TravelStream™ news feed for member mebiner on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/mebiner en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:37:01 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249785674/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249785674/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249785674/tpod.html Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:37:01 -0400 Spectacular South Africa 2009

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Kasane, Botswana

It was our last full day in Africa, and it began with a 6 am game drive through Chobe National Park. It was another cold experience, although not as bad as the other sunrise drives we'd done in South Africa. We saw way fewer elephants than I expected, but had some other highlights:

- 1 Lion who roared for us, and continued when he went out of sight

- 35 Baboons who were grooming, wrestling, carrying babies, digging through dung for seeds, and acting as acrobats as they jumped and pranced around our vehicle

- 2 Elephants

- 2 Kudu

- 20 Impalas

- 4 Giraffes

- 50 Buffalo in the distance

- 10 Banded Mongooses

- Lots of Guinea Fowls

- Grey Lourie with a call that sounded like a tearful cry

- Grey Heron

- Yellow-billed Storks

- White-faced Ducks

- Spur-Winged Geese

- Great White Egret

I think the group was reaching their saturation point for wildlife, with only the lion and baboons creating much excitement.

We did a Namibian village visit at 12:30 and it was quite brief and pretty steep for what we saw. Fortunately I didn’t have to pay since I was the group leader, but I thought the trip was otherwise overpriced for everyone else ($30 apiece, with no discount for having 18 people going). The border formalities exiting and entering Botswana and Namibia took almost an hour of our 2-hour excursion, and additional time was taken up by boat travel and walking 10 minutes to the village. It was a little exciting for everyone to get a new country stamp in their passport, but we barely got 30 minutes in the village, and much of that was focused on the female villagers trying to sell things to our group. It was slightly unfulfilling, but not a total waste. The village was quite traditional with mud huts, thatch roofs, and enclosures made of tall reeds. A huge baobab tree was the focal point of the village, and I smiled when I saw a dirt basketball court with the rims made from bicycle wheels nailed to upright branches.

The afternoon boat cruise was a little anticlimactic after the great sightings of the day before. Everyone was pretty tired from the Namibian village walk, but we managed to see some puku for the first time, and the best single view of giraffes and elephants we had seen anywhere on this trip:

- 70 Elephants, two groups having about 30 each

- 15 Hippos, but we mostly ignored those; I did get a good photo of one doing a big gaping yawn

- 10 Giraffes, about 500 meters away, on the bare riverbank side by side, with 30 elephants in the foreground; definitely the highlight of the cruise

- 5 Crocodiles, including one which had just caught a fish and was trying to swallow it, and another one which was only about a week old

- 1 Puku, an antelope I had never seen before

- 10 Red Lechwe

- 45 Impala, in 2 groups

- 5 Kudus

- 3 Buffalo fairly close, and about 30 in the far distance, only visible with the binoculars

- Also, lots of birds, including the beautiful African Fish Eagle

We took the main channel back to the lodge, which separated Botswana from Namibia, so we saw a bit of Namibian village life including some boys paddling a mokoro (dugout canoe) in a standing position. We caught one final African sunset, made more colorful by the smoke from burning fields in Angola to the northwest.

My camera functioned well today, but there was some dust inside someplace and it kept giving some spots on the pictures. I was anxious to get home and buy a new battery and maybe even a new camera.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249784338/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249784338/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249784338/tpod.html Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:16:41 -0400 Spectacular South Africa 2009

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Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

We had to leave Pretoria at 6 am for our 9:30 flight to Victoria Falls, so I kissed Sophia good-bye as she slept in bed, and Suzan at the door as she saw me off. I was traveling light, with just a 10 kg rolling bag, my backpack, and a tote bag of various things. I hoped that Suzan could get my other stuff home ok.

There were 20 of us loaded onto a small bus, not the one we'd had the rest of the trip, pulling a trailer with all of our luggage. Some of the people in the group hadn’t slept much the night before, and most of the bus was quiet other than me and Dorcas chatting away. I felt relieved to be traveling without Sophia, like I was liberated from a major responsibility and able to have more freedom for conversations, photos, and exploration.

We flew up to Victoria Falls on an 80-seat plane, mostly filled up by a Japanese group and ours. I slept briefly and then wrote in my journal to enter the previous day’s entry. Landing in Zimbabwe we all got double-entry visas for $45, and they only accepted US dollars, not South African rand or any other currency. It was nice to see that the American dollar was king. We were all excited to receive an impressive-looking full-page visa with a nice hologram on it.

Unfortunately Berenice did not receive her luggage, so we filed a claim and hoped it would come on the flight the next day. SA only flew once a day from Joburg to Vic Falls. She ended up getting it 8 hours later when one of the Japanese tourists realized they had taken her bag by accident. The tour guide went around to all of the hotels in Vic Falls looking for Berenice Stafford, using the name tag on the bag as the key clue.

At the Victoria Falls airport we were met by 3 Flame of Africa drivers who took us to the A’Zambezi Lodge, and it was a peaceful drive on a good road that was almost totally devoid of traffic. The sky was bright blue and the scattered cumulus clouds added to the beauty of the scene. The temperature was about 72F and it really was a beautiful day.

