Travel Disasters Averted

What are the worst possible things that can happen when flying internationally? How about missing your plane? Or flying for 15 hours with a small crying infant in the seat in front of you? We had brushes with both when leaving Johannesburg for New York city today.

First off, we misread our tickets, having a little trouble converting from military time to "normal time".  We were on our way to the airport to arrive more than the recommended two hours ahead of time, when we realized that the flight left at 9:05 PM instead of 11:05.  However, with some major hustle, and a relatively empty airport, we managed to make our flight with ease in spite of arriving just 45 minutes before departure. Phew!

Once we boarded the plane, we discovered we were seated behind a mom traveling with a 5 month old baby. And the 5 month old's twin - two babies! And these babies were not happy babies.  Mom was traveling by herself, having started from Angola, going through Johannesburg, and then on our 15 hour flight to New York. And - she ran out of diapers half-way through the flight.  Fortunately, other passengers and the flight attendants were there to help her calm her screaming kids. I had my noise canceling headphones on, and I even snuck into Business Class for about three hours to stretch out in one of the comfy seats.  Sue and the kids even slept as well. We all survived.

We ARE seasoned travelers.

Soweto

The main event for me in going to Johannesburg was to visit Soweto.  At first, I was reluctant to go, since I figured it would be just like Khayaleitsha, but after talking to some locals Soweto seemed like a completely different experience.

Soweto is a township just outside Johannesburg. It's not some exotic African name, but a pseudo acronym for "South West Township".  Soweto is famous for the Soweto riots in 1976, which were the beginning of the end of Apartheid.  The catalyst was that black school kids were forced to abandon English, and learn Afrikaans.  Education is big in Africa, and this decree from the government pushed the black population too far.  Curiously, the uprising was started by the school children - with no adult organizer.  Several kids were shot and killed, and press reports of the uprising triggered riots all over the rest of South Africa.  Slowly, Apartheid was being dismantled after that, and by 1994 the African National Congress was elected into power, and Apartheid was finished.

Soweto has a terrific museum dedicated to the Soweto uprising, with photos, videos, and narratives from the events of 1976.  We also visited Nelson Mandela's house and family restaurant, which reside in Soweto.

On our tour, we also visited some of the various neighborhoods of Soweto.  Unlike Khayaleitsha, there were a wider variety of socioeconomic dwellings, with some areas looking positively suburban.  Our driver pointed out that many of the nicer homes had so razor wire or electric fencing, which contrasted to our B&B in Johannesburg, where every home had high security.

Finally, we were introduced to "fat cakes" - a donut-like snack that is popular in the township.  For about $0.10 each, this semi-sweet, lightly fried bread was enjoyable, and kept up our energy through the five hour tour.

Johannesburg

Our final stop in Africa is Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa, and the financial capital of the continent.  We have three days here, and we've spent the last two exploring the area.

First of all, about Johannesburg itself.  We are staying in a nice area called Parkhurst, in a bed-and-breakfast.  There is one street here - 4th St. - that has a lot of activity: good restaurants, artsy shops, markets and the like.  It spans about five blocks, and is easily walkable.  To get anywhere else, you need to call a taxi. Public transit here is mostly an afterthought. Many people compare Johannesburg to New York city.

There is the aura of high security here. Every house has either electrified fencing, razor wire, or sometimes both.  We've been warned not to get into certain kinds of taxis.  Some of the cabbies we've talked to refuse to drive at night.  We've felt safe in our neighborhood, but clearly there are places one should not venture into.

On our first day, we hired a driver and drove an hour outside of town to Matopeng - also known as the "cradle of civilization".  It was here that many of the skeletons of human ancestors were discovered, and they've commemorated the area with an excellent museum of anthropology. We learned about the first continent, which was a combination of all the continents before the plates below started shifting. I also didn't know that the earth has had five mass extinctions, each one roughly five million years apart.  The countryside driving out to Matopeng was beautiful as well.

Also - the morning before Matopeng, there was a local Saturday market right around the corner from us. I walked over, and bought some excellent soups and breads for the family.  There were some youth rugby games going on in the background. It was a nice slice of Johannesburg life.

On our second day, we ventured into town to an every-Sunday event called "Art on Main". This was a packed venue, with a lot of food vendors surrounding some art galleries.  The crowd was mostly white, but definitely not exclusively so.  I enjoyed an Ethiopian plate with sponge bread, but there were a lot of other options to choose from, including Thai, Indian, Paella, Argentinian and more.  Plus, there were a few areas to but alcoholic drinks.  It was a happening place to be, and the kids put up with us while we socialized with our friends.

Art on Main market in Johannesburg

Leaving Victoria Falls

Our flight back to Johannesburg today wasn't until 1:30, so we had one final morning to enjoy Victoria Falls.  At the bottom of the falls is a place called the "Boiling Pot", which Sue and Laurel visited the day before when I was rafting.  I hadn't seen it yet, so I took the 10 minute hike to the bottom of the gorge to check it out.  

The "Boiling Pot" is aptly named. This is the first point of exit for water from the falls, and since there is so much volume the water really appears to boil as it crashes against the rocks  The tides and currents were reminiscent of rafting the day before.  I stayed there for 15 minutes or so, watching the water patterns.  It was loud, yet tranquil - very much like watching the ocean waves crash against rocks on a beach.  I ended my visit to the falls by walking back up to the lip of the falls, and enjoying being bathed by the magical mist of the falls one more time.

