Our Last Day

Another amazing day in Zambia. It is early morning here and we pack up this morning to begin our long journey home. We leave Livingstone, Zambia airport at 1:30 PM and if all goes smoothly, we will arrive in San Diego at 5 PM on Friday, some 36 hours later, with some layovers in Johannesburg, London and Los Angeles.

Yesterday, the management at Tongabezi gave us a 15 minute helicopter ride over Victoria Falls - this was very generous! A breathtaking ride flying over the Zimbabwe side as well and giving us a spectacular perspective of just how wide the falls are and allowing us to see much of it that were hidden by the mist and rain when we were in the park.
This was followed by a lunch at Sindabezi Island, an island leased by Tongabezi from the Zambia Gov't - it has 5 small private rooms where you can stay that are completely open to the Zambezi and all its glory. See http://www.tongabezi.com/sindabezi.php for more info. It was a magnificent setting for our final lunch. Horace the Hippo used to live on the island with the guests but he recently moved on due to the floods.


See you on the other side of the pond!!

Tongabezi - Zambia!!

Bwanji! We arrived at Livingstone airport from Jo’Burg on Monday lunchtime. Livingstone was the former capital of Zambia until 1935, when the capital was moved to Lusaka, a more centrally located site and closer to the Copperbelt mines. Lusaka has a population of about 2M while Livingstone has a population of only about 150K. We had a short 20 minute drive through the town center and then a small wildlife park to the Tongabezi Lodge located on banks of the Zambezi River. The name comes from the local Tonga-Ila people and the word ‘bezi’ meaning ‘by the river’. Along the way we saw zebras and giraffe, as well as impala. When we arrived at our accomodations we were greeted with fresh juice and told that we would take a boat to the owner’s home, Tongala House, the only accommodations not flooded that could fit us all. The river is at one of its highest levels in about 40 years and our boat ride gave witness to the flooded cabins, as did our arrival, when we hopped from log to log across the lawn to get to the back entrance to the house. Water was up to the doorstep and took over the pool. The small fence around the property would keep the Nile Crocodiles out, but it wouldn’t stop the grazing hippos. We were told not to worry, as our activity and lights would keep them away. Across the river is Zimbabwe, and a boat ride along its banks brought us views of baboons and white-fronted bee eater birds, the most beautiful little bird I ever saw. They dig holes into the sides of the river banks up to 1 meter in length. We also saw a sausage tree, with pods weighing up to 22 pounds. Not the tree to rest under!

Although it is Fall here, there is only the slightest nip in the air in the early morning and eve, just enough to put on a wrap for our outside dining. The first night we took a sunset cruise on the river to search for hippos. We were hearing them calling across the river since our arrival and hoped to get a chance to see them. We were not disappointed, having found 4 under the bush in the river, one of them being the largest hippo I have ever seen in my life, to my eye its body the size of a VW bus! And then it yawned, exposing the vast interior of its mouth and large teeth. Not nearly as cute as the furry stuffed hippos we see at the zoo store.
On our first full day our wonderful guide, Godfrey, took us to Victoria Falls. Of course, Dr. Livingstone didn’t ‘discover it’, but was led there by locals and named it in honor of the Queen of England. A South African tribal group called the Kololos named it ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’ – the Smoke That Thunders - one of the seven natural wonders of the world and a world heritage site, and just a short drive from our lodge. We walked through the dry side of Victoria Falls National Park along where the water heads down over the falls and to the ‘the boiling pot’, an area at the bottom of the falls with a huge whirlpool effect is visable. No swimming here! Then we headed over to the wet side, where the terrain becomes lush rainforest, and the viewing of the falls is through a warm downpour of the Zambezi as the 2M gallons per second of water going over the falls splashes upward into the sky and rains down on us. It was a truly an exhilarating moment that the cameras couldn’t catch for fear of ruining them completely. The hike from boiling pot gave us a stir as we were coming back up the trail – we were met by a huge family of baboons – Greg, in particular, needing some exercise, sprinted up the trail, only to be completely surrounded by them at one point at the top of the trail – a heart stopping, breath holding moment for sure…..