We checked in to the A’Zambezi Lodge and found the grounds to be impressive with lawns, swimming pool, thatched-roof buildings, and the Zambezi River flowing past, but the rooms were a tad small and weary. Their internet service was down all day, so wi-fi (priced at $5 for 30 minutes) wasn’t an option. We were served a welcome drink and then we went to our rooms for a few minutes before going to see the falls. There wasn’t a hotel shuttle available until 2 pm, a little too late for us since we had a river cruise starting at 4, so I negotiated for Flame of Africa to take us the 2 miles to the falls entrance. That transport wasn’t part of our pre-arranged package, so I figured we would have to pay something. I asked Saul how much, and he said $10/person. Yikes! Then he lowered it to $5 ($100 total) but that was still too much. I got him down to $3/person but later thought that even that was kind of steep ($20/vehicle for a 3 mile ride). I paid for it with money that LW had given me for discretionary expenses.

We had an hour and forty minutes to visit the falls, and that was about a perfect amount of time to enjoy it thoroughly. I handed over four $100 bills to pay the $20 entry fee for our group of twenty, and we followed the path in the direction of the roaring water. Our first great views were down the steps at Cataract View. I took out the Zimbabwe flag I had bought at home for $5 and took a group photo looking down the gorge. It had been 8 years since visiting Victoria Falls and I was so excited to be there, admiring them again.

The flow of the water was so strong that the mist was overpowering, obscuring the views from some of the major viewpoints. Thank God I had a $1 poncho from home, but even then I still got pretty wet. I was glad I was in shorts, as some of the others had soaking wet jeans before long. We made our way to Danger Point, just across the gorge from Zambia, and the views were initially mostly hidden by the spray. While the rest of the group retreated and made their way back to the exit I hung out and was rewarded for my patience. The mist dissipated enough for me to get some fine photos with a brilliant rainbow. I put my super-wide zoom to use for the first time of the trip, and shot some nice photos at the widest possible setting (10mm = 17 mm on a 35 mm camera). I only wish that the whole group would have seen the views with me. Only Lola and I were there when the views improved.

Before going to our sunset cruise a few of the people in the group bought some obsolete Zimbabwe currency with amazingly high denominations, including the highest of all, the 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollar bill (14 zeros!). The US dollar was the official currency of Zimbabwe now, but the old bills were peculiar collectors’ items, going for $1 apiece. I definitely wanted to get some of those as souvenirs.

We had an excellent, relaxing cruise on the Zambezi from 4 to 6 pm, with drinks and snacks included. The weather was nice, the water calm, the sunshine warm, the sky brilliant, and the overall atmosphere like a velvety dream. The boat was quiet and the experience was almost indescribably enjoyable. We saw hippos and elephants from a bit of a distance, plus green kingfishers nesting in holes pecked into the riverbank, but the main attraction was the beautiful surroundings in such a relaxing setting. The snacks were also excellent, and they tided me over so I didn’t even need any dinner later. The extension was off to a great start.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249784442/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249784442/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249784442/tpod.html Sun, 09 Aug 2009 22:32:01 -0400 Spectacular South Africa 2009

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Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

This was definitely the most outstanding day of this entire African trip. I started off by going down to the Zambezi River in front of our lodge and sat on a moored cruise boat while waiting for the sunrise over the Zambezi. The scattered clouds were reflected beautifully in the glassy water and the cool temperatures (50F) made it hard to believe that I was in the tropics. I punched away on my journal as I watched the sky brighten, a beautiful African sunrise giving me chills on the back of my neck.

I went on a 3-mile run right after sunrise, following some dirt roads and paths through the bush near the Zambezi River. The morning temperature was very nice for running, like a cool spring morning back home.

After a great breakfast it was time to start our activities for the day, beginning with the Flight of the Angels by helicopter over Victoria Falls. Although I had done it 8 years earlier I still found it spectacular. I was very disappointed, though, that my big camera only worked for the first and last minute of the flight I was so bummed that I wasn't able to get a new set of excellent photos, as I had a great seat next to the window (Cha was in the middle) and the window even slid open. I tried taking photos with the small Olympus point and shoot, but it was like switching from a racing bicycle to one with only one gear and a rusty chain. Nevertheless, I emerged from the helicopter and couldn’t help but repeat, "Wow…wow…wow!"

I didn’t buy the helicopter video they were selling since the only footage from the day was of us getting weighed before the flight and walking out to the landing pad, but I did buy some Zimbabwe bills as collector’s items. I got a million and billion dollar note and later got some 100 trillion dollar for $1 each apiece. What an unusual souvenir, and lightweight, too! It was easy to be a trillionaire in Zimbabwe! I’m not even sure what 1000 trillion was equal too (quadrillion?), but I wanted to have 10 of those bills by the time I left Zimbabwe.