The Boiling Pot

We left two hours ahead of our plane flight, and since it was a small airport only 20 minutes away, what could possibly go wrong?  Well this is Africa after all, and the scene inside this tiny airport was the most inefficient cluster-you-know-what I have ever witnessed.  We had to wait in four long lines - one for scanning bags, one to check in, one for passport control, and one for airport security.   I use the word "line" loosely because there were so many people crammed into a small space that forming an orderly line was impossible.  And many of the stations had just one person manning them. When we finally got our boarding passes, we were told we couldn't get our seats since the kids were seated in exit rows, and the computer was unable to print our boarding passes until we changed seats, but they could not change seats - or something like that.  Finally, we received boarding passes - somehow. Also - Amy from our group left her backpack at the hotel, and it was being brought separately by taxi.  Somehow the bag made it, and we all eventually boarded our flight. Whew!

Livingstone Airport Chaos

Rafting the Zambesi

We had talked about doing a river raft trip down the Zambesi for the last week or so, but when Ann - our trip leader - got information it would always change.  Some days they said it was all class 5 rapids, but closer to the rafting date they said it was 3 and 4. Kids under 15 were not allowed, so I went with 7 others in our group, including Aaron - a 15 year old boy - and Alex, a 13 year-old who we said was 15.

I'm so glad we went!  We started with a 20 minute hike down the gorge to the launching area, all of us in Tivas or sandals. From there, we mounted a boat, and got to know our guide, Mr. "K".  They also had two safety kayakers, and a videographer. So we all felt safe, and if something unfortunate happened anyway at least we might wind up in a viral "epic fail" video on YouTube.

The rapids were really fun.  Mr. K told us the first one was a "5", and we had a 50-50 chance of making it through without capsizing.  He may have been exaggerating, but we did get up on edge a few times, and there were plenty of times he said "everyone down", which meant to get your whole body inside the boat. I've done a few raft trips in the past, and this was as rough and tumble as any I remember.

Anticipating the rapid

Bracing for impact

"Everybody down"

There were also a few times where Mr. K said "Who wants to swim?"  I had done this before, so I was always first overboard.  A couple of others followed, and we bobbed through some rapids with our life jackets keeping us above water.  That part was really fun too.

We also saw a few small crocs on the side of the river.  Apparently crocs, hippos and elephants fall over the falls from time to time.  All the big animals never make it, but some of the smaller crocs survive, and we saw three of these lucky few gracing the riverbanks.  We trusted our guide so much that when he offered to let us swim, none of us thought twice about the crocs we had seem upstream.

Returning from rafting, we piled into an open-air land rover, and drove on some dirt roads through some of the native villages.  The driver would toss water bottles out for the kids who ran next to our vehicle, and then we started doing the same.  Ann had some clothes she was going to leave behind, so she started tossing them out to the villagers as well.  They were all excited to receive these unexpected, random gifts - such as they were.

Villager boys chasing our jeep

While the rest of our group did a more leisurely river float in the afternoon, the eight rafters finished the day at the Royal Livingstone's river deck lounge again, watching the mist from the waterfall rise in the distance with yet another spectacular African sunset as a backdrop.  As we were enjoying drinks, a group of monkeys were playing nearby, and then a herd of five Zebras raced across the lawn behind us.  The whole thing was surreal.

Kids and other parents on their river float

Laurel and Arwin on the raft

Zebras at the hotel

Market and African Queen

Every time we travel, we always make a point of visiting the local markets.  Everyone in our group had fond memories of the Mexican market from San Miguel when we lived there, so we sought out the Zambian equivalent.  It was very similar in many ways - food vendors selling meats, fish and vegetables, albeit with a lot more flies.  In particular, a lot of beans were available for purchase, and some weird anchovy looking dried fish.  There were also the dry goods vendors - selling electronics, clothes, toiletries, and other sundry items.  I was running low on underwear, so I bought a three pack of "large", which turned out to be too small for me.  The clothes vendors were particularly interesting, since their fare was what you would find at a Goodwill in the USA.  T-shirts from all sorts of sports leagues, bars, etc.  I asked one of the vendors where he got his wares, and he just said "Tanzania".  We suspected that a lot of church groups sent clothes over, and they would up being sold at market.

Beans, dried fish, and other goodies from the market

 

I love mangled English - this one was even personalized!

Next, we visited a more tourist-friendly craft market.  We shopped and bargained with the vendors for their local crafts, including some cool wood carvings and other interesting items.  We quickly figured out that the vendors likes to trade, and I had an old "Obama for President" T-shirt that was instantly highly valued.  I traded it for a discount on a cool stone carving, and the vendor was so proud that he wore it right away.  It made me happy too.

My new friend, with his new Obama t-shirt

That night, our tour group had reserved a river boat trip on a two story barge called the "African Queen".  We had drinks and snacks, and had a leisurely float upstream from the falls.  We saw some hippos, but since we were safari experts by this time, we weren't as eager as the rest of the patrons to see them. It was still a fun, relaxing cruise, and I started to feel closer to my travel-mates than ever before.

Sunset from the African Queen

That night, I found a local Indian restaurant called the Gold Leaf on TripAdvisor.com.  It was highly rated, and I was able to get a table for 25 reserved.  We all ordered an assortment of dishes, and everything was excellent. It was probably one of the top three Indian meals i have ever had.