After some bartering at the Victoria Falls open air markets we enjoyed a spectacular lunch back at the lodge on the upper veranda near the river. After lunch we set off to Simbala Village, a local village of about 3,500 people who live in the ways of their ancestors – mud huts, sustainable farming and livestock. We met one of the tribal heads, an older woman with three teeth, and were given a tour by ‘Junior’, and a number of village children drawn to us along the way. We went into the village school which was in the process of renovations – a concrete floor was being laid. An American couple had donated $10,000 to build the school a library, a rarity among schools here. In one of the classrooms a chalkboard held the last lesson, instructions about how to avoid AIDS, and diseases one can get from swimming in or drinking contaminated water. One boy, Robert, asked for a soccer ball and another, Mike asked for $ to buy a book for school. At the end of our tour we pooled our money and gave it to Junior, with the hopes that our instructions to purchase the requested items would be honored.


Today after breakfast we will take a short helicopter ride over the falls, then stop to see the Livingstone Hotel on the way to lunch on Sindabezi Island. We may opt for massages in the afternoon or a leisurely afternoon of reading on the veranda or a hippo viewing boat ride. Tomorrow morning we leave for Livingstone, where we’ll catch our flight home through Jo’Burg, London, LA and then home.

Zambia has only 1 rail line, and only 1 passenger train per week that takes 2 days to travel 100 miles due to the numerous stops along the way. There are few cars, and many people walk along the roads, women with baskets balanced on their heads, children in school uniforms, and others are bicycling to and fro. There seems to be local small bus transport, as there are people standing in groups along the road.

Random knowledge and history….Weather wise Zambia has 3 seasons - wet and hot, dry and cool, and dry and hot. We have just left the wet and hot and are headed to the cool and dry. The dry and hot season is so hot its nickname is the ‘the suicide season’. Zambia has over 70 Bantu speaking tribal groups in 9 provinces. The British moved into the then called ‘Barotseland’ in the 19th century, redrawing the boundaries and renaming it to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The federation was dissolved in 1963, and was split into Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and Malawi – then in 1964, Northern Rhodesia became independent which the people named Zambia. Zambia’s natural resources are copper and teak wood. I know there is so much more, but you’ll have to do your own research if you are interested. To know the history and the languages is the first step to knowing the people, and a path to create understanding and peace between different cultures across continents.

Last Days at Singita

We leave today to head to Jo’burg for one night and then on to Tongabezi River Lodge in Zambia. We received word that our private lodgings flooded by the swollen Zambezi river during the recent rains and would have to move to the main lodge. A bit disappointing as we were looking forward to the rooms open to nature, but the lodge will be a first class experience that I am sure we will enjoy.

How can I begin to share with you the incredible experiences of the last few days on safari? Besides the animal sightings – my recent favorites being the wildebeasts (gnus) and rhinos, plus, finally, a hyena den with mother and 2 cubs, we have been treated to a birthday dinner celebration in the B.O.M.A.(British Officers’ Mess Area, a round walled area open to the sky, where the British army stored their cattle in the center of their encampments, alternatively using them for an officers’ dining hall) , complete with our chef barbequing on site and our servers, dressed in colorful African costumes, breaking out in beautiful song, dance, and drumming, stirring us all from our seats to join them in dance.

This morning began like all others, 5:30am wake up call then fresh coffee and teas with homemade breakfast squares and mini scones. After being handed bottles of cold water on our way to our Land Rovers, we were ready for our last safari. We found baby elephants and a journey of giraffes, heard hyenas in the distance as we tracked lions following the cape buffalo herd. We were hoping to see them enjoying remnants from an evening kill. We did find the lions, but they were lounging in the bush, their skinny bellies evidence of another day without food. Hopefully they will get lucky on the hunt tonight.