After the entire group except Amber had finished the helicopter ride we went back to the lodge to catch the 11:00 am shuttle into town. I brought the Zimbabwe flag and a few running t-shirts in hopes of bartering them for some wood carvings. We went to the crafts market where the vendors were much pushier than I remembered from our visit in 2001. The vendors always had similar lines, “My friend, take a look…Just look…I like your shoes (would you like to trade them?)…You want some Zimbabwe dollars?” I spent 90 minutes at the market and ended up with three pretty nice wood carvings:

- Warthog for $8 + San Dimas 2003 5K t-shirt

- Elephant and tree for $10 (but it broke by the time we left Botswana a few days later)

- Big 5 carving – heavy but good quality; cost $15 + Zimbabwe flag + Sacramento Marathon 2001 t-shirt (also broke in a couple of small places within a few days)

At 1:30 we got picked up by Sherwater for two more activities: Walking with Lions and Elephant Back Safari at Victoria Falls private game reserve. Our lion encounter was not as ideal as the cheetah walk at Tenikwa because our group numbered 16 and the hour of day was the normal resting time for the cats. Nevertheless, the guide and trainer got the 4 young cats to walk with us, and it was great. There were two cubs about 3 or 4 months old, along with two others that were no more than a year. We only walked with the lions for 200 meters or so before they found a shady spot to lie down, and then we all took turns taking photos with them. We also had the opportunity to hold one of the cubs, and that was great! The cub started extending his claws into my arm as I held him, an experience that reminded me of the mountain gorilla grabbing my knee in Rwanda. The lion was not being aggressive or defensive, but merely like he was stretching a bit. I got some excellent photos of the lions before my camera went on the blink again. I was disappointed to be without it for the last 20 minutes of the lion encounter, but later on I reviewed the photos that I was able to take and was quite pleased with them.

The guide let me do the Elephants for no charge since I was the tour leader and that provided more good photos. Riding the elephant was exciting for the first few minutes but the novelty wore off fairly quickly for me. We only saw a few waterbuck while riding the elephants, as we didn’t really cover much ground in 45 minutes (about a kilometer or so). My best photos were afterwards as my elephant driver fed pellets to our 30-year old pachyderm. I had never seen the inside of an elephant’s mouth with the big tongue and all the teeth. I was so happy that my camera had come back to life in time for the elephants. While watching a video about the lions and elephants we could see a troop of 30 baboons wandering past just outside the window, quite an amazing sight.

The Shearwater overland truck picked us up and took us back to the lodge, getting us there at 6:30 pm, right when we were supposed to be going to our dinner at the Boma restaurant at the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge. I thought it might simply be a sort of repeat of the Carnivore experience from just two days earlier, but the Boma was much, much better. The food was excellent and different, with delicious warthog (my favorite), eland stew, and chewy impala. It was a buffet but they cooked the food in front of you as you ordered. They had mopane worms (like caterpillars, really) which were crunchy, seasoned, and tasted a bit like pumpkin seeds. High in protein, they are a local food, but for tourists it is an adventurous culinary experience. They provided a certificate to prove that we had been brave enough to try one. For dessert they had crepes made according to request along with other sweet treats. Sodas and beers were only $2 or $3, so not as expensive as I expected.

The Boma was also great for the unexpected services and entertainment; a fortune teller ($1) who had his own hut and would tell your fortune by throwing some stones on the ground (he said I was strong, happy, but I think too much; and that I would have 3 or 4 children); a face painter who painted pictures of a rhino, impala, bird, flower, and zebra stripes for people in our group; a hair braider; traditional dancers; and a drum band that got us all participating by drumming with them (they provided nearly 100 drums to the audience). It was great fun to get involved, and pretty soon the main guy invited everyone down on the tiny dance floor to form a circle. We took turns dancing in the middle and it was so much fun! David had some wild moves and everyone loved watching him! I didn’t show much rhythm but I had great fun shaking it up and I also got some, “Whoo-whoo’s”! It was the funnest evening I had had in a long time.

We left the restaurant around 9:30 and I reflected on the outstanding day we had had in Victoria Falls: the great views of the falls from the helicopter, interacting up close with lions and elephants, shopping for souvenirs, a great dinner, and fun entertainment. It’s as if this one day in Victoria Falls would have been a great trip in and of itself. It really was one of the most remarkable travel days of my life.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249785368/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249785368/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249785368/tpod.html Sun, 09 Aug 2009 22:03:24 -0400 Spectacular South Africa 2009

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Kasane, Botswana

I ran down to the falls again this morning, this time carrying the Rebel XT with 18-55 mm lens in one hand and the small Olympus in the other. I stuffed an already used rain poncho in my pocket along with a Ziploc bag and then ran the 3+ miles to the falls. It was cold enough to see my breath, and I reached the falls early enough to be the first visitor of the day. It was 6:40 am, about 15 minutes before sunrise, and I soon realized that it was a bad idea for this time of year; the mist was the thickest of the day and the 50F temperature created some fog. The views were about as bad as possible but I went to Danger Point anyways with my eternal optimism. Rain poncho on, camera in a Ziploc bag, I stood there in the most peculiar downpour in my life, one with not a cloud in the sky! My hands were soon freezing, a hole in the back of my poncho allowed water in to soak the back of my shirt, and all the while I waited for some clearing. I had to retreat back a hundred feet on occasion, and when the sunrise finally happened it was a bust. It was not at all good for photos, barely visible through the mist. It was like going out to watch the sunrise on a foggy morning. I decided that the best time of photos would be in a drier year, or especially during a drier and warmer time of year like December. There would be less mist from the reduced volume and less fog with the warmer temperatures. For this time of year our group had visited at just about the best time, near the middle of the day when the sun was near its zenith shining more light into the gorge, and also with warmer temperatures to counteract the cool spray.

