Namibia 2018

May 26 - Saturday
Yeah, I slept last night! I went to bed at 11 PM, something that I have not done for many decades, and fell asleep instantly. I got a solid 6.5 hours of sleep. Today was a travel day. We went for breakfast at 6:30 as arranged but no staff were in yet. We ended up rummaging around the kitchen and making our own. We were at the airport very early for our 10:25 AM flight to Windhoek, so we had a coffee and some of us had a small breakfast. On checking in we learned that Joanie and I were again assigned poor seats, in the middle behind each other. I complained to Joanie loud enough for the attendant to hear, that I was getting upset that even though we organized this trip, we keep getting assigned the worst seats. He smiled and said, I hear ya. Let me see if I can help. Then he got us a window seat and middle seat. Our flight was full but we left the terminal a few minutes early. I was very impressed with Air Namibia. We had a 1 hour and 46 minute flight to Walis Bay. In this time we were served a cold drink, followed by a lunch, and finally coffee. Our flight gave us a great view of Cape Town and environs. We then flew over Namibia near the coast. It was almost all desert sand with the odd rocky mountain or hill. Walis Bay airport was also surrounded by sand. We were the only plane to land there or even park there. This was great for take off as we really didn't need any clearance to go. The weather was about 30 degrees C. outside with a breeze. Many of the people boarding at Walis Bay wore ski jackets and winter coats. Was there a snow storm coming that we were not aware of? The flight to Windhoek was only 30 minutes, but in that time we got juice boxes and two snacks, a chocolate bar and a bag of biltong.  The airport in Windhoek was 40 km. for the city and we had to walk on the tarmac from the plane to the terminal. Joanie was scolded by a security guard for taking a picture of the terminal building. Good thing too, because I was thinking of doing this highly illegal act myself. We found our driver right away and along the highway to Windhoek I saw two warthogs and a tree with baboons in it. Just a teaser for tomorrow.
Our accommodation in Windhoek, the Arebbusch Lodge, was great. We had very nice air conditioned rooms, a swimming pool, (too cold for most humans to use this time of year but R did go in), restaurant, etc. We had a relaxing afternoon by the pool, except when birds landed in the trees near us and Gerda and I had to investigate. Tomorrow the safariing starts and everyone was excited about that. We didn't bring parkas and winter coats but should be alright by the time this place warms up to 30 degrees. Shorts should be the order of the day for a few days.

May 27 - Sunday

Following another great sleep, we got up at 6AM for breakfast and our 7:30 pickkup by our safari GUIDE, Ben. Ben was 30 minutes late. The safari vehicle had seats for 10 people, with three in the back row and one seat not by the window. The layout was similar to the vehicle we had in South Africa in 2014, but the windows were smaller and it felt like you had to duck in order to see. The walls were covered in rough berber which scraped your skin. After a few hours of highway driving we came to a town where we got groceries, mostly water and snacks because it was Sunday and you could not buy liquor on Sunday. We found out that we had a flat tire so we went to a local service station to fix it. Ben did not have all the tools needed to lift the vehicle up so a tire specialist was called. Then five men stood around and watched as one man took off the tire and replaced it. After about an hour we were on our way. We stopped at a restaurant in Oujo for lunch We could order anything on the menu, but we had to pay for our own drinks. Paying took forever, and Ben did not help matters by getting into long conversations with various staff.  Finally we were on our way again, now quite a bit later than planned.  Along the highway we saw hundreds of guineafowl, at least 50 warthogs, several groups of baboons, and an ostrich. We got to the Etosha National Park gate at about 3:30. We were only a few minutes in before we came upon a herd of elephants, including several young. One large one even stood right in front of our vehicle and first pooped, and soon afterwards peed, which was enough to fill a bucket. We then found a herd of zebra and a few impala and guineafowl. A short distance up the road a large group of vehicles had stopped for a supposed lion laying in the grass. A giraffe kill had been found and it was assumed that na lion had done the deed. We never saw the lion but wasted a lot of time standing, gazing at nothing, then moving vehicle position for another try. We gave up but it was a while before Ben gave up. Ben told u7s we could stand and look through the roof hatch, which was now open, to spot game. In fact, 90 percent of the animals and birds we saw were spotted by ourselves, not Ben. I was a little (OK a lot), disappointed that Ben spotted so few animals, and provided very little information about any we did see. Our animal drive before check in included the elephants, several herds of zebras and lone zebras, many springboks, red hartebeests, a few oryx, impala, secretary birds, kori bustards, black bustards, plovers, ground squirrels, a kestrel, a falcon right next to the vehicle when we stopped, ostriches, a black rhino and a wildebeest. Ben was in a big hurry at the end as the gate to our facility in Okaukuejo closed at sunset, 6:30PM. We made it by only 15 minutes. After checking in and a buffet dinner we went to a water hole about 100 metres from our cabins, but not before Joanie tripped over a curb and scraped herself up. A little reminiscent of a trip to Zion years ago. The water hole was lit up at night. A crowd was gathered to watch. There was a herd of zebras that were drinking, but then were scared away by a black rhino. Then there were 5 rhinos. I also saw two black-backed jackals sneak in for a drink. Very exciting to see. Despite minor frustrations with our driver, and the vehicle, we had a marvelous day and saw a lot of wildlife. The buffet dinner was less than inspiring. Salad, vegetable soup, chicken breasts, pap, (an African grits), oxtail something or other, plain rice with some peas in it and a small white bun. Hard to decide what you want least.