Elephant Adventure

by Laurel...

So, how crazy was the day before yesterday? Crazier than a monkey drinking hyper-caffinated coffee with extra sugar.

Sounds like a bad GEICO commercial. But no, this was no GEICO thing at all. It is a real thing in a real place in this very real world. 

Who's excited to hear it? You, there. Yes, you, the one reading my post. Say, what do you think could be crazier than a monkey drinking hyper-caffinated coffee…. need I say the rest? It is awfully long and boring to type…

You! Sorry, lost my train of thought. What do you think we did? Another game drive? Guess again. Here's a hint: It's the last thing that will come to your mind naturally.

No, we did NOT go into outer space riding a unicorn. Maybe not that outrageous. I think I should tell you now, before the suspense gets so thick your brain explodes. We……

RODE ELEPHANTS!!!!! Betcha never saw that coming…. hey, guess what? Remember the fact that I'm random? And do you want to play Yo Mama Smackdown? Yo mama...

Wait a minute… you really want to read the rest of this? I think it's because I'm the best writer EVAH… or not. But you really want to hear the rest over a good game of Yo Mama Smackdown? That's a smart choice, buddy boy (or girl), because I was taught by Master Redding Hillers how to play. And he taught me his best lines. But honestly?

Okay, I'll tell you the rest if you play with me at the end. Sort of my reward for killing my hands typing for y'all. 'Ere goes.

We ride to the place in a open-top jeep. I guess this is okay, that little voice inside me says, but I don't see elephants, lions, or cheetahs like the brochure says. I tell it to shut its face. We (finally) pull up to this lone thatch-roof shelter thing with cheetahs in an enclosure next to it, lying in the sun. Click, click. Pictures. After I step inside the lodge, someone rushes to me with blah paperwork. I try to alternate playing Subway Surfers and writing my information on the paper, but iPhone gets the best of me and I play a few more times before Arwyn's mom reminds me I need to finish. I scribble my name on the end in cursive and make sure it's totally unreadable. That ought to count as a signature. We wait outside in the blazing sun…. and wait and wait and wait. The same someone (whom I later found out was named Justice) tells us our elephants were ready. We hike to a very tall mounting block, where six elephants are waiting. Wait a minute, six elephants for the thirteen of us?

Justice tells us we'll have to double up, and of course I get stuck with my brother Bryce. We learn Safety stuff (nothing you should know, much too boring) and then meet the elephants. The only ones I can remember are Mouse, Tata, and Timba, all girls. We choose an elephant, and me and Bryce get Tata, who coincidentally happens to be twelve (in case you don't know, we're turning twelve in two days). We mount and begin our 45-minute ride. It was mostly uneventful, except for a tree that smacks us in the head. After the ride, we get feed and learn to feed the elephants properly. I'm the first to race up to Tata and say, "Mouth: open," she opens her mouth obediently and I stuff one of my handfuls of feed into her mouth. She swallows and I say, "Trunk: down," I hold out a handful of feed and she vacuums it up with her trunk and stuffs it into her mouth. I am thanked by getting a smear of dirt all over my clean white shirt. Then we get "Saluted", or having the elephants hold their trunk back and stamp their left foot. It was an experience no one will ever forget.

Now will you play Yo Mama Smackdown with me? Hmm? Gasp! Do you not know how how to play? Gasp again! Never mind. I will sit in a corner and think about how much the world needs Yo Mama Smackdown to heal its non-YoMamaSmackdownness. Goodbye.

Discovering Victoria Falls

We left Botswana and Chobe Safari Lodge at a reasonable hour to head to the last destination for our group: the legendary Victoria Falls.  A bus ride, short boat ride and a bus ride brought us back near Livingstone and to the Zambese River Lodge.  This is a fairly posh resort, just three minutes by foot from Victoria Falls. It sports a large grassy area and a big pool, so all the kids in the group were psyched to be here.

After a quick poolside lunch, we walked over to the falls, not knowing quite what to expect.  When we arrived at the first overlook, it was amazing.  The falls are really wide, several hundred feet high, with a huge volume of water coming from the Zambese river. In addition to the thunderous noise, the coolest thing about the falls is the mist it creates. The mist is like a light drizzle, and it climbs higher than the top of the falls itself.  At the edge, you can see the water droplets rising upwards, and in some parts the water droplets combine to form bigger drops, which then fall back down into the canyon.  It's a great way to experience how clouds form rain - you can see the whole process up-close.

The other really cool thing about Victoria Falls are the rainbows the mist creates.  These are the most vibrant rainbows we have ever seen.  Looking at them from above, with the water crashing down next to them, is quite an incredible sight.

Rainbow from the mist at Victoria Falls

The magical mist of the falls.

When we arrived at the lodge, we had a special envelope in our welcome packet.  It was a birthday gift for Laurel and Bryce who are turning 12 in a few days.  We were given a complementary traditional English Tea at the neighboring Livingstone resort, just a few minutes walk from our hotel.  Since the rest of our stay was pretty well booked up, this was the best time to go, so we meandered over and enjoyed our next snack. 

