Day 20: July 13, Bye Priscilla

We said goodbye to Priscilla today - so sad. She's such an amazingly inspiring woman, and I will miss her. She even took us on a quick tour of her apartment in Victoria Falls before we left... how sweet!! I did a tiny bit more shopping before we left, picking up the Big Five carved in stone. (Not sure what I'm going to do with that, but whatever.)

We lost power today, which is apparently very common in Zimbabwe these days. The lodges have generators, but the stores do not, so they place candles all over in an attempt to provide lighting to customers. I feel badly for them because I know the economy is so weak that the stores need to maintain all the customer traffic possible... and with the electricity off, it doesn't look like most of them are open. Sad times for Zimbabwe, for sure. But the people are so resilient and friendly nonetheless... it's an amazing place.

The rest of the day was a travel day to Cape Town. Two flights, terrible meals, and ample downtime lead us to Cape Town around 9pm. (Apparently one thing women need after 3 weeks on safari is a newspaper):

Exhausted, we met with Kim, our guide, who gave us a brief driving tour of the town before dropping us off at the hotel. (One of my companions - as the flight was approaching Cape Town - told me to look out the window at the beautiful view of the lights through the windows. I couldn't help but think "It looks like New Jersey").

Poor Kim must have thought we were zombies, because we didn't say a word, and by the time we hit our pillows, we were exhausted....

Day 21: July 14, Cape Town

First day in Cape Town, and this morning we're off to Table Mountain. We slept last night on the rock-hard hotel beds to the sounds of traffic in the streets... aaah, just like home! (Ha.) Our room is lovely, with a view of the laundromat. Oh, how I miss the sounds of lions and the views of water holes.

First, we took a cable car ride up 3000+ feet to the top of Table Mountain, which towers above the city:
The views are spectacular, and we were lucky that the haze had cleared enough to see both oceans... Atlantic: And Indian:
Even the guide said she was surprised at how clear the view was:
Then, we took a tour of the city, which is stunningly multicultural - really quite inspiring. We saw City Hall, where Nelson Mandela gave his "Freedom" speech when he was released from prison:

And then, toured the local market where we enjoyed many of the local delicacies, including samoosas (spicy meat wrapped in crispy dough - yum), mince pies (meat and spices in a flaky pastry crust - super yum!!!) and koeksisters (fried dough with syrup and coconut - WAY SUPER YUM!) I also bought sour figs, which were a little less impressive (bletch.)
But the market was wonderful, and there were tons of friendly people everywhere:
We also went to a jewelry center, where they demonstrated the process of cutting diamonds and other precious stones. We didn't get much info on the controversial diamond mining practices, which was slightly disappointing, but it was interesting to learn about the process nonetheless.

One new type of cut for diamonds is called the "10 by 10", which has more facets than the brilliant cut. I took a closer look under a jeweler's loop at a 3+ carat "10x10" cut diamond, and it was beautiful, but I think diamonds just aren't my thing (unless you're talking about the uniquely colored ones, which are beautiful.) Honestly, I was more taken by the tanzanite stones that were on display, which were in a brilliant array of deep blues and violets. Gorgeous stones. So I was a doofus and bought one. Dumb-butt. Don't know what I'm going to do with it, but I have a nice sparkly blue rock now. (*sigh*)

After jacking up my credit card bill, we drove through the Malay district, where the people of Malaysian descent live. The homes are brilliant colors, because apparently the workers couldn't find their way home at night, so they painted their homes different colors to tell which was theirs:

Next, we hit a brief view of the waterfront, where we took a ferry to the infamous Robben Island - the prison island where Nelson Mandela spent the majority of his 27 years imprisoned. Here is the lighthouse on the island:
And the limestone quarry where Nelson Mandela did his hard labor (the cave is where they ate, slept & relieved themselves during the day):
And here, the stone pile. When Nelson Mandela returned to the island, he toured the quarry, and at one point, walked away from the group he was with and placed a stone on the ground. Former prisoners came up behind him, and each took a different stone and piled it upon the other. The stones are all different colors and shapes, and are meant to represent the people of the world: All different shapes and colors, but all working together to build something bigger than themselves. The stone pile hasn't been touched since that day:
We then entered the prison itself:
Our guide at the prison was a former political prisoner from Robben Island, and he gave our group a fascinating history of the prison and the prisoners themselves:

On the way back, we spotted animals, including rabbits, otter (eating a fish), and whales in the distance. We also saw our first African Penguins:

Here's Table Mountain towering over Cape Town - a beautiful view at sunset:
And when we docked we spotted a baby seal:
And a few paces down, adult seals relaxing on the docks:I was craving pizza, so we had pizza for dinner, which was OK - but the food is so cheap here! Actually, everything is cheap here.