I had paid the entry to Victoria Falls on three days at $20 a pop, a sort of contribution to the Zimbabwe economy. Perhaps I shouldn't have visited too much so that I wouldn’t get so familiar with it that it seemed humdrum and thus less impressive, but I loved the falls so much. In my opinion it was the most magnificent natural feature in Africa other than the wildlife and was definitely a place I would like to return to.

I ran back on Livingstone Drive by way of the Big Tree, an impressive baobab tree with a trunk circumference of over 30 feet. I was glad to have my Canon with me for some nice shots, although I later realized that I had the wrong white balance setting for most of the day.

The run was about 7 miles with the running along the paths to the viewpoints and returning the longer way by Livingstone Drive, and the last 2 days of 13 miles were the biggest couple days of running on this Africa trip.

At 10 am we got picked up to go to Botswana, stopping at Shearwaters to pick up our DVD of rafting. The drive to the border was on a good road pretty much empty of traffic. We stopped in the middle of the road for a few minutes to watch some red Ground Hornbills on the roadside, and there was no worry that we would be obstructing traffic. We also saw 8 giraffes along the way, poking their heads above the trees of the savanna, and it was like we were on an unscheduled game drive.

We reached the Botswana border after about an hour and everyone was excited to be entering a new country. We posed for photos at the Botswana sign and then found ourselves in a country priding itself on its stability and honesty. "Corruption Is Not Tolerated" read the billboard, informing visitors more than directing locals.

When we reached Chobe Safari Lodge in Kasane we were all very impressed with the location on the Chobe River, the warthogs, mongooses, and vervet monkeys on the grounds, the beautiful pool, the tall, thatched open-air restaurant, and our wonderfully furnished rooms with plenty of African carvings and crafts decorating the walls. It was absolutely perfect even though the town was dusty and unimpressive as soon as one left the property. Danielle said “I wish we could have stayed here the whole time.” Richard added, “I can’t imagine not coming on the extension. Can we extend the extension?”

We had a great package which cost R3200 per person ($400) for 2 nights lodging with breakfasts and dinners, 2 river cruises, 1 game drive, and transfers from and back to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. It really was an excellent choice for Chobe, and although the extension was fairly expensive it was definitely worth it. At this point people were not thinking about how much they had paid months earlier.

I used the internet briefly after borrowing some money from Richard since my ATM card wasn’t working. I went to the supermarket to buy some water (“pula” in the Tswana language) with pula (Botswana currency) and then returned to the lodge to see the younger part of our group laying out by the pool. They were so happy to be there, and that pleased me so much.

We did the cruise on the Chobe River at 3 pm, and it was very nice. We didn’t go very far at all, but we saw about 75 elephants, 30 hippos, 20 red lechwe (antelope I had never seen before), 1 sable (a new animal for this trip), 10 crocodiles, 3 African fish eagles, 5 buffalo, a troop of 10-15 baboons, and 3 kudus. The elephants were the main attraction, as they numbered over 100,000 in the park, the largest concentration of elephants in the world. Undoubtedly the highlight was watching a herd of 30 elephants swim across the river from an island to the mainland. It was probably the best wildlife moment of the trip, seeing the great pachyderms swim through the deep water, using their trunks like snorkels. A one-month old baby managed to make the crossing, and had been doing so since he was 15-20 days old. I was on the upper deck with the younger group members, and I was so appreciative of the experience: warm weather, no parental responsibilities, a fine pair of binoculars, and my Canon functioning fine all day without any Error 99 message.

We caught the sunset from the boat and then had a great buffet dinner back at the lodge at 6:30 pm. It was another delicious dinner, and I can’t remember any study abroad program with such good food and atmospheric accommodations.

I could not stay awake past 9 pm, so went to sleep in the wonderful bed, looking forward to one last full day in Africa.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249784832/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249784832/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249784832/tpod.html Sat, 08 Aug 2009 23:29:39 -0400 Spectacular South Africa 2009

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Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

I went on a good 6-mile run this morning down to the falls entrance to check the closing time, and could see the sun rising over the mist in the distance. Perhaps I should have had my camera and $20 to try to take sunrise photos right then.

By the time I got back to the lodge the Shearwater vehicle was there to pick us up for rafting, so I took a quick shower, gobbled down a bowl of cereal, and was on my way with Cha, Dorcas, and Torie to our half-day rafting adventure. The flow of the Zambezi was still high so we had to enter at rapid #11 and went down to #24.

We had to hike down a steep trail to reach the river and the hike alone was enjoyable for the views. It made me feel a bit as though we were going to raft the Grand Canyon, as the gorge was deep and beautiful. I was carrying the small waterproof Olympus and shot several photos on the descent.