Bryce enjoying high tea at the Royal Livingstone

The Livingstone is a spectacular place - even nicer than our own lodge.  It sits right on the river, and the interior is done in exquisite English Colonial style.  The staff was great and perfectly dressed, and tea was really fun.  Our server was named Santa, and since we had a free tea experience, we didn't have a way to tip him.  Fortunately, on our way back, we saw the rest of our group heading back to the Livingstone, so we let the kids have some down time and headed back for cocktail hour.  The river porch at the Livingstone is one of the most spectacular places I have ever seen to have a drink.  You have the river, the African sunset behind it, and then the glorious mist from Victoria falls just a half mile away, rising up over the river as it disappears over the waterfall ledge.  It doesn't get much better than this.

An albino monkey at the Royal Livingstone
Photo by Bryce

Namibian Village and Final Game Drive

Waking up at 5:30 AM and riding in a freezing, open air Land Rover had lost its novelty, so a number of us slept in for the morning.  Our group activity today was to visit a real African village in Namibia - just across the river.  Of course, since you're crossing borders, we had to visit the government offices exiting Zambia, entering Namibia, exiting Namibia and re-entering Zambia.  So a lot of our day was spent in a queue to get our passports stamped, but it was still worth it.

After the first two government offices, we had a 10 minute walk from the boat landing to a village on the island of Impalala.  This was the real deal - mud huts with corrugated aluminum or thatched roofs, goats, lambs and chickens running around, and a single water tap in the middle of the village.  There  were probably 60 houses in all, housing approximately 500 inhabitants.  When we arrived, a few children greeted us, and our guide had some candy for them.  Bryce also brought a few toy cars along to give to the kids, and they were thrilled (although Bryce later felt "both happy and sad" about giving away his beloved cars). Some of the kids immediately put them in a wheelbarrow and watched them roll up and down.  It was a great gift for them.

A village child with his new toy car

Inside a village hut

This gives you a feel for the village

The village has a fallen Baobab tree in the middle of it, but in spite of the horizontal angle of the main trunk, it was still thriving.  Baobab trees are very special, as they have huge, thick trunks, and can be three thousand years old.

In front of the Baobab tree

After returning through two more government checkpoints, we had a quick lunch and had our last game drive.  Since we ran late, we weren't a part of the 3PM exodus of Land Rovers, and we had our own less crowded drive.  After yesterday's amazing boat ride, we figured we had seen everything, so this one was going to be more relaxed.  It was still incredible though. We watched a herd of young male elephants for 30 minutes or so.  A couple of them fought, and one walked right up to one of the Land Rovers, and temporarily got his trunk caught in the antenna.

Close encounter of the elephant kind

We also encountered a journey of giraffe (yes, a group of giraffes is called a "journey").  A few of them would gallop along for us, and watching them run was a real treat.

Journeying giraffes

Another treat was a herd of about 150 baboons, all traveling together.  (I don't know the correct name for multiple baboons, so "herd" it is). The coolest part was watching the babies cling to the mommas.  Some rode underneath, some rode on top, and some just galloped alongside.

Baby riding on momma baboon

Back at the Chobe lodge, Bryce photographed some of the monkeys and baboons as they caused  trouble in the open air dining hall.

A vervet monkey where he shouldn't be.

And of course, another awesome sunset:

Sunset over the Chobe river

Chobe - Game Drive and Boat Ride

Chobe National Park promised to be different than our other two destinations, and we weren't disappointed.  We were told that over 60,000 elephants inhabit the park. Plus, the only watering hole is the Chobe river that borders the park, so if you're looking for animals going to the river is a great strategy.

We started yet another 6 AM game drive, and fortunately it wasn't nearly as cold as Entanebi or Simbavati.  Since Chobe is a big and famous park, and the rules dictate that all vehicles must stick to the road, we started out in a train of about seven Land Rovers.  Immediately, we saw a pride of three lionesses in hunting formation - all even evenly spaced, going at the same pace.  We saw more hippos, tons of impala, lots of elephants, warthogs, baboons, and even a female leopard. Our guide told us that the afternoon drive would be even better, since the weather had been cold, and today was forecast to be 80 degrees.

Female Leopard

Our afternoon plans didn't include a game drive, but instead - a boat ride!  Our crew of 25 boarded our own river boat, and we proceeded to cruise down the Chobe river.  This was the best game sighting experience we've had on the entire trip.  There's an island in the middle of the river, and it had tons of crocs, elephants, hippos and other game.  Our boat drove right up to a variety of pockets of animals.  The elephants were playing in the mud, eating grass and spraying mud on themselves.  The crocodiles were everywhere, lounging on the banks, and some posed for us with their mouths open and their sharp teeth showing, The hippos were in a variety of poses, some grazing on the grass, and some wallowing in the mud in groups of nine or ten, and occasionally the pod leader would open his mouth wide for us as well.  We had lots of great photo opportunities.

Posing Croc

Grazing Hippos

This hippo looks like he's about to eat a bird

The highlight of the ride was watching a herd of about 50 elephants swim across the river to get to the grazing island.  The dominant female elephant went first, and the other elephants followed behind - even the babies. In about three minutes, the entire herd had crossed to the other side. It was incredibly beautiful - so mush so that one mom in our group was crying.  It was a sight none of us will ever forget.