May 28 - Monday

 We started the day with an absolutely gorgeous red sunrise. We were ready to go for the supposed 7AM gate opening. The plan was to do a game drive for 90 minutes and then come back for breakfast. When they say the gates are closed from sunset to sunrise, they mean it literally. It was 7:30 before we were allowed out, just as the sun was above the horizon. We drove for about 2 hours. We did not see much new, but the herds of antelopes were more active. Large groups of young springboks bounced and played together, as did the more rambunctious young zebras. We saw herds of wildebeests and a few black-backed jackals. Breakfast was odd, with pap, some chicken dish, some weird sausage concoction, boiled eggs, bacon strips, and bread with jams, etc.

After breakfast we visited the water hole. It was beyond expectation. There were hundreds and hundreds of zebras. There was a steady stream of them filing in to the area and a steady stream leaving. The water was filled with zebras among a few other antelopes. It was amazing to see. We then went on another game drive. We saw more of the same animals and sat for some time by an old elephant, because the herd of oryx nearby seemed alert and some other guide had told us he saw two lions mating in the area. We waited for the lions to appear but there was no sign of them. We came back, had lunch, mostly leftovers from last night’s dinner, and then had a few hours to relax, do laundry and sit at the water hole. We did have an incident at lunch. We were told that we had to pay for dinner that night according to the agreement. We were sure the safari included all meals. George brought a printout of a safari summary, stating that meals were included. He said he would refuse to pay and skip dinner if necessary. Ben talked to the manager and after some discussion, he said he would pay for the dinner, but we would have to sort it out with African Budget Safari to reimburse him. (Footnote: once we had wi fi I checked again and the itinerary on the web site was exactly as they said. i.e. We were wrong. Our personal itinerary said meals per itinerary. Oops.)

At 4PM we went on another drive. Ben wanted to go back to the giraffe carcass we saw on Day 1 to see if a lion or other scavenger would be there. It was a great drive. We did find a male lion lying behind the giraffe. We also found a beautiful spot with three giraffes, a herd of zebras, a few impalas, a jackal, some vultures, a large flock of guineafowl, and an eagle of some sort, all out in the open. We had an awesome sunset at the water hole with two giraffes who seemed to pose in front of the sunset for a perfect African sunset. Dinner was again unimpressive although a little better. Not sure it was worth 220R. The day finished at the water hole once more, where there was a giraffe and several rhinos, including a mom and baby. I also saw what I thought might be a genet, pouncing on something in the grass, twice. I saw his ringed black and white tail. And Joanie's banged up elbow is on the mend. 

May 29 - Tuesday

Joanie woke up today with one eye swollen almost shut. She had several mosquito bites around her eye and on her arm overnight. Her eye was swollen over her eye lids. What some people will do to get attention! After a leisurely breakfast, a standard one with fried eyes and sausage, we did a final visit to the water hole, before loading up the vehicle and going on a very short game drive on our way to the park gate. We did not see anything new. We then had a long drive back to Windhoek. We stopped for lunch at a long-named town soon forgotten. The idea was to have lunch and spend some time shopping, but then Ben said we were leaving in 40 minutes, and service at restaurants was so slow, we doubted we could get done in time, so we skipped the shopping. The market was across the street. It had all little open boxes with people selling things. It looked like a small shanty town and you could see the people ready to descend on you, pushing their wares. This did not look appealing at all. We got to our hotel B & B at about 3:30 PM and parted ways with Ben. We sat outside sharing some wine and spotting a few interesting birds, including the rose-faced lovebird. (R & R have one of these as a pet so were excited to see it.) We went to a local restaurant for dinner. It was very good. By the time we got back, it was very cold outside, probably between 5 and 8 degrees, which after 30 degrees felt like freezing. We all gave up on sitting together for nightcaps and scurried to our rooms to warm up.

