in the morning meaning I would have to be up at 5am on my last day. No big deal, I think I was up at 5am more times in the last 12 days than I had been in the past six months.
I stopped in town after Vic Falls and went into the local market. I, and every other foreigner were attacked by about 50 guys at various times. Very pushy but they are just trying to make a buck like everyone else. I was kind of in a pinch because I didn't really have a lot of room in my suitcase. However, they were in to trading and seeing as I went to Africa with a lot of clothes that are too big for me, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Mind you, I didn't see any Africans that would have fit in my clothes but they didn't seem to mind. I got quite a lot of stuff that I am pretty excited about. Stay tuned!!
That night we had a dinner cruise on the Zambezi river and saw quite a few hippos, elephants, crocodiles and assorted monkeys. It was fairly uneventful and a light dinner was served. I made it back to the hotel to have another dinner of warthog, so good!!
Zimbabwe, November 26, 2011
I gotta be honest, I thought I was going to Zambia. So when I opened my passport and saw a Zimbabwe visa, I was a little surprised. This is definitely the Africa that you envision.
To combat skyrocketing inflation, the government abandoned the zimbabwe dollar and adopted the us dollar three years ago. At the time that this was done, the highest note was $100,000,000,000,000.00. Yes, that's one hundred trillion with a t. The value of the note in us dollars? It wouldn't even buy you a can of soda, it was $.50.
Once again, the hotel is absolutely awesome. I can't believe how great a deal I got on this trip. Every place I've stayed in has had a travel and leisure top 250 in the world rating. This one, the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge came with a warning; do not keep your windows open at night or baboons will come in and make your life hell. This was repeated four times so there must be something behind it. So glad I purchased binoculars about six months ago, it's made me quite popular with everyone who doesn't have them.
I guess I should be watching the OSU Michigan game but I have no idea if it's even on and more importantly, how often do you get to see the sunset on the African savanna while watching a watering hole and drinking 15 year old scotch. I thought so. The bartender's name is Lovemore, how can you argue?
Wow, this is a work in progress. As dusk settles, I see some elephants thru my binoculars and alert the crowd. It ends up being 50-70 elephants they come to the hole, have a drink and within 10 minutes, all are gone :) That was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
Tomorrow I go see Victoria Falls, take a river trip down the Zambezi and see the minuscule sites of the town Victoria Falls. I also may go to Zambia for the stamp :)
To combat skyrocketing inflation, the government abandoned the zimbabwe dollar and adopted the us dollar three years ago. At the time that this was done, the highest note was $100,000,000,000,000.00. Yes, that's one hundred trillion with a t. The value of the note in us dollars? It wouldn't even buy you a can of soda, it was $.50.
Once again, the hotel is absolutely awesome. I can't believe how great a deal I got on this trip. Every place I've stayed in has had a travel and leisure top 250 in the world rating. This one, the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge came with a warning; do not keep your windows open at night or baboons will come in and make your life hell. This was repeated four times so there must be something behind it. So glad I purchased binoculars about six months ago, it's made me quite popular with everyone who doesn't have them.
I guess I should be watching the OSU Michigan game but I have no idea if it's even on and more importantly, how often do you get to see the sunset on the African savanna while watching a watering hole and drinking 15 year old scotch. I thought so. The bartender's name is Lovemore, how can you argue?
Wow, this is a work in progress. As dusk settles, I see some elephants thru my binoculars and alert the crowd. It ends up being 50-70 elephants they come to the hole, have a drink and within 10 minutes, all are gone :) That was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
Tomorrow I go see Victoria Falls, take a river trip down the Zambezi and see the minuscule sites of the town Victoria Falls. I also may go to Zambia for the stamp :)
Johannesberg, November 25, 2011
I only had a day in Johannesburg after the trip back from Pilannesberg. The driver told me he had a friend who does day tours and I jumped at the chance to make the most of my short stay.
My driver, shepherd, made sure to point out at the beginning that he had driven for Peter king, the writer for sports illustrated, for the world cup last year. I made one of my lame twitter attempts to contact Peter king and he sent me a personal message telling me to say hello to Shepherd. To be honest, that's pretty fucking cool. Peter King is bigtime.
Shepherd took me to Soweto, where the opposition to Apartheid first began. While Soweto was not quite what I expected, parts of it are very developed, the respect and utter absolute devotion to Nelson Mandela is palpable. When you start hearing the stories from almost every person you meet about how he brought power and running water to their village it overwhelms you. When you realize this was less than 20 years ago, well it's humbling to say the least.
I went to the Apartheid museum afterwards and began to understand the struggle and sacrifice this man endured. It's stunning. I feel shamed by my ignorance.
Shepherd dropped me off at my hotel, the Michelangelo, a top 20 hotel in the world and home of all VIPs including Seth Blatter, president of FIFA, last year. It is way top notch. I felt embarrassed to stay there and true to my thoughts on luxury hotels, it seemed like a waste to just sleep there.
But, I was off to Victoria falls first thing in the morning and enjoyed the good night's sleep.
