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

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.

Simbavati - Second Day

I was looking forward to experiencing the morning game drive, since I missed it yesterday.  The knock on the door came at 5:30 AM as promised, but Sue and I were already awakened by the unfamiliar noises of the bush.  The mornings are advertised as "very cold", and I had long gloves, underwear, pants and sweater, and a shell. Even so, once you get into the open air Land Rovers, the 37 degree weather seems even colder, so they give us a blanket and a hot water bottle. The first hour is indeed very cold, but it warms up quickly once the sun rises.

Morning Sunrise

We tracked a lion pair through the morning mist for about 30 minutes or so, hoping to see a live kill. The driver of our Land Rover thinks he is an animal as well, so we crashed through the bush following the lions, running over trees and bushes like they weren't even there. Bryce loved it.

Our lion in the mist

The rest of the morning we tried to track a pair of rhinos unsuccessfully, but on our way home we saw some giraffes and a warthog family.  Both sets of animals were kind enough to pose for us.

Morning Giraffe

Warthog mommy protecting the kids

The afternoon game drive was equally interesting.  As a part of our "bucket list", we wanted to have a cape buffalo encounter, and we weren't disappointed. Our guides found a herd of about 400 buffalo, and knew exactly where they were going to go.  We parked at their destination - a popular watering hole - and awaited their arrival. You could see a dust cloud in the distance coming closer and closer, and eventually the sound of a couple thousand hoofs filled the air. As they approached the watering hole, they broke into a trot to get to the water. It was quite a sight.

Cape Buffalo

The herd getting a drink

Video: The Epic Cape Buffalo Migration

First Day at Simbavati Lodge

Our safari has finally started!  We traveled most of the day Saturday from Johannesburg to reach the Simbavati Lodge, in the Timbavati private game reserve.  We stopped at a few interesting places on the way, including a cool waterfall called Lisbon Falls, and "God's Window", an amazing vista point overlooking a huge valley.

Lisbon Falls

We arrived after dark.  Three open-top land rovers greeted us where the bus could go no farther, and Bryce and I got to ride in the dark, through the bush, looking up at the clear night sky. I saw a shooting star.

Arriving at Simbavati, the first order of business was to learn the safety rules.  We are out in the middle of a game reserve, and wild animals run everywhere. We are not to leave the grounds of the lodge, and at night, we need an escort to our rooms, even though they are 30 feet from the common area. Kids are to be accompanied by an adult at all times. 'Nuff said.

Game drives - where we driver around the bush and look for animals - are at 6:30 AM and 3:30 PM. The animals are most active at sunrise and dusk. Wake up is at 5:30 AM, which is challenging for our family of night-owls, but we resolved to go with it nonetheless.

The first night, Bryce got sick, and I opted to keep him company instead of doing the morning game drive. We both slept in, and when the rest of the group returned from the morning excursion, we were regaled with tales and photos of lions, elephants and more.

Elephant from the morning game drive

Bryce rallied for the evening game drive, and we weren't disappointed.  We saw a pride of lions feasting on a dead cape buffalo.  We saw a white rhino.  And best of all, our guides located a leopard who had just killed a kudu, and was ripping it apart.  Cool stuff.

White Rhino

Lion #1

A buzzard waiting for the lions to be done

Lion #2

Our flesh-ripping leopard

Video: Our leopard eating a kudu

One of the unexpected and slightly unnerving things about safariing here is that our open-air land rovers get super-close to all the animals.  We were 15 feet away from the lions and the leopard.  You can hear the flesh being ripped off of the dead animals, and the purring of the lions.  Supposedly, the animals don't realize that each vehicle contains 13 tasty human treats, and instead view each land-rover as a single, very large entity that is not to be messed with. It's as if the animals don't even notice us, and they just carry about their business as usual.

A Land Rover with some of our crew

The lodge itself is deluxe.  We have a big deck to hang out on during the day, which is a great place to spot more animals and birds.  We've seen baboons, hippos, an elephant, warthogs, and other assorted birds and animals from here. The bar is always open to serve drinks.  The food is delicious. Our room is comfortable, and even has heated mattress pads.  Ann, our trip leader, told us this may be the nicest place we stay during our entire safari, so I plan on enjoying every minute of being here.