Elephants swimming across the river

Laurel on the top deck

Sunset over Namibia

Travel to Botswana

The next part of our trip is to a more primitive part of Africa - Botswana.  As if to prepare us for the unexpected, we awoke at 4:15 AM to get our bus at 5 AM, and after a freezing open air jeep ride to the main entrance, our bus was nowhere to be found.  After a few calls, we learned the bus had broken down, and wouldn't be coming.  Fortunately, the Entanebi staff has two micro buses at their disposal, and they marshaled them for us, and we still made our flights out of Johannesburg after a three hour drive, After flying to Zambia, we took another bus to a river on the border of Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia (the only place in the world where four countries share a common border). From there, a platform boat across the river, to yet another bus awaiting us on the other side. That's one jeep, two buses, one boat, and one plane if you're keeping score.

At the river crossing, there is no bridge, and only two ferries or a private boat can take you across the river.  We saw what seemed to be a mile of trucks lined up to get the ferry.  Our driver told us that they wait in line for three weeks(!) to get across the river. Now THAT"S the kind of third world craziness I was hoping to see first-hand.

We arrived at our destination, the Chobe Safari Lodge, at 5 PM.  The lodge sits on the Chobe river, and had monkeys and warthogs running around everywhere.  The dining area is gorgeous, as we were treated to a buffet with a great variety of food, including a few impala dishes, some curries, exotic ice creams, and more.  Our next game drive is at 5:45 AM...

Last Day at Entabeni

We started the day with yet another frigid 5:45 AM game drive.  Most of the kids in our group were a little worn out from the early morning schedule, so we had only about half of our group.  Compared to the game drive the kids had yesterday, ours was uneventful. 

However, the day picked up after that. At noon, we arranged a tour of some of the attractions in the reserve. First, we learned about the Pedi - one of the tribes in South Africa - and experienced a Pedi village recreation, some authentic Pedi food: a sweet and tasty beer, a delicious porridge, a bland sorghum mix, and best of all - dried caterpillars. I was the only one who enjoyed the caterpillars, which were nutty, and has a nice juicy squirt when you bit into them.  Most everyone else though them gross, and worthy of Fear Factor.  We also learned how the chief could have multiple wives, and how the village was arranged such that the chief and his wives had their own area of the village where nobody else - and especially not kids - were allowed.  It was all pretty interesting.

Bryce enjoying the traditional Pedi beer

Mason - not so sure about eating caterpillar

Next, we visited a white lion preserve.  Entanebi is a breeding center for white lions, and they are trying to help reinvigorate the breed and get them back to being in the wild.  Incredibly, white lions weren't discovered until 1975 in Timbavati (where we were previously).  When the first cubs were discovered, they were captured, transferred to the Johannesburg zoo, where they both died a few weeks later. Nevertheless, the breed is being bred and they are making progress at increasing their numbers so that they can be reintroduced into the wild.  Last year, just one white lion was born outside of a breeding center.  There are maybe a few hundred left in the world.

The white lioness of Entanebi

Our guide also explained the crisis with rhino poaching.  A lot of Asian cultures give magical powers to rhino horn, so much so that the single horn on a rhino can net $250,000.  Entanebi has had problems with poachers, and has several security gates coming in and out of the preserve to prevent poaching. Nevertheless, the poachers are still able to kill some rhinos every year for their horns.  The problem was exacerbated in 2010 when the Vietnamese Prime Minister's wife went on TV and proclaimed rhino horn as a cure for cancer.  The world-wide rhino population has gone from 480,000 in 1970, to approximately 18,000 today, as I recall our guide saying.

Next, we took a sunset drive up a ravine to the top of the mountains we can see from the lodge.  Once we got there, we saw yet another plain, with another peak (the Entanebi peak itself) in the background.  It was a gorgeous place to see a sunset.

Entabeni Sunset

That night, after yet another great feast of local pork chops and lamb, we went to bed and prepared for an early morning departure to our next destination.  Sue and I were awakened at 2 AM, and then at 3:30, by a lion roaring outside our tent. At least it seemed that way.  The lions had actually killed an impala behind our lodge that night.  Some of our party saw lion footprints on the path the next morning.  We were a little scared to walk from our tent to the main lodge at 4:45 AM in the dark, but we convinced Mark, one of our group who was in a neighboring tent, to come with us to improve our odds of not being eaten during the 60 second walk.

Ironically, our lodge was hosting a marathon that morning, with about 400 participants.  When we asked the guides what they planned on doing with the lions, they said that they always know where they are, and they can divert the course of the run if necessary.  Sounds risky to me.

Entabeni - Game ride, paintball, smoking elephant dung

Leaving Simbavati Lodge and the Timbavati wilderness, our next stop was the Wild Side Lodge in the Entabeni game reserve. Entabeni is a little different than Timbavati - it's a smaller game reserve, and it's actively managed so that the population of lions, wildebeest, and other creatures stays in balance. Besides lions and wildebeest, there are hippos, elephants, vervet monkeys, baboons, impala, kudu, rhinos, zebra, giraffe and probably some other animals I have forgotten.  It's also at the base of a cool 900 foot rock formation called Hanglip, which looks a lot like Yosemite's half-dome.

Wildebeest with mountains in the background

We arrived late Wednesday afternoon, ate a quick lunch, and planed for an abbreviated afternoon game drive. Within minutes of arriving, we had giraffes wandering through camp.  As we left for our game drive, a herd of zebras were right outside the gate.  We didn't have a lot of time, but we managed to see a couple of jackals, as well as get our first up-close glimpse of a wildebeest. The jackals look like medium sized dogs. Wildebeest look like a mix of buffalo, zebra and cattle.