We received some training when we got on the raft and met a couple of Australian guys and an American girl who were assigned to our raft. I attached the camera to a strap of the life vest and tucked it under the bottom buckle, a perfect setup to secure it. I was so glad to have my waterproof camera for this day, as I had bought it specifically for shooting photos during shark diving and Zambezi rafting.

The names of the rapids were great: The Mother, Overland Truck Eater, Terminator, Oblivion… Our raft flipped at Oblivion when we hit a standing wave about 10 feet tall. I thought we might make it through, but my side of the raft was too lightweight and we went sideways. It was pretty fun to get thrown into the water, actually, and we all managed to hold onto the raft rope. The water was about 65F but we each had a neoprene shirt so it didn't feel so cold. We didn’t get banged into any rocks thanks to the deep water, but later on I did get knocked out of the boat and bumped into the basalt boulders on the Zambian side.

Cha loved the rafting experience, and the flip was his highlight of the entire trip. I went down to see the falls for sunset and got some fair photos, but the sun did not set over the falls at all. It wasn’t as beautiful as seeing them during the mid-day, but I still managed some decent time exposures after sunset. I was the last visitor out of the park, and I was glad that the exit gate was still open at 6:15 pm when I left, as there was no security guard to let me out otherwise.

I had written my 3rd post card in 3 weeks while awaiting sunset, so I jogged to the post office from the national park to mail it. I really did not want to fend off any more curio sellers, beggars, hustlers, or the like, so I had no patience for a young guy with a wood carving in one hand who started jogging alongside me, trying to make a sale. "My friend," he started. “Take a look at this.” Someone else joined us, also trying to get some dollars out of me (“Wanna buy some Zimbabwe dollars? I’m hungry, give me a dollar. I need some bread.”) The desperation was not entirely an act, but it still seemed undignified to grovel for money, and such a reinforcement of the common, unfortunate attitude in Africa of black dependence on white wealth. I ran to the post office to mail the post card and they shouted, “They are closed. Don’t be scared of us, my friend. Why are you running, my friend?”

“We are not friends,” I said.

“What are we, enemies?” he said as he continued to jog with me.

“No, we’re just not friends.”

I didn’t shake the guy loose until I reached Shearwaters where they were just starting the video of our rafting experience. I ducked inside and the guy finally let me go. I was a little mad at myself for losing my patience and responding in such an unfriendly way.

We paid for the video and photos even though they weren’t the greatest, as Cha and Torie were willing to split the $40 cost with me. We wouldn’t receive it until the next day but foolishly paid for it anyways, and when we did get it we found that it didn’t play on Jules’ laptop.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249786163/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249786163/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249786163/tpod.html Sat, 08 Aug 2009 23:24:10 -0400 Spectacular South Africa 2009

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Victoria Falls, Zambia

We left Botswana at 7:30 am, crossed the border into Zimbabwe where we had to switch vehicles, got taken to the Kingdom Hotel in Victoria Falls town where we gambled and won some Zimbabwe dollars in 2001 and there we switched to a third vehicle. We said bye to Torie and Sim who were taken to the VFA airport in Zimbabwe, while the remaining 18 were taken to the border at the bridge. There we switched to a 4th vehicle to take us into our 3rd country of the morning, Zambia, where they wouldn't issue us a $20 day visa, but made us pay $50 for a transit visa since we weren’t exiting Zambia at the same entry point (day visa is pretty much only for people going to see the falls and who then return to Zimbabwe). We stopped at the Zambian side of the falls but the mist was just too heavy to really see much. It was really too bad, because the views are so spectacular when visible.

Before leaving the falls I made some last minute shopping for curios outside the entrance, and traded away my Saucony running shoes and $5 cash for a couple of stone giraffes for Mark Masters since his broke in Suzan’s luggage. I walked back to the bus barefoot, but smiling at my goodies.

I slept a few hours on the 17-hour flight from New York to Johannesburg, appreciative that the seat next to mine was empty and the entire plane probably less than half full. We stopped in Dakar but only picked up a few passengers, so the plane remained wide open and several people in the group lay out over the middle seats. We got to New York 24 hours after boarding our plane in Zambia and we still had a 4 hour layover before our United flight to LA. It was taking 40 hours from leaving the lodge in Botswana to LAX, or 42 hours to get to our house. It was probably the longest journey I’d ever taken to get home. But it had been a great trip and I had gotten many excellent photos even with intermittent problems with my camera. It was the 6th study abroad program that I had led, and I would rate it an A- overall.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249565167/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249565167/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249565167/tpod.html Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:45:00 -0400 Spectacular South Africa 2009

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Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa

It was our last full day of the program, and we had a pretty good city tour of Johannesburg and Pretoria. We left the hotel at 8 am and hit some rush-hour traffic going into Jo'burg. Rudolf gave some informative commentary as we drove, pointing out UNISA, a university with 200,000 enrolled students, most of whom take classes online. He made comments about the coal-fired power plants (source of 85% of South Africa’s electricity), some of which were closed down and one in Soweto which was painted with great murals. We passed fortified residential areas on the outskirts of Jo’burg, places where whites could live, work, and play without ever venturing to the city centre or into black areas at all. In some ways I could see myself living comfortably in South Africa with great wildlife and nature opportunities to enjoy, but it seems like there would be a constant tinge of fear lurking in the back of my mind, that I could never fully relax because of the crime stories and statistics the country had.