May 30 - Wednesday

Today was another transition day. We had to book out of our rooms at the Utopia by 10AM. It was a nice sunny day, but not super hot. A cool breeze blew. Despite being able to sleep in, I was awake by 4:30 and only dozed a little after that. We were able to keep one of the rooms until we were leaving for the airport, which was around 2:30 or 3PM, exact time was not listed on our itinerary. We spent the day sitting around. Some read books, while a few of us spent a lot of time looking for birds in the trees on the property. There were many varieties including mousebirds, bulbuls, blue waxbills, canaries and more. “For lunch we went to the restaurant on the property that we ate dinner at the night before. The food was delicious. I had lasagna which was different but very good. By 3:15 we were still waiting for our shuttle and getting a little nervous. Our flight to Joburg was for 5:30PM. I had the front desk check, and it turned out there was a big accident which closed the highway and our driver was stuck. Another driver was sent and we were soon on our way. The section of highway we were on was very light in traffic and I think he made it the 40 km. in record time. We checked in and in no time were boarding. The flight left 15 minutes early, because everyone was on board I suppose. It was a 90 minute flight and in that time we again got top service. Westjet and Air Canada take note! We were immediately served beverages including alcohol. As soon as that was distributed, they served dinner. Then they cam around a second time with coffee, tea or cold drinks. They cleaned up and it was time to land. Very hard working and efficient.

We were seated on the last row of the plane, and were the last off. Because Tina needed a wheelchair and a few people ducked into the washroom, we were also the last to clear customs. Our bags were the only ones left on the carrousel. We picked up some wine at the Duty Free, and came out after a very long walk. Almost everyone else was gone and there was no sight of anyone with a “Gerry Meyer” sign. I looked around outside as well but saw no one. My heart sank. Not another glitch! Then Re spotted him off to the side. We got to our lodging, Outlook Lodge, a huge old house converted into a lodge. Very nice! We were even offered a free glass of wine and since we were to return here after our safari, the manager said we could leave behind anything we did not need on safari. Despite having spent a whole day just relaxing and waiting, it was very tiring and we did not last beyond 11PM.

Cape Town 2018

May 20 to 21
At long last, after well over a year of planning, we are off to Africa!  Our flight from Vancouver to London on British Air left at 8:55PM and 8.5 hours later, we were in London. We had assigned seats in the middle of the middle section on the second level of this airbus. The bulkhead made for extra leg space which was nice. Despite this, and the overnight flight, I think I slept only a few minutes in total, not all at one time of course.
At Heathrow airport, we had what was to be a 7 hour layover, a long time, but a little short to be taking the train into London itself, so we sat and sat and walked around and sat some more. My eyes were too tired to read or do crosswords. We were there only a day after the wedding of Harry and Meagan at Windsor castle, but I was surprised to find only a small supply of left over souvenirs, like mugs and cookie tins. There were still tins of Kate and William's wedding, even though they had two children by now. How stale would those cookies be? We were disheartened to learn that our flight was delayed by an hour and our wait would be extended. We did not leave until 10:30PM, May 21. We were traveling with 8 people, family and friends, and my sister was hobbling with a cane due to impending hip surgery. Because of this, when I pushed her up to the gate, all 8 of us were let through and we ended up being the first to board. I have never been first on a plane before. The airline had again assigned us middle seats in the middle section of the plane. We were not pleased because this was a long, 11 hour flight and we would not be able to see when we flew over Africa. However, at YVR they were very accommodating, and gave us a window and aisle seat, with a seat in between, in the hopes that it would go unused. This is what happened, so we had extra space. After a meal at midnight, lights went out and the long night began. This time I did manage to get between 1.5 and 2 hours sleep, and Joanie slept much longer. The view out of the window was less spectacular. We flew over the northern part of Africa, including traversing the Sahara, in the dark. Then we flew over the ocean just off shore so we had no view of land until we reached Cape Town. We did get a nice shot of the shoreline and city as we approached. Finally, Tuesday morning, May 22, we set foot on African soil. Bring on the adventure, even though my mind was a little foggy from lack of sleep. I did  get an email as well saying we had been upgraded, and our accommodation at the Sweet Orange Guest House had been upgraded to the Sweet Olive Guest House, owned by the same people.

