Possibly the the most beautiful city in the world...Cape Town

After weeks of rising before dawn, riding over dusty bumpy roads and being confined to a jeep because our lives literally depended on it... Cape Town was a physical and spiritual delight.

On a peninsula rising from sea level to mountain top, Cape Town takes your breath away.

The Botanical Gardens of Kirstenbosch sit nestled on the lower slopes of Table Mountain. This garden contains flora from all over the world, some collected by Cecil Rhodes when he owned this vast acreage.

This last flower, the King Protea, is the national flower of South Africa. It's huge...and comes in many vibrant colors.

Even the "elusive" guinea hens poised for us...

Keeping an eye on the clouds, our guide suddenly said, "Time to go up to Table Mountain!"
From the top, I really got a sense of the awesome beauty of the area.

Who doesn't love a wine tasting tour?! The Stellenbosch region (and city) of South Africa is home to many wineries complete with picturesque settings, gift shops and of course, wine to taste...and buy!

No conversation about Cape Town would be complete without mentioning the euphemistically named "townships", or as we would say, slums.
Townships are the remnants of South Africa's tragic history of apartheid . Unbelievably, up to a million black African people occupy one township...and there are multiple townships.
Picture a corrugated tin shack about the size of a small bedroom that houses a family with NO running water, NO sewer and NO electricity. It was mind boggling.

And, finally, the surprise I did not expect...drum roll, please...

These little guys were amazing as they waddled around on the sand. There was no fence to keep them here and they seemed totally oblivious to us. What a treat!



The meeting of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans is the Cape of Good Hope, a wild and windy spit of land...so happy I was on land and not out at sea!

Before I say good bye to my African memories, I want to thank my wonderful friend, Karolyn.
If there is a perfect traveling companion, she is it. Always a smile on her face, always a spring in her step.
When her luggage was lost for 3 days, never did I hear a complaint.
Thank you, Karolyn. It was awesome and so are you!
😇

Victoria Falls

Having seen Niagara Falls, I wasn't expecting the absolute magnificence of Victoria Falls.

We caught the Falls on a sunny day, which added to the spectacle with multiple rainbows everywhere.

On this beautiful sunny day, we were given large (for me) black raincoats, that I came to appreciate ...

Like so many other sights in Africa, I wished we could have stayed longer.

Other than the Falls, the highlight of Victoria Falls was the historic and beautiful Victoria Falls Hotel

View from the hotel overlooking the Falls.

Finally, the last leg...off to Cape Town...and a special treat I did not expect!

Visting a real African village in Zimbabwe

Our very last safari location in Zimbabwe was one of the more interesting.

Because the country is still in the grip of decades long dictatorship under Robert Mugabe, I expected to see (and be intimidated by) menacing armed guards everywhere.
What I saw and experienced instead were a delightful real village and an elementary school of smiling faces.

I was told this was the communal toothbrush...they all did have very nice teeth!

The kids at the school were just too cute...and very well behaved.

The lodge sold locally made wooden carvings and used them to set the table...yes, I bought one!

Here is our fearless leader letting us try fried caterpillar and a local beer to wash it down.
Caterpillar delish...beer revolting...sad to say.

Finally, a proper Zimbabwean good bye with drums, singing and dancing.

Who knew the town of Victoria Falls was in Zimbabwe?

Leaving our last safari location was sad...I really enjoyed eating, sleeping and bathing so close to so many wild animals. Until we meet again...

Dr. Livingstone, I presume?

                                      Livingstone with two of his loyal African friends, Chuma and Susi

The story of Livingstone is fascinating...I read books about him and Stanley while in Africa.
Livingstone was an MD who loved the African natives, and an ordained minister who preached along his treks. His final journey was to find the headwaters of the Nile. Just that he survived so long in Africa is a testament to his mental and physical ability.

We flew from the relatively small town of Livingstone, Zambia to our next camp in Kafue National Park.
One Zambia's most impressive parks, Kafue was one of the first to join an initiative to link the national parks of five African countries into what will eventually become a 108,000 square mile park, known as the Kvango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area.

Lufupa Tented Camp turned out to be one of our favorite camps as it overlooked the confluence of the  Lufupa and Kafue rivers.

Along with the normal game drives, we were taken by boat up and down river.
Yes, plenty of hippos, crocs and colorful birds along the shoreline.

Midway of one of the boat trips, we were surprised by a pop up luncheon. Loved all the dining al fresco!

Sleeping under a mosquito net was not as easy as one would think...and we joked about the holes in them that would not have kept a mouse out!

Finally, hated to leave Zambia, but on to Zimbabwe for our final safari destination.
Our trip leader was from Zimbabwe and you could tell he was getting excited to be close to home as he had been gone for 3 weeks.

Stay tuned for an interesting story about our fearless leader!

3rd safari location...or...a swamp by any other name is still a swamp

The Okavango Delta is a vast inland river delta in northern Botswana. It's known for its sprawling grassy plains, which flood seasonally, becoming a lush animal habitat. The Moremi Game Reserve occupies the east and central areas of the region. Here, dugout canoes are used to navigate past hippos, elephants and crocodiles

Yes, it was quite the watery wasteland, but the "highlight" of this location was a late night visitor that went squish, squash, munch, munch. Looking out the tent screen, I could see 2 large shapes...umm...not elephants...walk past the front of my tent.
I froze, hoping these herbivores were happy with their grass meal and didn't want me!

Turns out that hippos are responsible for more deaths to humans than any other animal.

Again, we hop into a puddle jumper and fly to Zambia for another watery adventure.