In Johannesburg we went to the Top of Africa in the Carleton Centre, the tallest office building on the continent and one which I had visited 17 years earlier. The view had not changed much other than a big banner hanging on one building which advertised a mobile phone company. The city centre had mostly stagnated and suffered from white flight and decentralization of businesses, so there was almost no change to the skyline in nearly two decades other than the new Nelson Mandela Bridge which was built not over water, but over the railway station. Occupancy rates in downtown Johannesburg office buildings were probably 25% or less.

In the Carlton Centre we had a chance to stock up on provisions for Zimbabwe, as if we were heading for the back of beyond, and I had a weird fascination about experiencing a country in the throes of decline. I also found a geography book to buy at a bookstore.

We then went to Soweto and mostly experienced it through the windows of a bus, sort of like watching a documentary from the comfort of a nice sofa. We passed by Regina Mundi Catholic Church (a center of resistance during the apartheid era) and Desmond Tutu’s house before getting to Nelson Mandela’s home. It was quite different than the time I visited in 2001. It was more like a museum without much at all other than photos, newspaper clippings, and honorary degrees and proclamations. There was nothing that would suggest it was even a house, and unlike my first visit it now had no furniture. It was not a particularly educational or inspirational experience at all.

From Mandela’s house we walked to the Hector Peiterson Museum, a much more rewarding place to visit. It was a high-tech, beautifully exhibited museum documenting the 1976 uprising which began as protests of schoolchildren against Afrikaans as the language of instruction. It also explained quite a lot about apartheid, including a great 1960s video of White life, with interviews with whites on their attitudes about races and racial equality. Overall the museum was a critical exposure of the superiority and patronizing view that white South Africans had for the non-whites.

We went up to Pretoria where we stopped at the Voortrekker Monument, a good stop thanks to Rudolf’s explanation on the bus, but not thoroughly experienced by most people in the group. Suzan bought the $5 booklet (I think I still had one at home from 1992) and I enjoyed seeing her read the explanations of all the friezes. Afrikaner history was presented in a positive light, as great pioneers who overcame challenges to bring civilization to South Africa’s interior. The day was cloudy again so the views up top were compromised, but looking down to the interior from the inside of the dome was still very impressive. The museum on the bottom level was also excellent, with a nice map and display illustrating various migrations into and within South Africa.

From there we drove through Pretoria, with a nice slow drive around Church Square while Rudolf pointed out the various buildings. It was a little too bad that we couldn’t explore the area on foot, as photos from the bus were not very easy or good.

We continued to the Union Buildings and we walked up from the bottom, a nice walk on the grass and fun for Sophie to run around. We took a few photos of ourselves amidst the gardens, similar to ones I had taken of Suzan and Sophia back in 2007. The Sheraton was across the street, the hotel where we had stayed a few days, and it was nice to be back in a place where I had such fond memories.

At 6:15 we headed out for the Carnivore Restaurant, a good 45 minute drive from Pretoria. By this part of our trip we had already sampled exotic meats like ostrich and kudu, but this was still a unique dining experience. We had zebra (not good), kudu meatballs, kudu sausage, kudu steak (my favorite), waterbuck (also good), crocodile, chicken, beef, and pork. It was a very good meal and a uniquely African one, but I think such a meal should be at the beginning of the program. A more standard restaurant would have sufficed for the farewell dinner.

Rudolf stole my thunder a bit when he made a sort of farewell/thank you speech at the start of dinner, although I also made a toast at the end to provide some closure to our trip. The 3 weeks in South Africa had gone very fast, and I wasn’t exhausted or anxious for it to end. It had been a mostly excellent program other than the theft from the hotel safe in Cape Town, John Zaylor’s accident, and worse weather than we expected. The trip had gone very well and I was very happy with it.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249562304/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249562304/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249562304/tpod.html Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:32:58 -0400 Spectacular South Africa 2009

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Graskop, Mpumalanga, South Africa

Today was a pretty mild day, without too many highlights or too much driving. In the morning I went running about 2 miles on the grounds of Timbavati Lodge, on a trail through the bush where I spotted 4 species of wildlife congregated together: giraffe, waterbuck, zebra, and wildebeest. Sophia and I had already walked through the bush a bit, spotted a steenbok when we left our room and a few warthogs along the fence. It was great to go out with Sophia, hearing her say she wanted to see animals and that she didn't want to go home.

We had one of the latest departures of our trip, leaving at 10 am and heading up to the Panorama Route. It was mostly cloudy, with occasional bursts of sunshine. We made a stop just past a tunnel to see a tufa waterfall and I made a good souvenir purchase, a wood carving of 4 ladies from a single piece of wood, and only for $5. It was the same type of carving which had fallen on my head from the overhead rack of the bus a few days earlier in Swaziland.