Cultural Exchange Night

Laurel's school (Burke's) has an exchange program with a school here in Cape Town, where every year two Burke's teachers come to South Africa to teach, and two South African teachers visit Burke's.  It just so happened that Laurel's fourth grade teacher Ms. Brooks was here on exchange, and Sue arranged for us to come to a "Cultural Exchange" night at the school.

After getting lost with the cabbie, we finally found the Leap School just outside of Cape Town.  This is a high school, with maybe 40 students, where they learn, and also are trained as teachers.  Most if not all come from the townships.  The goal is for these students to become well educated, and bring their knowledge back to their townships to help others.  They are selected for their intelligence, as well as their leadership ability.

We didn't know exactly what to expect, so we kind of went with the flow.  The students started first, and did some amazing singing and dancing for us.  It's like these kids were professional musicians, singers and dancers, but it obviously came naturally for them.  We were all mesmerized by their talent and spirit.

Next, it was our turn. There were some other Americans besides us, including one man in his thirties that used to teach at my old high school.  One woman named Kay did an impressive spoken word poetry performance. I went next, and showed off some of my poi juggling moves, getting one of the students to drum for me.  Bryce even went up and showed off some moves as well. We got a great ovation - it was obvious these kids had never seen poi before. Afterwards, some of them asked to be taught some moves, and I happily obliged.  They also made us a traditional dinner of a beef stew with some interesting and tasty grains.

Laurel was particularly impressed by Kay's spoken word performance, and she sought out Kay after to ask her more about writing, performing, and how she got over her shyness with sharing her work.

All in all, it was a great evening.

Stellenbosch Wine Country

After our day of experiencing the poverty of the townships, today was a 180 degree contrast.  Our entire crew - now nine adults and nine kids - packed into two vans and headed to South Africa's wine country. In the morning, we went to Meerlust, a winery that was founded in 1689, and is now run by the eighth generation of the owning family.  Afterwards, we walked through the quaint, pretty town of Stellenbosch.  The experience was similar to wine country in California, but a little deeper.  Stellenbosch was extremely clean, with a lot of Dutch architecture, and every building was white.  There were a lot of delicious looking eateries and clothing stores.  Bryce thought it "boring", but I think peaceful is a better way to describe it.

Stellenbosch

For the afternoon, we went to lunch at the most amazing winery I have ever seen: Delaire Graff. Founded by a diamond merchant, they spared no expense in creating a beautiful restaurant and winery on one of the most stunning locations on earth.  We were seated on a deck, surrounded by mountains, with grape vines growing in the valley below. The weather was perfect, and the food and wine were exquisite. Most amazingly, the most expensive entrees were $18.  After lunch, we had a custom wine tasting set up for us, and we were able to purchase some amazing bottles of wine for as little as $6. We wound up staying at Delaire Graff for four hours, since nobody wanted to leave.

The Dining Area at Delaire Graff

Bill with a box of great, cheap wines

The happy, sated family

Lamb's neck appetizer

Seafood entree - whitefish, mussels, mushrooms and more yumminess.

Meanwhile, the kids were taken to another winery and had a Segway (stand uo scooter) tour.  Bryce - being all about anything with wheels - loved it, of course.  We weren't sure how Laurel would enjoy it, but she reported back and said it was a lot of fun.  While they were riding Segways through the winery, they stopped and talked to some of the wine makers to learn a little more about the craft.

Kids on a wine country Segway tour

We returned by nightfall, sated and exhausted, and feeling very fortunate.

Khayaleitsha Township Tour

I've always been curious how the less-privileged live, and when the opportunity to take a tour of one of the local townships presented itself, we jumped at the chance.  Our family, along with Kathryn, her two boys, and Bo (13) went on an escorted tour of Khayelitsha, a township of 2.5 million people about 25 minutes outside of Cape Town.

