Friday October 17

Part of the stone carvings depicting the history of the Voortrekkers
Transvaal monument

Today we checked out of Joburg, stopped at the Transvaal monument, then on into Pretoria for a drive through tour of the pretty trees and architecture, and a visit to the Kruger House.
Pretoria and the jacaranda trees
Outside the Kruger house
On the road to Hazyview and Kruger area

Then off to Hazyview, approx 4 hour drive from Pretoria to check into a ranch style hotel overnight before off to Kapama River Lodge and safari tomorrow. I'm having trouble charging the camera battery for some reason, so am a bit nervous about taking photos tomorrow with the Panasonic. The rain is heavy right now, and thunder is everywhere, and the power keeps going out. Now I really feel like I'm away from home!

Thursday October 16

This morning we up early for a driving tour of Joburg and a visit to Soweto, to see Nelson Mandela's house, Winnie's house, and Bishop Desmond Tutu's as well. Had a visit into one of the ~Informal Settlements", what they call the slums of the cities. They have no hydro or water, just water in central taps where they fill their jugs and haul them with wheelbarrows. These people hop on crazy overstuffed taxis with 15 people crammed in and travel into the cities to work in hotels and private homes, then return to their spot in the settlement. We visited a day care in there, and the memory of that visit will stay with me. All the cooking was done on parrafin stoves. You could smell the wax everywhere in the area.

On to the Hector Peterson museum. The pictures will tell the story best.

We had lunch at Wandie's, a matchbox house in the middle of Soweto. Another experience to remember!
Back to the hotel for some needed time off, called home, and sat by the pool for a while before dinner nearby. We are off in the morning to head east to the High Veld to head soon off on safari.

Wednesday October 15

This morning we checked out of the beautiful Knysna hotel and said farewell to the ocean and seaside and headed along the garden route to work our way towards Port Elizabeth.
This impressive male Chacma Baboon and his troop were feeding on the side of the road. What a site it was, there must have been 30 in the group.

On the way, we stopped for a tour of Monkeyland, where primates from around the world can be seen living in a forest. Before we could get in, though, we had to wait for an elephant parade to pass by. The handlers had taken them over to a field for a snack of fresh grass.

The animals range freely in groups, and eat whatever they can find, supplemented with fruit offered at various feeding stations set up around the property. One of the highlights for me was seeing a large group of ring tailed lemurs as they were particular favourites of mine from when I worked at the zoo. I couldn't believe it when I found out that part of the troop (if that is the correct term.....I've forgotten) came from Toronto Zoo. They have settled in well, and have mixed with a group from Sweden, and have lots of healthy looking babies.

They have gibbons (white handed), cappucin monkeys, squirrel monkeys and ruffed lemurs as well.

Part of the walk is over a suspended twig bridge, which was quite an experience to walk over.

Next we got on the bus and went further down the road to visit the Tzitzikamma forest and take a trailer ride to the bottom to have a picnic lunch on the banks of the Storms River.

I enjoyed the ride, and took quite a few photos of millipedes, large grasshoppers, and spider nests suspended from the trees. This is one of the few areas of indigenous forest we saw on the whole trip, so was pretty impressive.

I have to admit though, the ride back up at top speed as we were running late was the best part of all as we were flying up the mountain hooting and hollering and singing the whole way. Poor Roger was shaking his head when he saw us coming up the hill.

Back on the bus, and off to Port Elizabeth for our flight to Johannesburg, after saying goodbye to Roger at the airport. He was a pleasure to have showing us around, and I hope the next guide will be as much fun.

Tonight in a huge complex hotel filled with conference delegates and airline staff. The rooms go on forever, very different than what we were used to.

Tuesday October 14

This morning we hopped onto the bus for a ride to the docks, where we boarded a flat bottomed boat with seating for 50 or so, and headed off across the estuary to the Featherbed Nature Reserve. The name Featherbed came from earlier times when the sailors would get off the boats and stay in a proper bed and were so comfortable, they said it was like sleeping on a feather bed. Saw a few seals and birds along the route, and nice views.

Off the boat at the reserve, and boarded a wagon pulled by a big jeep sort of thing, and were pulled along up a series of hills and valleys to the start of the walk. The walk was not for the weak jointed as they said it was over 100 steps down rough track, with uneven steps and loose gravel, so I rode back down the wagon with many others, and opted instead to walk along the path in reverse as far as I was comfortable. What a wonderful spot, with the views impossible to describe.

After the walkers returned, there was a nice buffet and the inevitable trip to the gift shop before boarding the boat for the trip back.
We returned to the hotel quickly to grab our swimming gear, then took the bus to a nice beach for us crazy Canadians to take a dip in the Indian Ocean. Pretty bloody cold is all I can say, but Nikki and I managed to get wet, me more than her as I was having a go at body surfing. Unfortunately, someone got pictures. Luckily, not my camera.....
Dinner this evening was at the Oyster Farm again. Needless to say I didn't have any oysters for my appetiser, but opted for the fish pate. Unfortunately, the pate was made with smoked fish, which is another of my dislikes! Oh well, can't say I haven't had some different things to eat on this trip!!
I managed to call home, but only for a couple of minutes, and said hi to Devon and mom.

Monday October 13

We left Oudtshoorn this morning and made our way towards Knysna, through the Outeniqua mountain range.

We stopped at Wilderness to take our first look at the Indian Ocean.

We checked into a hotel right on the waterfront, with views out the window of all the sailboats and catamarans in the harbour.

Had a tour of the Oyster factory where we learned all about the life cycle and farming of oysters, then had the chance to taste them raw. Ew is all I will say.

Can you guess what I thought of the raw oysters?

Lynn and Arlene show off how they feel about oysters. Hopefully you can read the shirt.

Dinner was at JJ's near the hotel where we celebrated Thanksgiving dinner with seafood, and turkey napkins provided by Shirley. It made me a bit homesick.