May 22 - Tuesday
Proceeding at the airport went well and we quickly found our pre-arranged driver, Kyle, who informed us that our accommodations had been changed again, now to the  Sweet Ocean View Guest House. Each change was supposedly and upgrade, and when we arrived at the Sweet Ocean, it was sweet. It was actually two houses, across the street from each other, and we had two rooms in each. The houses were old, probably over 100 years, but had great character and suited us all very well. We chose to stay with R & R in one, while G&G and Sister T and Joaniès sister W stayed at the other, because a lack of stairs to the bedroom. (This suited hipster T much better.) After diligently sampling the local wine for a while, most of us went for a walk, exploring the waterfront which was only a few blocks away. I was amazed and surprised by how nice this area was. The road along the beach was lined with palm trees like some L.A. boulevard. Well maintained apartments and hotels fronted this and it appeared to be for those with deep pockets. Atlantic waves crashed along the seawall while the sun shot rays through the foaming mass. Stunning! This part of the city was back-dropped by the iconic Lionhead mountain. It was all quite beautiful, even for these sleepy eyes. I did manage to find a few new birds to photograph and whet my appetite for the rest of the trip. For dinner we walked for 10 minutes to La Boheme. I had a grilled springbok, a very small antelope with bambi eyes. Very good although difficult to distinguish from beef. Joanie shared a huge plate of various seafood with tomato rice. A nice meal.
Our four days in the Cape could be interesting. While Kyle said the first water desalination plant just started running, and there have been rain showers in recent weeks, there was still a severe water shortage in this drought area, and there were reminders everywhere to conserve water. We were told that people were encouraged to restrict showers to a very quick run through and never to run water without using it. It was preferred that you restrict toilet use to twice per day. That could not be very popular at the local bars. My plans to wash my underwear in the shower might need to wait until Namibia.

May 23 - Wednesday
 I got a good sleep last night, at least until 4:30 when I awoke and could not get back to sleep despite only 5 hours sleep, and so little sleep the nights before.  It  might be just the wine speaking, but we had a great day. At 7 AM we went across the street to join the others for breakfast, which consisted of a fruit and yogurt glass, assorted  buns, and eggs with bacon and cooked tomato. We were picked up at 8:30 by Jan from African Eagle. He drove us to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, providing us with a history of Cape Town, the racial religious structure of the area, the development of the wine industry by the Dutch and French in the 1600's and the social structure of how the government is trying to address poverty and the many shanty towns near Cape Town. We spent two hours exploring the gardens on our own. They were filled with thousands of indigenous plants and trees and I found many interesting birds, including colourful sunbirds. The gardens were incredibly beautiful. The weather was overcast, threatening to rain. I filled my camera with shots of birds while Joanie concentrated on the plant life. After this our driver Jan took us to Stellenbosch, driving through the city and university. Very nice. We then drove to the Delaire Graff Estate Winery, one of the fanciest wine estates in the Stellenbosch region. We had a wine tasting there. I think we all really liked the wine there, but were reluctant to buy because we were visiting some other vineyards as well. Bad decision. We then drove to Babylonstoren for a late lunch. This was a highly recommended estate to eat at. Lunch lasted 2.5 hours. The menu was limited and hoity-toity in my opinion. After eliminating pork bellies, a steak on the bone, and a whole small chicken on the bone, I hate dealing with deboning at a restaurant, and a local trout, I was left with a special type of cheese which was grilled to imitate a steak and served with veggies heavy in olive oil and biltong, dried meat. While everyone liked their choices, Joanie had rizotto, I was more interested in the prospect of making up for this large lunch by going to McDonald's for a late dinner. After this, we were off to another local winery for more wine tasting. We all agreed that the best wine came from our firs winery and we should have bought some there. There was a plot developing to see if we could go back on tomorrow afternoon's free time if a trip up Table Mountain did not pan out because of rainy weather. Then we went home, arriving back at about 6:30PM. A full but very enjoyable day.
Of course, things were going too well. I left my camera in the van when we got out. Here's hoping they find it and return it tomorrow and I don't see some fantastic bird in the meantime!