Wildebeest

Jackal

We had yet another delicious diner, and were awakened the next morning at 6 AM for our morning game drive. This time, we found a pride of lions snacking on a recently fallen wildebeest, and we parked maybe 20 feet away as the male pulled it apart and snacked on the intestines. A little later, we encountered a white rhino, lumbering down the road at his own pace.  We parked ahead of him, and he strolled slowly by, just ignoring us. He was massive and elegant.

Later in the day, Ann - our trip leader - arranged a paintball event for us.  16 of us went, including all of the boys, and we played three games amongst the African bush.  We played three games: the adults against the kids in a "shoot as many people on the other team" game, then a capture the flag style game. The final game was "survivor" -- every man for himself.  Bryce and I formed an alliance from watching countless episodes of Survivor, but he got pegged quickly, and in spite of my lying prone on the ground to be a tough target, I got hit in the arm moments later. It was the first time playing paintball for Bryce and I, and we both enjoyed it.

In the afternoon, while the kids went on a game drive, the adults got treated to a bush walk.  Sue and I, along with four others, had a guide named Aubrey take us outside our encampment.  Aubrey carried a rifle in case of any trouble, and had us walk single file.  I got nominated to be the last in line. I'm not sure why, but probably because I was the tallest of the bunch. Being last made me feel like I was the most likely to get eaten, but as you guessed that didn't happen.

Aubrey showed us a variety of cool things about the brush.  He grew up living in the bush, and had a lot of great stories for us. As kids, they would send messages by writing on a piece of bark with a guinea hen quill and ink made from a plant, and seal it with glue from the sap of a tree. Young boys would run from village to village, and look under a specific rock for mail for their village, and also deposit mail from their village. Aubrey also taught me how to make a snare. We even smoked elephant dung - elephants eat all the medicinal plants (since they are so smart), and as such by lighting some dung on fire and inhaling it, we are administered the essence of all those plants.  The bush tour was one of the highlights of our trip so far.

Smoking elephant dung

Laurel's Jackal Story

Laurel got inspired by Simbavati to write a story about Jackals. Here it is:

Come," Harley beckoned her with his tail, "I want to show you something,"

Liana hauled herself to her feet.

   "This better be good," she growled playfully, "Because the sun is

about to rise and I should be sleeping,"

Harley blew air out of his nose, as if exasperated, and trotted out of

the den. Liana shook leaves out of her pelt and followed him. They

journeyed across a plain of nothing but grass, and then uphill, on

solid rock. When the rock gave way to forest, Liana finally caught up

with the other jackal.

   "Where are we going?" she asked him.

   "You'll see," was all he said.

Harley halted just above a sheer drop. It was a clearing in the woods,

and trees framed the pink sky.

   "Okay, is this," Liana waved her tail in a circle, "what you wanted

to show me?"

   "No," Harley answered, "But this is,"

The sky seemed to catch fire as a bright golden sliver of light made

its way into the sky. Liana yelped and jumped back. Harley chuckled at

her reaction.

   "We came all this way for a prank?" Liana sniffed, cleaning her

pelt with her tongue.

Harley's head drooped, "You don't like it?"

   "No, no. It's beautiful," Liana apologized.

Harley lifted his head so his resin-colored eyes met Liana's, "Just

like you,"

Liana grew warm under her pelt, as if the sun had made her icy heart

suddenly melt.

   "LianaŠ. I love you!" he burst out, and then looked ashamed.

   "Oh, Harley," Liana said softly, "I-I don't know what to say right

now,"

They shared a tense laugh before falling into silence.

The two jackals watched the sun climb higher in the sky without

speaking a word. Harley edged closer to Liana. She held herself erect

until they were so close their pelts touched, and then Liana leaned her

head against Harley and looked up at him. She loved the feel of his

fur, the way his jaw curved, how the fur on his head spiked upwards. It

seemed as if in that moment, not only their tails but their hearts were

twined together, and nothing could ever pull them apart.

Bryce's Review of Simbavati

Here's Bryce's TripAdvisor review of Simbavati Lodge:

Overall my stay at Simbavati was great. You wake up early in the morning, get dressed, head to the breakfast area, have hot chocolate and biscuits, get a hot water bottle, and head out in a jeep. You see great animals and come back at 7:45 where you're greeted by some friendly staff and given a warm mini towel. When you're done with the towel a staff member collects it and you head down for a hearty yet delicous breakfast with toast, bacon, jelly, cereal, fruit, and best yet, a crepe stand where you can order crepes. After that you can sit on the deck and look for warthogs, hippos, kudu, guinea fowl, and other animals. You have some down time and then can enjoy hanging with friends and other activities. My two favorite moments were the welcoming and when the staff sang me a birthday song. When you come to Simbavati you're greeted by the staff and given a warm towel that smells of vanilla and a delicous sweet drink. After a while or when everybody is there, a staff member will anounce the schedule for the days you'll be there. On our last night there the whole staff came in and sang me a wonderfull birthday song. Overall, Simbavati is a wonderful place and I'd highly reccomend anybody to go there.