At the Three Rondavels Viewpoint I was disappointed that the weather was cloudy and cold, and I quickly scrapped my plans to organize a group photo. I was even more disappointed that I didn’t direct the group to the left (northern) viewpoint which was more impressive with the lake down below and the rondavels still in view. It was only an extra 5 minutes to get there and back, but most people in the group were not as impressed as they could have been because they only made it to the first viewpoint.

Bourke’s Luck Potholes were more impressive than I remembered from my only other visit there 17 years prior, and especially nice because the sun had broken through the clouds. The viewpoints after that at God’s Window and the Pinnacle were both compromised by the grey, sullen weather, but God’s Window was still pretty good. Several of us made it up to the rainforest viewpoint, and I was happy that Sophie and Suzan made it up to the top as well.

Besides the Potholes, the other scenic surprise was Lisbon Falls, a stop I chose based on the Scenic Wonders of South Africa book that I had bought years earlier. We couldn’t reach the base of the falls like the cover photo showed, but we still had very nice views of it and everyone was suitably impressed.

I wanted to hike from the Pinnacle to Graskop but there were no trail signs and there was no obvious trail either. With the overcast weather and the light fading it wasn’t the best idea. Only Tai, Mindy, and Dorcas were interested anyways, so it wasn’t a big disappointment to miss it.

Graskop seemed an unusual town, geared for tourists but very quiet since it was a cold, drizzly, winter’s evening and Sunday to boot. We went to dinner at the Pine and Pint but got there after most of the rest of the group had already arrived and ordered. It took us nearly two hours to get our food, during which time I had to try keeping Sophia entertained. My prawns and rice were good when they finally did arrive. The rest of the group was imbibing with great fun, especially some blue drink served in a huge pitcher as if it was Kool-Aid.

After dinner the three of us walked back to the hotel through thick fog with not a soul or vehicle to be seen or heard. It was a bizarre atmosphere. Graskop was like a ghost town or a scene in a horror movie where something terrible was about to happen.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249563827/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249563827/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249563827/tpod.html Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:12:32 -0400 Spectacular South Africa 2009

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Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa

We had to leave Graskop at 7 am for our long day of driving. It was another cold, grey morning with drizzle dampening the mood. We had bulky breakfast packs provided on the bus, and that sustained me until dinner.

Leaving Graskop the town was no longer socked in thick fog as the night before, but was still as dead as a ghost town. We passed through Pilgrim's Rest, South Africa’s historical gold rush town (1870s) and preserved like Columbia State Historic Park in California. We didn’t have time to do any sightseeing en route to our 1:30 tour at DeWildt Cheetah Conservation Centre, though, so we skipped several potentially interesting places en route: Ndebele village near Middelburg at Botshabelo, Cullinan diamond mine tour, and the Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Pretoria. Since the deWildt tours weren’t held on Mondays, we had to do it this day, so it was over 400 km that we had to cover to make our appointment.

I collected the write-ups from everyone and enjoyed reading those on the bus, with most everyone writing positive things about their experience. Overall everyone seemed to have a great time. The most popular places in order were:

1. Kruger
2. Hluhluwe
3. Cape Town
4. Tenikwa (not sure how deWildt would be rated since they turned in their paper before we visited it)
5. Shark Diving
6. Durban

My favorite places were (not in any particular order):

1. Cape Town, especially the hike up Lion’s Head and the run down to the beach at Cape Point
   
   
2. Tsitsikamma with the great lodging, awesome waves, night run to the suspension bridge, brief run on Otter Trail
   
   
3. Hluhluwe, staying in Hilltop camp with excellent dinner, nice viewing of white rhinos
   
   
4. Kruger with very good wildlife viewing
   
   
5. Durban, with beautiful waterfront, ran the 5K race, had fun with Sophia at the amusement park, wonderful weather

The most popular lodgings were:

1. Tsitsikamma
   
   
2. Paxton in Port Elizabeth
   
   
3. Graskop Hotel
   
   
4. Hilltop Camp in Hluhluwe
   
   
5. Protea Keuboums

For me my favorite lodgings were:

1. Tsitsikamma
   
   
2. Hilltop Camp (Hluhluwe)
   
   
3. Protea Keurboums
   
   
4. Oudtshoorn (De Oude Meul)
   
   
5. Timbavati Lodge

The weather was still very sullen when we got to DeWildt Cheetah Conservation Centre, and I probably would have been more excited about the cheetahs if I hadn’t already interacted with them at Tenikwa. As we drove through the centre we saw various endangered animals in enclosures, with wild dogs were one of the highlights. They had probably half an acre to run about, so it was made for much nicer viewing than the brown hyena or honey badger we saw in much smaller pens.

Unfortunately it started to rain when we were driving through the centre in an open vehicle. The canvas top was ripped right above my head, and pretty soon I was getting soaked. I moved up to sit in the front, but others in the vehicle got wet as well.

The functioning of my camera was so unpredictable at this point that I worried that it would die at any moment with an Error 99 message. It did pretty well at DeWildt, though, and I was fairly pleased with my photos of wild dogs and cheetahs.