Our guide was Mzukisi Lembeni ("Mzu" for short), a 30-ish man who grew up in Khayelitsha, and has had the wherewithal to set up his own business giving tours.  Driving into the township, we noticed a sea of shack-like structures with corrugated aluminum walls that stretched as far as the eye could see. We got to visit inside one, and although is was relatively comfortable, the roof had holes in it, and the owner relayed to us that anytime it rains everything gets wet.  The house had a working kitchen, running water, and a kerosene heater, which made it a bit more deluxe than many other places.  This family also had a car.  Mzu said about 35% of the families in the township own cars, and 95% have cell phones. We also saw a lot of satellite dishes. Another area we visited had no running water to the houses, and a row of outhouses for bathrooms.  The human waste winds up in 10 gallon plastic containers, and is removed later. A common water source supplies water to these homes.

Khayaleitsha

Pre-fab corrugated aluminum shacks for sale 

Another great encounter was with the local bike builder.  His mission is to build bikes for the local kids.  For about $0.20, he will build a bike out of spare parts.  He also teaches the kids basic bike building and repair.  He relayed to us that as a kid, he always wanted a bike, and as he got to be a grown man he vowed to make as many bikes as possible for all the other kids.  He had about 10 kids hanging around his shop, and some were helping him.  We left him with a bag of chocolate for his kids, and a small donation.

Outside the Khayaleitsha bike shop

There are power poles throughout the township.  People are supposed to pay for electricity, but many just attach a wire to the nearest pole and then to their home. Mzu called this practice "spiderman".

Some of the houses are built more like real houses.  Mzu told us an Irish man has come to the township and helped build about 20,000 houses over the years.  He also teaches the locals how to build.  The Irish government, as well as the local government sponsor him, and the homes are free for those lucky enough to get them. Most of the people who upgrade from the shacks to these homes are grateful, but Mzu told me some sell their houses and return to another shack instead. Some people also erect a shack outside their new home to handle overflow family members.

About 75% of the population is officially unemployed, but there is an unregulated economy.  Coca Cola signs were everywhere, as some people set up little mini-markets.  Other people cooked chicken and sausage.  Surprisingly, a lot of hair cutters and beauty shops were to be seen.  As a part of our tour, we visited the main supermarket, which was much like a Costco or warehouse store, and bought biscuits and bags of chips for some of the kids we would visit later.

The most fun was our interactions with the local kids.  We visited a preschool, and gave out lollipops, chips, biscuits and pencils. The kids sang us a song, and they were so cute and grateful getting gifts.  Following that, we went to Mzu's neighborhood, and a bunch of local kids were playing in the street.  We had pencils and some snacks for them too.  I noticed some of the kids doing a Gangnam style dance, and coaxed Bryce and Laurel to dance with them, and they were all dancing together. I showed off some poi moves, and tried to teach the kids some basics. It was priceless.

A happy little girl from preschool, with her new pencil

A young boy playing with the poi

Bryce, Laurel and kids doing Gangnam Style dance.

When we returned to our flat, I asked the kids what they thought of the tour. "Better than Disneyland" was how they put it.  And indeed it was.

Update: You can contact Mzu at 021 824 8976 or 073 507 3622 to arrange a tour. Or email him at info@imizamoyethu.co.za

Monkeys, Birds and Buses

Now that we're no longer sleep deprived, and have our bags, we can really start to enjoy Cape Town.  Almost everything here was closed yesterday on Sunday. but Monday brought about Cape Town in all it's promise.

We started by breakfasting at Lola's, a cute little breakfast and lunch spot right up the street. Most notable: I had this amazing Corn Fritter dish with pesto and avocado, and Bryce got a french toast croissant.  Everyone was really happy with their breakfast.

My Corn Fritter from Lola's

Next, we met some of our traveling companions for the first time. Mark, Cindi and Arwyn have moved around from San Miguel, to France, to Orlando.  Arwyn is almost 10, and hit it off with Laurel instantly. Bryce fit right in, and all the parents clicked right away.  We did a hop-on hop-off bus tour of Cape Town.  The tour took us through the city, and then up into the surrounding mountains where we stopped at World of Birds and Monkey Jungle. Laurel is a bird lover, and both kids like animals, we figured it would be a cool stop for them.

World of Birds is a bird sanctuary, which has evolved into a labyrinth of 100 aviaries, with all kinds of exotic birds from all over the world.  In particular, Laurel loves owls, and they had several varieties of them.  We were sometimes just two feet away from them, all of us inside the same aviary cage. The owls, and other birds, were really spectacular.