May 24 - Thursday
Sleep was still illusive. I woke up at about 4:30 AM to the sound of clicks from Joanie's phone. She was awake and texting home. Neither of us could sleep after this despite how tired I was when I went to bed. We did get good news. My camera had been found and would be brought by the driver who was taking us for a tour today. What a relief!
It was a very rainy day. We were picked up after breakfast and did a half day city tour. This began with a drive to Camp Bay and what I suppose on a sunny day would be beautiful beaches. The view of the Twelve Profits mountain range was invisible in the low hanging clouds. We got soaked stepping out to check the coastline. Then we drove up to where the gondola taking you up Table Mountain was. It was pouring and Table Mountain was also invisible. We then drove down through the Bo-Kaap district, where the small houses are painted in bright colours every year during the month of Ramadan. This is where the slaves were housed. Slaves only had one day off per year, New Years Day when the owners were sleeping off their New Year's Eve partying. They celebrated by painting their houses bright colours and dancing in procession down the street. This is still re-enacted every January 1. Our driver was very cautious because there had been some demonstrations the night before against developers who were buying up the houses and driving up the prices, making them unaffordable to the locals. That sounds familiar. It was OK. We then visited the South African museum which was very good, but we only got through part of it before our scheduled rendezvous with our driver. We also drove through the downtown area and visited the local market and a diamond store for a demonstration on cutting and valuing diamonds and tanzanite. It was a good way to spend a rainy morning.
By afternoon things dried up and walking back to our place we ran into a woman who lived a few blocks from our B&B. She started talking and asked us what we were doing while in Cape Town. She was a tour guide with her own company and offered her services. Since we had the afternoon free, we negotiated for her to take some of us back to Stellenbosch.  We spent an hour there walking around while the women among us shopped. On our way back to Cape Town, the guide, who said she specialized in tours of the townships offered to take us through a township which she said was safe. It was set up when the government demolished the houses in District 6, near the downtown area, and move the Blacks to a township set up on one side of the freeway some 40 km. away, and the Coloured (people of mixed race) to this township across the freeway. She said she was raised in this area. We found the locals very proud and willing to talk about what happened with Apartheid and the developments since Mandela was freed in 1990. We learned a lot and drove through the narrow streets with small, square, often corrigated steel covered shacks and the area where the people could buy live chickens which would be killed and defeathered on the spot, as well as stalls selling all sorts of gross parts to sheep. It was very interesting, even though it felt wrong to take too many pictures. However, she said the residents were happy to see visitors. In some townships, Whites would be very unwelcome and violence is rampant.
In the evening we contacted this guide again to drive us to a seafood restaurant she recommended. It was very good, although the price was in stark contrast to our lunch at McDonalds.
Overall, another great day. Off to bed for an early start tomorrow on an all-day tour of the cape.

May 25 - Friday
As promised, it was a sunny day, with highs reaching 18 degrees. Sleep was still an issue. I slept nicely until 2:30, and then only dozed off for a few minutes after 4 AM. I got up at 6:50. We got picked up at 7:30 for a full day excursion. Our guide was a feisty young woman and we had a good time together. We started by revisiting some of the beach areas by James Bay that looked quite different with no clouds. We were to go for a walk around Bo-Kaap, but due to reports of regular protests and tire burning in the area, it was not considered as safe. We drove along the coast past Hout Bay to the Cape of Good Hope. We were the first tour there, which was nice. We got some pictures and then went to the lighthouse in the park, which required a 45 minute (actually could b e done in less).  We spent some time here. Here we saw our first game, a herd of eland and a small group of ostriches. I saw a number sunbirds. At the end of our stay, a baboon came across the parking lot, sat among the tourists for a while, and then entered the local gift shop, stealing two bags of what looked like pieces of cake. He was in and out in a flash and sat on a ledge eating his spoils. I also saw a small chipmunk creature. Following this, we drove to Simon's Town and visited the jackass penguins that live at Boulder Beach. There were many fuzzy chicks.A few minutes up the road we stopped for fish and chips as part of the tour. We all chose Snope as the fish. It was good but had many bones.We finished the tour by visiting the Groote Constantine winery for a taste test.
For dinner we went to a restaurant recommended to us, and authentic African restaurant which served game meat. R and W had fried caterpillar for an appetizer. Joanie tried it and did not like it. Most of us ordered a three meat dish with kudu, springbok and ostrich steaks. Kudu and springbok won the taste test.There was also a live band playing African music. As caucasians we were definitely the minority. A great end to a fun day. However, at dinner I could hardly keep my eyes open.
even as I wrote this blog, I was nodding off but I know when I hit the bed, I will wake up. Final event of the day was packing up for leaving Cape  Town.