Hi Everybody, welcome or welcome back! We've just returned from 3 weeks in Africa, specifically, Botswana, Zambia and South Africa. Check the pix below for a look at the places we visited and the people we met.
BE SURE TO CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO ENLARGE THEM
some kids from SSI
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| bricks being made for the bakery |
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| field kitchen for construction workers |
The project was started by our friend Rich after he recognized the need and that he had the capacity to make a difference in some people's lives. Its such a well executed idea - go Rich!
Next we travelled to Zambia, the Royal Livingstone Hotel where we spent two nights and witnessed the awesome spectacle of Victoria Falls:
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| crossing the Zambezi river - another adventure all by itself! |
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| GREAT bar - note the frog lamps |
The hotel was so luxuriously appointed - love 'em or hate 'em the Brits knew how to roll.
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| Rose petals! Sooo colonia! |
The environment around the falls was amazing - walking in the "rain" created by the volume of water, people in raincoats and others in bathing suits; bright sunshine and a double rainbow.
We hiked down into the river gorge at the bottom of the falls to "The Boiling Pot" - a natural confluence of two rivers. We had a great view of the bungee jumpers from the bridge on the Zimbabwe side of the river.
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| Sunset on the Zambezi |
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| RLH Monkey chaser |
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| Deck view of falls |
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| Tourist |
Our next stop was the Okavango Delta
http://www.okavango-delta.net/info.htm - a massive game refuge in northern Botswana. We took several small bush plane flights getting around - mostly Cessna 260s like this one with our pilot Martin.
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| Martin |
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| Co Pilot |
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| they had to chase these guys off our "runway" |
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| Lots of elephants on the drive to Sandibe |
The two lodges we visited were operated by the "& Beyond" company - a professional outfit that we'd recommend to anyone who asked
http://www.andbeyondafrica.com/african_safari/botswana they thought of almost everything and were fantastic hosts - FYI they fed us an incredible, ever-changing variety of home-made, gourmet food. Drop some pounds before booking with these guys 'cause you're guaranteed to put some on if you stay longer than 5 minutes.
You go on these trips for the wildlife or "game" viewing and no one was disappointed - we viewed an astonishing quantity of African fauna in their natural habitat. They are all generally pretty habituated to the presence of land rovers filled with gawking tourists and are thus not disturbed in their normal activities.
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| These hyenas chased a leopard off its kill |
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| warthogs |
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| greater kudu |
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| What? |
A herd of cape buffalo crossing a water course
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wattled cranes - a mating pair
Our expectations we're exceeded time after time, in both camps. At Xudum (pronounced "koo-doom") they hadn't seen a lion since January 2011, yet our guides hunted this guy up for us after he began roaring while crossing another pride's territory... |
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| (Photo by Kris I.) |
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| Vervet monkey in the main Sandibe lodge |
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| Baboon in a tree |
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| Our new friend Kris I. from Dallas took several of the pix displayed here and generously shared them with us. Thanks Kris! |
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| They come in all sizes! |
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| Hippo |
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What kind of creatures are these??!!
we had an unusual experience of finding a leopard with his kill and then watching him drag it up a tree "for later"... |
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| The kill - a male impala |
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| Up he goes, defying gravity |
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The killer
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Up he goes!
CAPE TOWN
From the Okavango we travelled to Cape Town, South Africa and boy, are we glad we did! It's hard to describe how knocked out we were by Cape Town. It's a very alive place - lot's of athletic activity going on, bicyclers, roller bladers, dog walkers, runners, surfers and paddle boarders. The night life is bumping, one great restaurant after another, and all of it surrounded by stunning mountains, ocean and the wine country about an hour's drive away. We spent four nights at the Blackheath Lodge bed and breakfast
http://www.blackheathlodge.co.za/ in a house originally built in 1890!
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| Lion's Head (L) Table Mountain (R) |
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| the route up... |
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| View from the top of "The Lion's Head" mountain |
en route to the end of the world
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| End of the world - Cape of Good Hope |
Cape of Good Hope
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| Guess what these guys are doing... |
The third day we drove to "wine country" more specifically, the town of Franschhoek and the Stellenbosch region...
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| Grand Provence vineyard |
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| Keep an eye out for the wines of Warwick vineyards! |
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| Our lunch spot |
Everything was beautiful, tranquil, set up for tourism and wine tasting - which we did until we literally couldn't do it any more. That's why we hired a driver for the day!
This really was a trip of a lifetime and now that we know about Cape Town, well, Air France flies there direct from Paris, sounds like a future wine tour in the making.
For your viewing pleasure a selection of random pix, enjoy!
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| Tsesebee |
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| Cape Buffalo - don't they look like they're wearing viking helmets? |
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| Cheetah |
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| South African friends - Dory, Jodi, Tanya & David |
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| Giraffe family |
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| Great Herons |
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| Gray Hornbill |
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| Sundowners |
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| Blue Wildebeest, a.k.a. Gnu |
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| Tough drinkin' from waaay up there! |
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| did that last zebra taste funny to you? |
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| Close to the action |
Sounds of Okavango
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| Really close... |
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| Any extra room in the land cruiser? |
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| The Secretary Bird - really... |
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| A juvenile painted reed frog |
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| Pied Kingfisher |
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| Lavender Breasted Roller, and he's PISSED! |
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| Malachite Kingfisher |
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| Fish Eagle |
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| BMOC |
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| Peel's Spotted Owl |
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| Mom and baby |
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| Bee Eater |
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| Juvenile Martial Eagle |
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| If only I could steal a cup of tea to go with the muffin. Hmmmm... |