We stopped for our picnic of coffee in a clearing off the road with a view of - a field where gnu and impala were playing (just like in the song!), then another bit of tracking until – ahoy! – what is that in the clearing just in the distance over there? It can’t be! A large barbeque and buffet of cold foods, a beautiful table set for breakfast in the bush for us all, shade umbrellas and private canvassed off privy with a wood table for the wash basin filled with lemons and water, proper towel, hand lotion and bug spray. We sat down to bloody marys and a fresh cooked breakfast, an amazing feat of outdoor eating, one that will spoil me for any future camping experiences, to be sure.

We are now packed and ready, awaiting our final snacks and friends before we head to our little airstrip for our departure from Singita. If we didn’t have our adventures in Zambia ahead of us, I would be so very sad to be leaving. It will be much different I expect, with lots of water due to flooding, more humid with mosquitoes, which we really haven’t seen much of here at Sabi Sands. (BTW – the Sabi Sands area is named after 2 rivers – the Sabi, and, well, the Sands). I am very much looking forward to seeing Victoria Falls, hippos and other water loving animals, and plan on wearing lots of mosquito repellant while we are there. Goodbye Singita!

Singita Sabi Sands

Arrived here on Tuesday late morning via a new Beechcraft 8 seater 2 pilot twin prop. Our welcome was an impala on the side of the runway on approach. The rest of our Cape Town-Jo’burg group came later, after making a second approach due to the impala having moved onto the runway barring the plane from landing. Although we arrived late after being diverted to an alternate airport due to fog in Jo’burg, we were in time for lunch and afternoon safari. It was to be the first of our two-a-day - one at 5:30am and the other at 3pm ish jeep outtings.

Amazing stuff. Castleton Camp, unbeknownst to any of us, is a common lodge with full kitchen, staff quarters and private cabins with pool and tennis court. We had all thought from previous description the camp to be a big lodge w/ bedrooms. We were happy either way, but are enjoying the privacy of separate cottages. Did I mention we have our own chef? Oh, and our own guides and trackers for safaris?

Most amazing are the animals. The smells. The African scenery. Sunrises on safari and sunsets overlooking the plains. Oh, and stops for a pee and tea or a sundowner along the way, to break up the 3-4 hour treks through the 56,000 acres Sabi Sands reserves.

So what do our hundreds of pictures show? Rhinos and hippos, impalas and zebras, elephants and giraffes, eagles and vultures and other assorted birds, and monkeys and baboons, kudus and lions, leopards and wildebeest, water buck and herds of cape buffalo, civit and nyala, and….funny enough, one of the most amazing experiences was watching our tracker locate a chameleon on a leaf on a tree at night with his spotlight as we were driving down the road at 20 miles an hour! Of course, the leopard eating its impala kill was another wow, as her cubs wrestled a few yards away. Too-too many special moments to elaborate upon here, but just know that we captured as many as we could and just absorbed at the moment what we couldn’t, like the thick swath of the Milky Way star system illuminating our nights, with Orion’s Belt and the Southern Cross brightly guiding us in the right direction.

Tonight was our reason for coming here, our cousins Beth and Jeff’s vow renewal ceremony. Breathtaking event held at sunset, overlooking the watering hole just beyond our backyard, w/ impala chasing one another in the background and a curious rhino and baboon lurking nearby. African dancers, singers and drummers added to the festivities along with a food and wine tasting menu to be rivaled by the best in South Africa. Many speeches and pictures, videotaking and dancing later, we are now tucked in safe after being escorted back to our cabin, looking forward to what the next morning’s safari will bring.