My driver, shepherd, made sure to point out at the beginning that he had driven for Peter king, the writer for sports illustrated, for the world cup last year. I made one of my lame twitter attempts to contact Peter king and he sent me a personal message telling me to say hello to Shepherd. To be honest, that's pretty fucking cool. Peter King is bigtime.
Shepherd took me to Soweto, where the opposition to Apartheid first began. While Soweto was not quite what I expected, parts of it are very developed, the respect and utter absolute devotion to Nelson Mandela is palpable. When you start hearing the stories from almost every person you meet about how he brought power and running water to their village it overwhelms you. When you realize this was less than 20 years ago, well it's humbling to say the least.
I went to the Apartheid museum afterwards and began to understand the struggle and sacrifice this man endured. It's stunning. I feel shamed by my ignorance.
Shepherd dropped me off at my hotel, the Michelangelo, a top 20 hotel in the world and home of all VIPs including Seth Blatter, president of FIFA, last year. It is way top notch. I felt embarrassed to stay there and true to my thoughts on luxury hotels, it seemed like a waste to just sleep there.
But, I was off to Victoria falls first thing in the morning and enjoyed the good night's sleep.
Pilannesberg, November 23-25, 2011
I took an early am flight from Cape Town and landed in Johannesburg where I was met by a driver who took a group of us on the three hour drive to Pilannesberg National Park.
The group was all Americans and included a guy from Cleveland so we caught up on sports and the like an the drive really went by quickly.
The hotel I stayed at was called bakubung bush lodge and was extremely nice. They had a terrace that looked out over a pond where birds and animals gathered in the morning and at dusk. My tour included two safaris and the concierge recommended I go that night because on Wednesdays they do a BBQ out in the park.
I arranged my tours for that afternoon and the following morning. I got to my room and have to say, I was shocked. It was probably one of the nicer rooms I have stayed in. I changed into long pants and a long shirt to avoid the Mosquitos. At the last minute I realized I would be hot so I changed into shorts and a tshirt and threw sweats and a long sleeve shirt in my backpack. Oops.
We set out on the journey and saw lots of animals; kudu, impala, lions, close encounters with rhino and elephants, springbok, wildebeest, mongoose, giraffe, hippos, jackals and a bunch I am probably forgetting. The goal of a visit to Africa is seeing the big 5; lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino. The big five is so known because of how dangerous it is to hint them. Hippo kill more people every year than the others combined, however on a hunt a hippo when shot is more likely to retreat to the water, the big five will charge.
It got cold, real cold and then it started raining hard, like OSU at Nebraska hard, not USC at OSU '92 hard and definitely not OSU at WIsconsin 2003 hard, but hard. I put my best redneck getup that I could on, sweats over shorts and longsleeve shirt over button down but I was still cold.
They still had to BBQ in the bush but it was definitely tapered down. I got to meet a great girl from Argentina who was also traveling solo and we ended up having dinner together and sharing great conversation about world travel.
The safari the next morning, thanksgiving morning was early and we didn't see near the animals. However, I finally figured out my camera on this trip. I spent the rest of the day at the pool and was in bed fairly early due to the late night before and the early wakeup call.
I woke at about 3am and figured I should do another safari since I was up and isn't have to leave til 11. Once again, we didn't see near the animals we had on the first night but we did take a different route and I got to see a completely different area of the park. I gotta say, I'm impressed by the interactions of the animals. The prey seems to know when the predators have had their fill and will walk within yards of them because they understand the predators have already fed. Another thing that strikes me is the coloring of the animals. Lions aren't golden and giraffes aren't brown. They are both more of a dulled color to blend in better with the environment. They are more of a gray/brown color, at least the ones that I saw. I did end up seeing some game in pictures from Kruger national park and they were more the colors that you would expect.
I left Pilannesberg seeing 3 of the big 5.
Cape Town, November 22, 2011
Cape Town, November 22, 2011
I had an early excursion to take a trip to Table Mountain for a view of Cape Town. I had also booked a half day cape tour so I could see the cape of good hope.
Table Mountain was absolutely beautiful, however the wind were up so I could not take the cable car to the top. As I had the driver for a few more hours, I asked for a personal tour of Cape Town an he showed me Signal Hill, another lookout point, and other areas of the city. Both Signal Hill an Table Mountain afforded beautiful views of Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela had been unjustly held for so many years, the soccer stadium built for the world cup, and all of Cape Town.
The Cape Tour took you all along a beautiful drive hugging the mountains and sea. There were some great places to stop for shots and an uneventful trip to see some African penguins who did absolutely nothing.
The trip ended at the Cape of Good Hope and honestly, some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. This is not what I thought Africa looked like. Sheer cliff drops down to a clear blue sea and the freshest air you've ever breathed. In front of you was the convergence of the Atlantic and Indian oceans and beyond that, antarctica. I hope the photos I captured do it justice but I highly doubt they will.
On return to Cape Town, I had the driver drop me off at Mama Africa, based on a tip from a friend. Mama Africa was a casual dining spot featuring authentic African dishes and live music. Absolutely awesome. Thanks Howie!
It had been a long day and I had an early flight to catch to Johannesburg and on to Pilannesberg National Park.
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