Last day in Simbavati

We had one more day in this African paradise to see some of the animals we had yet to fully enjoy.  We also switched drivers, as some of our party were raving about a particular guide.  Our previous guide, Jimmy, was probably the best tracker of the bunch, but he was also the quietest, so we had to really ask him a lot of questions to get information out of him.  The other two guides were more chatty and personable, and would often just stop the vehicle and explain about a particular bird or tree.

On this last day, I finally got to see a crocodile, and a herd of bathing hippos – all in the same pond.  The croc even opened his mouth really wide for us as he was sunbathing next to the pond.  He must have been 15 feet long.  Nearby, about 10 hippos were happily lounging, with just their heads or eyes above water.  Every so often, one would open his mouth wide for us, as if to show off.

We also encountered another pride of lions. Our driver brought the vehicle within 20 feet of them, and they didn’t seem to mind us while they were sleeping off their last meal.

At night, it was showtime by the boma.  A boma is a traditional African barbecue, introduced by the British.  They spread out the coals, and had chicken and sausages in enclosed flay grills that were easy to rotate.  While the food was cooking, a couple of the boys in our group did an Eminem rap for us, and then I did a fire poi show for our group and the staff, which was really well receive in spite of the fact I dropped the poi a couple of times.  The staff had never seen anything like it before, and they gave me some nice compliments.  Then, the entire staff sang an African happy birthday to Cindi, Bryce and Laurel. And then we feasted on delicious barbecue meat, with some tasty vegetables and a white polenta-like grain.  After inner, we just sat around the barbecue campfire and chatted.  It was a glorious day.

Laurel's Travel Summary... so far

Hi, I'm an alien. 

No, I'm actually not, I just need to familiarize you with my complete and utter randomness.

So pardon my randomness when I tell you about the last two weeks.

It had been two, three weeks after school let out (and I miss you Burke's girls like crazy, especially the ones who I will not mention but you guys know who I'm talking about). New York was hot and muggy, something I was dreading about the east coast. Ugh. I'd have preferred the drizzling rain of San Francisco any day.

So anyway, I was being awesome and minding my own business, when it hits me like a lightning bolt: I'm here. I did it. We're in NYC, baby! I always like to sit in the hotel and play on my phone when we first arrive at a city, but dad likes his little 'I'm-going-to-walk-somewhere-and-get-lost-and-then-walk-in-the-direction-that-I-think-the-hotel's-in' thing. Somehow, we convinced him to stay and look up restaurants on Zagat while we unpacked and played games.

So then we went to some Italian place, and I honestly don't know what I got, 'cause, remember, this is like two weeks ago. But I do remember my dessert was a Nutella Panna Cotta. Nom nom. And then we did something else, which I also forget what it was, and then went to bed. Good night.

Next day, (July 4th) we went to Times Square. Craziness, my friend. All the electronic billboards were flashing stupid videos for skin cream that smelled like pineapple and M and M world. So we walked around a little in the thick, 90 degree air, before needing air conditioning and a potty break.

So we ducked into M and M world, a giant M and M store selling a ton of useless M and M junk. There was M and M printers and M and M statuettes with the ugly red thing dressed like the statue of liberty. He didn't look very happy. After actually finding the loo, we tried to find Rockefeller center, a hidden gem in the noisy, polluted, littered-on city. As you can tell, New York was not my favorite place.

After walking in circles for half an hour (Thank you, dad, your map reading skills are extraordinary), we finally found the Lego store, which signaled the fact we were in Rockefeller center. Bryce whooped something that made people stare at him like he was stupid (which he is) and raced towards the revolving doors, making sure he went around a few more times than necessary. I, being a normal person, walked around the door once and stepped into the building stacked floor to ceiling with plastic lego containers. There were many lego sculptures scattered about, and a dragon looped through the walls. Us kids rushed to the model of Rockfeller center, and in the middle were two star wars characters dancing. Yes, as Bryce said, it was Leia and Darth Vader. What the heck? Weren't they, like, enemies? Since when did the DID (damsel in distress) dance with her least-liked person?

After the LEGO incident, we tried to find the Pokemon store and accidentally walked into a bank twice. Soon we found out that Nintendo World was actually on a side street, in Rockefeller center. My bad.

So we went into the Pokemon Center, my favorite place EVER. There were poke dolls and pokemon games and pokemon everything on the bottom floor of Nintendo world. While Bryce went off to do whatever he did, I took out every cute poke doll (most of them, except the Trubbish. It's no coincidence that it's called the Trash Bag pokemon) and poked each of them of the nose.

"I love you, and you, and you, and you, and you!"

Then I air-kissed them. After all, who would want a poke doll with my spit on it?

Hey, don't laugh. They were really cute.

After I  put the poke dolls back, I talked with the attendant about White version. I had beat White the day before. Apparently he had been into pokemon when the first game came out (Yellow) and had played every game ever since. We dragged Bryce away from his beloved Woobat (he's obsessed with those things. One time, I covered up Woobat by turning the page of the game guide and Bryce went nuts and punched me) to climb the stairs to the top floor, Wii. No surprise, he went straight to the racing games. After five minutes, we dragged him out again to get lunch, He cast a loving look at his "Little Wooby" before heading out.

We found a small cafe somewhere and had empanadas. Then we went to central park and had ice cream, and then back to the hotel where we swam until dinner.

