Saturday, May 25, 2013

The Dark Continent, part 3

Friday, April 12 -- Cape Town, South Africa

     We would spend only one night at Babylonstoren, a real shame because it is a remarkable place. Harking back to the earliest days of Dutch settlement in the late 17th century, it is a working farm in the Drakenstein Valley. We had an incredible organic breakfast and embarked on our all-day tour of the wine country.
     South Africa's wine tradition dates back to the 17th century and the early Dutch settlers. Close to the Cape of Good Hope, the wine country has the benefit of a Mediterranean-style climate, ideal for vineyards.


Our room at the Babylonstoren, complete with fireplace and wine.


Breakfast included a baked granola fruit tart.


We toured the gardens at the farm.


A panorama shot of the view from our luncheon restaurant, Tokara, in the wine country.


Another view of the wine country from Tokara.


At the Thelema Mountain Vineyard, we sample the one of the winery's specialties. 

The view from our hotel for our final three nights in South Africa, the Taj Cape Town.
       The Taj Cape Town was the site of the Travel Leaders International Summit, a gathering of 54 travel professionals. After the evening reception, we settled in for the first of our three-night stay in Cape Town.


Saturday, April 12 -- Cape Town

    Business meetings took up our Saturday morning, and then we walked over to the historic Mt. Nelson Hotel, where we had a hotel inspection and lunch. Our group split up for different tours, and ours was a half-day panoramic tour of Cape Town, highlighted by a tram ride up to Table Mountain. The weatherman gave us a break with bright sunshine and warm temps.
      Cape Town is the second-largest city in South Africa and home of the national legislature. Founded by the Dutch in 1652, it was the first European settlement in the country. It is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, and was the home of the anti-apartheid movement that revolutionized South African society in the 1990s.
     

The outdoor pool at the Mount Nelson Hotel.



How to get to the top of Table Moutain? A rotating gondola ride.


The view from Table Mountain---the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean.

Cape Town Stadium, which hosted matches in the 2010 World Cup of soccer (known here as association football).


At the top of Table Mountain.

Cape Malay Bo-Kaap is one of Cape Town's most visited areas.
     After our tour we dined on the waterfront at the One and Only Hotel, Japanese-style. Many of us turned in early to prepare for a full day of sight-seeing on our last full day in South Africa.


Sunday, April 14 -- Cape of Good Hope

    Heading west from Cape Town, we entered the Atlantic Seaboard area, with beaches, cliffs, promenades and hillside communities. I was reminded of Italy's scenic Amalfi Coast. Our destination was the Cape of Good Hope.
      We had thought that the Cape was the southernmost point of Africa, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian, but it is not. That is Cape Agulhas, about 90 miles to the east-southeast. But ships traveling south along the western African coast begin to turn eastward at the Cape of Good Hope, which was first rounded by European sailors in 1488. It is a spectacular place, and if you visit Cape Town you should definitely have the Cape on your list of tours.


On the way to the Cape.




At a section called Boulders, a colony of African penguins!




Travel Leaders International Summit at the Cape of Good Hope.    
      Back in Cape Town for the evening, we had a "White Party", one of the new trends of the social circuit. White was the dominant attire, and we made the most of it. The event was at the Vergelegen Estate, a winery. Our transportation to the winery was a special treat, in vintage pre-war automobiles.



    It was a great evening, with wonderful food and of course more South African wine. Although we would be heading home the next day, our flights would not depart till late in the evening. Party time!


Monday, April 15 -- Cape Town and the journey home

     We spent our final day relaxing, shopping and some also did a little more sightseeing to the Robben Island prison, where Nelson Mandela was held for most of his nearly 30 years in captivity. We hit the shopping district, in search of native art. We were directed to a place called Streetwires, a cooperative venture that not only sells artwork, primarily works in wire, but which provides steady work for over a hundred previously unemployed people. 

A wire ostrich at Streetwires.
     In the afternoon we packed---some of us had to buy extra suitcases. Our flight back to the States departed at 11pm, starting a very long night and day of travel: 11 hours to Amsterdam, and after a 3-hour layover, about 7 hours to Minneapolis. One of the wonders of international travel in the jet age is being able to go from one side of the world to another in just a day. When the first European settlers came to South Africa, their voyage took a lot longer.
    We tend to think of Africa as a place of jungles and wild animals, exotic tribes and primitive cultures. And while all that is still there, Africa has a cosmopolitan side, with gleaming cities, vibrant art and music, and great dining. If you have a chance to see today's Africa, don't pass it up.