Next day: a leopard in a tree branch high overhead; a large bull elephant in musk crossing the river, his scent overwhelming us in the high reeds; a journey of giraffes with a newborn – umbilical cord still attached; a crash of rhinos with two little ones in tow; a troop of baboons crossing our path and travelling between the trees; there is no end to the surprises nature provides. I feel closely connected to the animals here, and appreciate our trackers’ knowledge of plants and animal signs and habits, scents and habitats; a closeness to nature us city-folk would be hard pressed to understand, so distant we have become from our natural habitat. How much we humans would like to believe we are civilized, when in reality we are still and will always be animals, with intuition and instincts that remain in effect if we would only listen to them – would we be better off?

An African Villa to La Petite Ferme to Jo'burg

Our lodgings in Cape Town were lovely, in a safe area for walking and near restaurants and a local trinket market. Delicious breakfast in the garden each morning and a lovely sitting room filled with decorated ostrich eggs and porcupine quills. Kathy our tour guide picked us up our final morning in the city to take us to the winelands, about an hour's drive. Kathy gave us a bit of South African history since the end of aparthied while we were on the motorway leaving town, passing all the fenced in shanty towns where the blacks live that have come south looking for opportunities. There aren't enough houses or apartments for them, and they come w/o much money or education, so they erect these shelters in the meantime. There is a noted separation between blacks, coloreds, and whites in their living and socialization, customs and traditions. A healthy middle class of blacks is growing as the government creates more opportunities for employment. It was interesting to hear our tour guide's perspective and how easily one can fall into using 'they' and 'we' when speaking of the present racial and class divide. We batted around ideas on how to solve the educational, social and economic problems of South Africa, realizing that our van ride wasn't nearly long enough. We remain thoughtful and hopeful about the future of the country.

Our first stop in the wine country was the scenic gardens and tasting room at Jordan vineyards located in the Stellenbosch Valley, a beautiful first stop to our tour.
They opened a lovely restaurant about 6 months ago, with it's own private cheese room. However, it wasn't our lunch spot so we moved on to the Glen Carlou Estate owned by Donald Hess, where we sat on the veranda with a view of the valley and mountains across the way and had an amazing meal paired with wonderful Glen Carlou wines.
Then off to Fairview Estate where Anita led us on an adventure in dessert cheeses paired w/ Fairview wines. We enjoyed petting the welcome goats in the pen out front (I swear one of them smiled at us) and bought some of their lovely goat and cow milk cheeses, bread, pickles and wines to enjoy later as a light meal for an after dinner arrival at La Petite Ferme.
We ate our meal on the veranda of one of our cabins overlooking a fishing pond and vineyards. Getting to La Petite Ferme meant driving around Simon's Peak - a mountain range that looks like a man with a belly lying on his back, his mouth open, snoring. When the clouds roll in it appears that he has pulled a white blanket over his stomach to keep warm. I think he may have had too much of the local wines!

A quick aside - La Petite Ferme was one of the vineyards that made the news in the last few months. A hillside fire drove the baboons out of their natural habitat, forcing them to raid the chardonnay grapes in the vineyard! Must have been quite a sight, and surely a nuisance to the winemaker.

The next morning we got a bit of much needed exercise after so many amazing meals and wines in Cape Town and wine country. Greg went for a run and I a walk-jog along the road, trying to keep in mind that the cars drive on the opposite side of the road to us. Then we all had a breakfast of fresh fruits, soft boiled eggs, smoked salmon, and fresh croissants before we packed up and then walked into town. On our way out we were stopped by the owner Mark, the winemaker at the farm. He said that we must join him for his winemaker's tour, which he himself only gives once every two weeks. He said if he had a choice he would surely choose the tour over the town, and he'd promised we would enjoy it. So, we gave up our bit of exercise to accompany him with only one other couple besides our group of 6 friends. I have to admit it was the better choice, being the highlight of our trip so far! He took us down into the fermenting room and explained the process, showed us the sand (from Wyoming!) he stirs by hand into clay to use as a filter for the wines, shared his temperature charts with us and described when to add yeast and vitamin C and a whole bunch of other details that I will spare you. Then we got to taste the wines from the tanks, while Mark continued to explain which ones are blended, which spend time in oak barrels, which corks and bottles he uses and why, and then even more details about the winemaking process. He then led us down another level again to the oak barrels, where we again got to taste more wines. Our white favorite was the blanc fume (that's what they call their fume blanc), his merlot, and his up and coming Verdict red blend of cab franc, merlot and cab due to be released in 2012. The tour lasted about an hour and 45 minutes, after which we wandered into the dining room and secured a table on the open veranda for an outstanding lunch of warthog, rabbit, duck, etc. all with artistic preparations, and each rivalling it's neighbor in flavours, scents and appearance. Alas, Kathy arrived to fetch us and we had to bid our sad goodbyes to the wine region and my friend Julie, who had joined us for lunch at La Petite Ferme.