And don't ask me what the dinner was. I can't remember.

Plane flight to Africa next day was so boring, you'd fall asleep if I even told you what we did, which was nothing. I did nothing. My phone ran out of battery. My DS was already dead. And my kindle was on half. This was all after ten hours, so I slept the last four hours. Are you asleep yet?

WAKE UP!!!!!!!! You can't bail on me! Oh no, you have to hear the whole thing. After we disembarked, we went through customs (also terribly boring). I used the last of my Kindle battery to play Subway Surfers. Then we got to the baggage claim, and there was none of our baggage! So we made Dad stay while we got settled in our rented apartment.

When he came home without any bags, everyone was disappointed, but we managed my sharing the toothbrush the airline gave to us and sleeping in our clothes. Meh.

Two days later, when the bags came, the first thing I did was change. Then we explored the city on a red bus with my new friend Arwyn, who would be the only girl roughly my age when we went on Safari. We went to world of birds, where we saw the most ADORABLE owls. OMG they were soooooooooo cute!!!!! : D

We found a kids channel on the bus to listen to, and it was hysterical. See, it was a seagull talking to you, with a lot of "Brrrrrrrr! It's fur-eeeee-zing!" and "Yeeeeeee-uck!" sort of things. Every time we heard the seagull, who was named Salty, say something stupid, we would start laughing so hard we would cry.

I think Dad has been keeping you posted on Cape Town, which is good for me, because my memory needs something to make it bigger. Like just yesterday, I forgot to do my homework! : (

So anyway, I'll skip that part because I forgot most of what went on in Cape Town.

When we arrived at Simbavati (it's Simbavati, no matter how many times Bryce will say it's Simbavita. I'm right in front of a big sign that says Welcome to Simbavati) these okay orange juice things were waiting for us, along with a British woman named Hailey who worked there. And if I say an orange drink is okay, it's super good. I just say it's okay because I don't like oranges.

So Hailey told us the basic rules: If you go outside at night, you need a guide because the wildlife literally goes through the camp. Last night we were ambushed by a family of warthogs. We had dinner, a yummy chicken dish with rice and for dessert, lemon cream pie. Delicious.

Bryce woke everyone up at 4 with cries of "Mommy! I just got sick!!!!!!". Of course. He never eats chicken, but last night he had six pieces. I tried to go to sleep, but Bryce kept on waking me up to use the restroom. Someone knocked on our door at 5:30, a guide to wake us up for the safari. Bryce wasn't feeling well enough, so Dad stayed with him and they promptly fell back asleep.

So I crawled out of bed, unwilling to leave the electric blanket, and got dressed in:

A cami

My underwear

A long, warm shirt

Heavy pants

A winter jacket

Jeans

Gloves

A scarf

And a hat.

And while we were safariing in open-top vehicles, I was cold. It was 32 degrees, and the wind blowing in your face made it drop even lower. At one point, we chased a pack of wild dogs, and everyone in back was looking green as we ran over rocks and trees and bumps. And to make it worse, we didn't actually see the dogs. They had passed over the western border where the Simbavati jeeps couldn't go.

That day, we saw a herd of elephants, a pride of lions, hyenas, and a whole lot of impala. According to the tracker, impala were basically the pigeons of the savannah. 

The jeep is pretty much like this: A seat built on the passenger side of the hood for the tracker, who looked at footprints and broken branches and stuff to find animals and direcst the driver to it. The driver was on the driver side for the UK and the passenger side for the US. There are nine seats in back for people like us.

That night, we saw a leopard eating its kill, a kudu. Mason, another kid on the safari, caught a video of it eating the antelope. He's going to post it on YouTube.

Next day was warmer, but still cold. We saw an adorable rhino, hippos, and the lions again.

That night, Arwyn's jeep broke down in the middle of the safari and we had to go rescue them. They were out on the road, and their axle was kinked. We brought some parts to them and headed back to Happy hour. I had a Grapetizer (fizzy grape juice. And my best friend Jackie, who will be reading this, knows the best way to drink it), and Bryce had an Appletizer. Good stuff. Dinner was chicken again, and Bryce stayed away this time.

Dessert was chocolate fondant with ice cream. Marshmallows to roast. We pyromaniacs had fun pouring the fondant into the fire (Only Bo did that, I ate mine before he could get to it) and then trying to replicate the Spanish Inquisition with marshmallows. We speared them on a skewer, and then stuck the skewer, marshmallow at the pointy part, into the fire. The goal was to get it to stand up perfectly straight and watch the marshmallow drip down into the fire. No one accomplished this until we realized there was a much faster way to destroy marshmallows; stick them in the 'incinerator'. It was a hollow log in the fire, and intensely hot. What we did was stick a marshmallow on a spoon, and then stick the spoon (with the marshmallow) into the incinerator. Then we tipped the spoon over, the marshmallow fell down and burnt to a crisp instantly. Fun.

Someone dropped a teabag in the fire, and Arwyn's dad and I had fun watching it burn and making dumb jokes about it. I won the round with a witty British "How would you like your tea? Crisped to a cinder? Burnt beyond recognition? Or maybe incinerated to ashes?"

This morning, we also got woken up at 5:30. On safari we saw giraffes, a warthog, hippos, and baboons.

Lunch is in two hours. Wonder what it'll be? Smells like brownies. Mmmmm…..