  

Sunday, May 5, 2013

The Dark Continent, part 2

Monday, April 8 -- Botswana

    We started the day with another game drive with Sky, our driver and guide. Each camp provides its guests with a personal driver/guide for every group, and they're extremely knowledgeable. Their goal is not just to show you the sights, but to teach you about Africa's flora and fauna.
     Our next flight was a bit longer, an hour and twenty minutes to Kasane, an actual airport. Our other stops at the camps saw us landing on airstrips in the bush. We were met by Ali, our new guide, from Sanctuary Chobe Chilwero. We were now deep in the wilderness of Botswana, overlooking the magnificent Chobe River, close to the northern border that meets with neighboring Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Botswana is one of the world's most sparsely populated countries, and some seventy percent is covered by the Kalahari Desert.
     Chobe National Park is certainly not in the desert; it has the highest density of trees in the entire country. The river, a tributary of the Zambezi, is the only permanently available source of water for the park's large population of mammals. The park is one of the few areas in Africa where visitors are almost guaranteed sights of elephants swimming in or crossing the river, and the floodplain is the only place in southern Africa where the puku antelope can be seen.
     Our first drive here, which included a boat excursion on the Chobe, came in the afternoon, giving us more magnificent views of the animals in their natural habitat.


Our rooms at Chobe were amazing and had outdoor showers....

...but the baboons kept us from using them.


Kim, Laurie and me board the boat for our river trip.


Cape buffalo have never been domesticated, unlike their cousins, the Asian water buffalo.





Elephants come down into the river to forage.


Crocodiles are quite numerous, one more reason to stay in the boat.


We could hear the hippos, but they wouldn't let us get too close.


This evening's sundowner was on the river, adding to the ambience.


Tuesday, April 9 -- Botswana to Zambia


    
    After a morning game drive, when we were again unsuccessful in spotting a leopard (pun intended), we left Chobe for a ride to the Kazengula border area to cross the Zambezi into Zambia. Customs procedures in Africa's interior are still a bit on the primitive side, but we eventually made our way to the ferry, which was about the same size boat as we'd used on the Chobe. On the Zambian side there was no pier, but just a retaining wall that required us to hoist ourselves up a few feet. Waiting for us were groups of peddlers selling everything from baskets to wood carvings. Luckily our new driver, Raphael, rescued us and got us to the van. A visa is required to enter Zambia; Raphael got ours for us, collecting our passports and the $50 per person fee, then handing it all over to the customs officials while we stayed in the van.
      The ride to Sanctuary Sussi and Chuma took about an hour. The lodge is in the heart of Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, on a bend in the Zambezi River. The lodges are actually tree houses, connected by wooden walkways. What made it even more exciting for us was that we were going to be here for two nights.
      The camp is named after the loyal attendants of British explorer David Livingstone, who died in Zambia in 1873. Sussi and Chuma carried his body over a thousand miles to the east coast of the continent for shipment back to Britain. Livingstone was the first European to see Victoria Falls.
     

One of the 12 tree houses at the camp.


The Zambezi was very high during our visit.


Inside the tree houses, modern amenities.


We saw all kinds of boats on the river.


This evening's sundownwer was on a deck over the water.
    We had a lovely dinner and retired for the evening, excited about our next day's destination: Victoria Falls.



Wednesday, April 10 -- Zambia

     After breakfast we headed to Victoria Falls, an excursion included in our package. The first European explorers heard the native name, used by the Kololo tribe: Mosi-oa-Tunya, which translates as "the smoke that thunders". Over 500 million cubic meters of water go over the falls every minute, over a width of more than two kilometers, into a gorge more than 100 meters below. It is twice the height and nearly twice the width of Niagara Falls.  

We are dry before we walked the Falls!


But not so much when we completed the walk....twice!

 



Denise and Kim got this shot from their helicopter ride the next day.




Edward, our guide, Denise, me, Kim and Laurie.

     After our visit to the Falls we stopped at the market in the town of Livingstone for great shopping. We were encouraged to bargain with the merchants and we were more than happy to oblige.
     Back at the sanctuary, we had a surprise waiting: a luncheon cruise on the Zambezi. We had the afternoon to ourselves, catching up on our email and relaxing. After dinner was another game drive, but it was a very warm evening and things were pretty quiet.


Thursday, April 11 -- Livingstone to Cape Town via Johannesburg

    This was a travel day, as we had come to the end of our safari. After breakfast we headed to Harry Mwanga Nkumbula International Airport, which serves Livingstone. Because of our trip to the marketplace, we had to do some creative packing to make sure our luggage wasn't overweight. We flew South Africa Air to Johannesburg, nearly two hours, and after a short layover it was on to Cape Town, two hours' flight to the southwest. We were met at the airport by Jarat Tours, who transferred us to Babylonstoren, a working farm in the wine country north of the city. It had been a pretty long day, but we got rested up for our next day's excursion, into South Africa's renowned wine country.





Wednesday, May 1, 2013

The Dark Continent, part 1

     This post is by Sue Tindell of Travel Leaders.  


     It used to be called "The Dark Continent". Africa was a place of exotic animals inhabiting dense jungles and wide savannas, explorers in shorts and pith helmets, primitive native villages. Well, Africa is no longer "dark"; it has modern cities, friendly people, and best of all it still has jungles, savannas, and exotic animals. So, when Travel Leaders scheduled their annual International Summit in Cape Town, South Africa, I was eager to sign up.