I napped in the van on the way to the Cape Town airport, where we caught our flights to Johannesburg where we are now. They actually fed us dinner over a 1.5 hour flight, which wasn't bad at all, featuring a spicy malay sauce over fish and a cold pasta salad. We were greeted by our handler, Allen,(who held a sign up w/ our names on it - I always wanted to be greeted that way somewhere)who walked us over to the InterContinental Airport Hotel, where we start the beginning of our McCain-hosted part of our South African adventure. We have taken full advantage of the beautiful rooms with a bubble bath, rooibus tea, fluffy bathrobes and free wifi. Tomorrow morning we rise early to workout and breakfast, then off to the airport to catch our charter plane to Singita Sabi Sands game reserve, where we will meet up with the rest our the McCain party. Good night and sleep well!

Capetown!!

We have now spent two glorious days in Capetown with very little jetlag! We were greeted at the airport by our dear friend and maid of honor in our wedding (almost 20 years ago), Julie, who lives in a suburb, Kommetjie, a small little surf community on the western cape. She rented a car big enough to fit all 7 of us and we toured the cape down to Simons Town to see the penguins. We then stopped at her lovely home where we sipped champagne, ate Namibian oysters she procured from her friends that own a seafood business, and met her 7 year old son, Zachary (for the first time!)and her three dogs. We then had a magnificent dinner at Savoy Cabbage sampling Gembock and Wart Hog, both bursting with flavor.



Today we set out in the morning to Table Mountain, a national park which could be considered one of the seven new wonders of the world. The day was absolutely perfect for our visit and walk as the pictures will attest.



Julie then accomodated our interest in experiencing Malay food, taking us to the Malay quarter of town, where we had an adventure in Malay foods remembered for their sweetness. This was at Noon Gun restaurant on Signal Hill with a stunning view of Table Mountain and the city below. Then she dropped us off at the waterfront and then a walk to Cape Quarter where we window shopped the fancy shops and taxied back to An African Villa to freshen up. For dinner we walked to the historic Nelson Hotel for a drink on their outside veranda, then headed to a local pizza joint for out of this world thin crust pizza.

Tomorrow we head to the vineyards.....until our next blog!

layover in England

Lovely day in England, after landing at Heathrow and showering in the American Airlines Arrival Lounge after a long flight from Chicago(I'm sure it was the BEST shower I've ever had). Our friends Andy & Jane picked us up for an excursion to Savill Garden, where we walked and chatted through the beautiful gardens, then on to Eton, where we had a delicious lunch at the House on the Bridge with a view of Windsor Castle. Saw the Eton students in tails as we window shopped along the cobblestone streets, and narrowly missed getting rained on by stepping in for a bite at just the right time. In spite of a number of coffees together I still managed to nod off on the car ride back to Heathrow. After invigorating chair massages, Greg and I have now found new energy; we are both on computers typing away at the BA lounge. Our next flight for the day is 12 hours long taking us into Cape Town. So grateful to Andy & Jane for a lovely afternoon, providing a welcome break in our 24 hours of travel time and making it so much more enjoyable. We hope our next visit together will be longer!