Colorful birds

Laurel up close with her favorite creature

Sue snapped this great photo

The other cool part of this place was Monkey Jungle.  This is an area that lets you go into an enclosure with about 30 squirrel monkeys, and they climb all over you.  Bryce seemed to be a magnet for the monkeys.

Bryce's Monkey Friends

After a couple of hours with the birds and monkeys, we hopped back on the bus and visited Hout Bay for a late lunch/snack.  Once we arrived, we saw an old fisherman with a sea lion on the pier. Bryce was complaining of being tired, but once he saw this he ran over and forgot about his fatigue.

The fisherman had some bait fish he was feeding to the sea lion, and he let the kids do some feeding as well. Arwyn even enticed the sea lion into a fishy "kiss".

Kissing a sea lion

After a snack, we got back on the bus and headed home.  Ann called us to meet up with her family and the Machetts, and agreed to come to the Africa Cafe, an authentic African dining place.  It was perfect for our group, as we were now 16 people.  The menu was a tasting of 12 different only-in-Africa dishes, including some curried beef, sesame balls, an excellent Lentil soup, and other dishes.  It was all delicious, and tasted really healthy.  If was great to reunite with our old friends.

Cape Town - Getting Better

Still no luggage this morning. South African Airlines said they would try to deliver it by 9 PM last night, but that clearly didn't happen.  Fortunately, they were pretty well able to deal with the situation, as I called their number and they were able to locate our bags and hold them for us while I got a ride to the airport to pick them up.  By 3PM, our bags were sitting happily in our flat, and Daddy was the hero.

With the rest of the afternoon, we decided to walk to the Victoria Wharf area and explore.  We discovered a very good aquarium, with a lot of cool fish and crustaceans that appear only on this side of the globe.  We saw some cool eels, really, really big crabs, and some other interesting fish.  The kids seemed to enjoy themselves.

After, we walked into Victoria Wharf, which is a little like Pier 39, only it feels more real.  We found a pier-side restaurant called Karibu, and settled there for dinner.  The food was South African style: I had a grilled line-caught Kingklip which as really tasty. Laurel had a mussel soup which was also really good.  The desserts were a big hit as well.

Our friends are gathering in town tomorrow, and we hope to meet up and start doing some group adventures. Today was overcast, and tomorrow looks to be the same, but after that we should see mid 70s and higher.

Cape Town is beautiful. Here's the view from our deck:

Table Mountain - from our deck

Slow Start in Cape Town

After a 14 hour flight from New York to Johannesburg, and another 2 hour flight to Cape Town, we finally made it here.  Only our luggage didn't - none of our bags arrived.  I sent the family to go get into our flat, and I waited at the airport for more flights from Johannesburg to see if our luggage was on it.  After 4 flights and 5 hours had gone by with none of our bags appearing, I took a taxi and rejoined the family.

When I arrived, Sue and the kids had already eaten, but I was hungry and a little pissy from my travel ordeal, so Sue was kind enough to join me for a second dinner and a much needed drink.  We found a well-populated burger bar up the street (Royal Burger, or something like that), and I had a really excellent African Wagu beef burger and a delicious local draft.  So the day wasn't a total waste.

Oh. We have no phone or Internet in our flat.  Major bummer. I've been lucky enough to be able to use some of the hotels nearby for Wifi, and they have graciously shared the access codes with me. Sue swears that the flat was supposed to come with Internet.  Kind of hard to believe you could rent with out it.

We're staying in Center City on Long street.  There are quite a few bars around us, and some restaurants.  We have been approached on the street for money every time we go out, but the neon-vested police here do their best to shoo away the unwanted "friend".  There's quite a mix of cultures and races here - including Indians, Chinese, and of course Africans. Cape Town is pretty westernized though, so any of these neighborhoods could be in San Francisco just as easily.

Cape Town shows a lot of promise. Just. Need. Luggage.

Update: As we were leaving Cape Town, we mentioned the luggage fiasco to our driver. It turns out a local radio station caught wind of this particular flight, and had a field day interviewing South African Airways officials about why it took so long for the baggage to arrive.  Apparently a carousel broke in Johannesburg, and instead of delaying the flight and finding another way to get the bags on board, they simply left without most of the baggage.