The whole tour at DeWildt lasted around 3 hours and was very educational, but a little longer than I would have liked. It was great that Rudolf was able to watch over Sophie during that entire time, but she told me later that she cried when she started missing her mommy and daddy (although she’s been calling me "papi" during this entire trip, a word she got from the Dora books and one which I find very endearing).

We got to the Sentinet Apartments in Pretoria around 5:30, and I was happy to see that it was accessibly located (right across the street) to the laundromat that we had used 2 years earlier. The Sentinel itself looked very residential and generic from the outside, with virtually no lobby at all, but the rooms themselves were spacious and very comfortable. It was great to learn that they offered free wi-fi in the lobby of the adjacent hotel which had the same owners.

The bus took us to Menlyn Shopping Mall where several of us ate at Dros. Sophia was excited to see an arcade where she went on 3 rides: merry-go-round, boat, and a London bus, quite similar to the ride she had ridden in Eastbourne, England 3 months earlier.

At dinner I discussed the trip at our table (Mark, Torie, Monica, Jeff, and us) and told them that I wasn’t looking forward to the end of this trip so much. No one in the group had annoyed me at all, and almost everything had worked out smoothly and hassle-free, largely due to my planning and close interaction with Highline Tours over so many months, and also thanks to Rudolf’s excellent guiding.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249515590/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249515590/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mebiner/3/1249515590/tpod.html Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:37:38 -0400 Spectacular South Africa 2009

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Kruger National Park, South Africa

We left Swaziland and had a long drive to get to Timbavati. Unfortunately we couldn't stop at any scenic viewpoints or roadside souvenir stalls since we wanted to make progress down the road. Sophia got carsick on the winding roads, and made a big mess when she vomited beyond the bag I was holding up to her mouth. We made a quick stop to clean her up but the foul smell lingered for some time. This was the third African carsickness episode for Sophia in 3 years: Madagascar, Morocco, and Swaziland. She seemingly couldn’t do a trip to Africa without a bout of stomach trouble.

Crossing the border back into South Africa provided a little unexpected stress when I couldn’t find the passport that Sophia was thumbing through a minute earlier. It wasn’t in her seat or on the floor, and I continued looking for it while the rest of the group waited in line at immigration. I looked all over and couldn’t understand where it could have gone, but Jeff finally noticed it semi-hidden behind the curtain next to the window. Whew!

Getting back into South Africa felt a little like returning to the USA after spending time in Mexico, but the people seemed noticeably less friendly than the Swazis. Some kid even flipped off our bus as we drove past, reminding me of my sour impressions of South Africa in 2007 when we were flipped off on two occasions by white drivers who didn’t like our driving.

We tried to make a lunch stop in Hazyview of only 30 minutes, but the bus took a very long time filling up on fuel. I was anxious to get going, wanting to do our first Kruger game drive in as much sunlight as possible, but the stop stretched out to a full hour.

Back on the bus I edited photos of the day before, once again happy with the results even if my camera kept dying on occasion with an Error 99 message. I especially liked the hippo photos at Mlilwane, a game reserve which I found to be better than expected. I loved unexpected highlights, and I loved seeing others in the group pleasantly surprised at how nice a place was.

We reached Timbavati Guest Lodge around 2:45 pm and checked in to our Ndebele style huts. We had a rondavel on the edge of the property where zebra and steenbok could be seen, and some of the group even spotted a giraffe wandering through the grounds at night! T.I.A.! (This is Africa!)

We did a sunset game drive in Kruger, leaving the lodge at 3:30 in the bus, and then getting onto park vehicles at 4:00 pm at the Orpen Gate of Kruger National Park. It was going to be another cold game drive, although the first hour in the daylight was not so bad.

Carel, our driver/guide, was great and we had a productive 3 hours of game viewing. The best sightings for our vehicle were:

- Lioness walking along the road just past our vehicle, only 5 feet from me but my camera was not functioning at the time. We also saw a male lion in the same area about 40 feet off the road

- Giraffe in front of the setting sun

- Genet

- Civet

- 2 jackals

- Bushbabies in the trees at night, not within photographic range, though

We also saw:

- Plenty of Impala

- Blue Wildebeest (2)

- Banana Hornbill

- Kudu (4)

- Warthog (7)

- Dwarf Mongoose (4)

- Zebra (5+3)

- White Rhino (2)

- Elephants (4) – not too close

- Buffalo (2)

- Steenbok

So we saw 4 of the Big 5, although Carel said that his sunset drives were 75% successful in spotting all of the Big 5.

Back at Timbavati we had dinner outdoors near the swimming pool, but it was really too cold (low 50s) to enjoy the beautiful setting. There was a campfire pit which helped warm things up a bit, but no one was really sitting close enough to feel the heat from their table. To make matters worse, the food ran short and a few people didn’t get much to eat. Otherwise I liked Timbavati. They let me use the internet in their office for no charge, and the rondavels had lots of character. We had had such a great range of lodging on this trip, the best of any study abroad program I had done.
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