Wednesday-Thursday, April 3-4, 2013

 Minneapolis to Johannesburg, South Africa

   The only downside to going to Africa is that it's a long trip. Our first leg was from Minneapolis to Atlanta, and then it was 15 hours to Johannesburg. I flew "economy comfort", and while it's not as luxurious as "business" or "first class", it offers more leg and reclining room, which is very important on a long flight. A major plus: it is about 10% of the cost of a first-class ticket!
      My traveling companions were all good friends and colleagues with Travel Leaders: Denise Petricka from Eau Claire, Laurie Passard from Grand Rapids, Minn., and Kim Gorres from New Richmond. With the International Summit opening in Cape Town on April 12th, we decided to arrive in country early and take a safari. Our host was Grosvenor Tours, which handled all the arrangements. All we had to do was show up!
      South African Standard Time is seven hours ahead of Central Daylight, so it was late Thursday afternoon when we touched down at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, the largest city not only in South Africa but in the entire continent south of the Sahara, with over seven million people in the metro area. We checked into our hotel, the Saxon, about 45 minutes from the airport. The Saxon is a destination in itself.

The reception area of the Saxon. It looked a lot more glamorous than we did, after 18 hours in the air.


Our rooms were suites, with large bathrooms and private butlers.
     We capped our first evening in Africa with a great dinner and one of South Africa's great wines, Epicurean 2008. The next day would be a day to relax and prepare for our journey to the interior.


Friday, April 5 -- Johannesburg

    There's a lot to see and do in Johannesburg, so after relaxing for part of the day and using the Saxon's terrific gym and pool, we set out for Mandela Square.
Mandela Square, with great dining and shopping.


South Africa is known for its great wines, so we made sure to visit a local wine shop.

Saturday, April 6 -- Sanctuary Stanley's Camp, Botswana

    This morning we headed back to O.R. Tambo for a flight to Maun, Botswana. Tambo is a huge airport and here's a cautionary note: make sure you deal only with official airport personnel, wearing orange vests. We were greeted by an official-looking "representative", who wanted to be paid before he would give us back our bags.
    Our flight to Botswana was two and a half hours. After clearing customs we boarded a small plane for the
short hop to Sanctuary Stanley's Camp. The plane was designed for six passengers with one small duffel bag per person. Needless to say, they weren't quite prepared for four American women and their luggage, but we managed.


Note the small pod near the wheel. That's for luggage. We almost needed an extra plane.


Denise was the co-pilot, but we arrived safely anyway.
    Sanctuary Stanley's Camp is on a 260,000-acre private concession in Botswana's Okavanga Delta, providing its guests with absolute exclusivity. The camp has eight classic-style safari tents. The main building is raised on decking to afford visitors a great view, and the camp is blended into the tree line. Its main support is a huge "sausage tree", properly named kigelia. Its fruit resemble sausages.     

We were greeted by Botswanese, dancing and singing.


The main area of the camp.


Our tent. Yes, we were roughing it.

    After checking in at the camp, we embarked on our first game drive, getting our first view of Africa's amazing animals and birds. Our driver and guide was Ohn, who knew everything about the flora and fauna we saw.

The African wart hog, familiar to us as Poombaa in The Lion King.


The first of many giraffes we would see.


Wildebeest herd on the move.


In Africa they have a tradition called the "sundowner", where guests gather at sundown for drinks and snacks. This was a custom we all agreed was one we would adopt at home.



Sunday, April 7 -- Botswana

    After breakfast, we participated in the camp's feature attraction, interaction with elephants. The African elephant is the largest land animal on Earth. Males can grow to 13 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh upwards of six or seven tons. The elephants at Stanley's Camp are orphans that are semi-habituated, meaning they are used to interacting safely with humans---on their terms. We would meet them in their own environment. The three elephants we met were named Jabu, Thembi and Morula. Our hosts were Doug and Sandi Groves, the "adoptive parents" of the elephants. The interaction was one of the highlights of our entire trip, especially when they joined us for lunch!

Our new African bodyguard.
 
Jabu, the big guy of the trio.



Our host, Doug Graves, and the elephants join us for lunch.

    
Kim and Denise with Jabu, who eats lunch wherever he wants.


    After lunch it was time to head to our next stop, Sanctuary Chief's Camp , a 15-minute flight away. During the rainy season the camp is actually on an island in the Mombo Concession of the Moremi Game Reserve. As our visit was during the dry season, we were no longer on an island. We had game drives in the afternoon and the following morning. This region is known as the "Predator Capital" of Africa, with the finest game viewing in Botswana. Lions, leopards, Cape buffalo, rhinos and elephants are known as the "Big Five" of African game viewing, and we saw all except the elusive leopard.






     The game drive was a thrill, but we were anxious to head back to camp for dinner and another evening in the bush. The camps' menus are surprisingly extensive, with a good selection of entrees, including one vegetarian dish, with one of the two meat dishes featuring local cuisine, like the ostrich Denise enjoyed. The meals are always accompanied by great South African wines.

It was another rough day in camp, but we toughed it out.


Another day in Africa comes to a close, with another sundowner.