G'night.

Day 22: July 15, Cape Town Coastline

Twas a long day today. We took a grand driving tour of the Cape and it was fabulous. We started with an early morning tour of the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, and some of South Africa's most gorgeous flowers. Even though it is winter, the few blooms that were happening were stunning I wasn't aware that Cape Town was one of the most prolific floral zones in the world!) The bird life was amazing too - we were spoiled at how close we could approach the birds here, since they're so used to people milling about.
We then continued along the western coast of the cape, passing through the famous Constantia wine district. (I'd never heard of it, but apparently it was Napoleon's favorite wine.) We stopped at one overlook where we saw dozens of surfers in the cold waters, and we chatted with a professional "shark spotter." (If you look at the photo below, all the small dots in the water on the top left side of the photo are surfers.)
The shark spotters along the coast are former homeless / unemployed people who, well, spot sharks and call down warnings to the guys on the beach below. He was such a nice guy, our shark spotter, and his name was "Innocence."

We then went to visit a colony of African Penguins at Simon's Town:
Even the fuzzy babies were still around:These guys were not shy either, and this one wandered to about 3 feet from me... that's the only reason I got a closeup (I had brought my wide lens this day.)

Did you know that they mate for life? How romantic...A rare shot of a penguin egg - just under her belly: So gorgeous...We then hit the mandatory Kodak Picture Spot at the Cape of Good Hope (I'm grimacing because I'm blind.)And then we hiked to the top of the cape. The point closest to us is Cape Point, and off in the distance, you can see the hazy shape of Cape Agulas - the southernmost tip of Africa.

Cheezy photo time: The baboons in this area are very aggressive, and we were not allowed to bring any food or even bottles of water up to the area... the baboons would snatch them right out of your hand. We even had to chase them away from our van at the restaurant that we stopped at for lunch, as they were encroaching on our vehicle trying to climb inside to rummage through our bags.

The drive home was equally gorgeous, and very reminiscent of the Oregon and northern California coastline:

I didn't forget to take the sunset again... I know you can't get enough...

Day 23: July 16, The last sunset

Another long day today, but fabulous, as we were fully immersed in the culture of Cape Town. We started in wine country, with a wonderful tour of a winery called New Beginnings in Nelson's Creek Estate. Our guide, Victor, took us through the entire process of harvesting, aging, and ... yes ... tasting! Victor is one of the "Cape Colored", who was given land ownership from his previous employer after apartheid ended. The dogs of the winery were wonderful puppies...
Good example of the thatched-roof, white-walled Cape Dutch architecture at the winery: We then took a quick tour of the Ikhwezi Community Center, where unemployed people can find jobs, youth provide peer counseling, and kids get daycare, all from impoverished nearby townships. The kids were wonderful, as usual, and once again loved having their photos taken (and muss my hair.)
Lunch was an adventure into the local township, where Victor (our guide from the winery) took us to one of his favorite local haunts called "Chippas" in the Bekweni township. Basically, the restaurant was a butcher shop (where you order your meat cuts) next to a family-style pub-like place with open grills (where you take your chosen cuts to be grilled while you wait.) There was a small restaurant next door, if you want more "formal" service, and we had some amazing soup, fresh sausages and steak which were absolutely succulent. The entire meal was devastatingly cheap - soup, fresh bread, a soda, and sausage was 25 Rand including tip (about $3.50). The food here is scary cheap.

But the real value was the atmosphere, and really venturing into some uncharted (and non-touristed) areas, where the people approached us with warm smiles and much curiosity. I am constantly blown away by how friendly everyone is here.

We then took a stroll through a small little town called Franschhoek, which reminded me of the quaint little New England towns in Massachusetts.... lots of little boutique stores and arts and antiques. I bought some chocolates there - whew! Been craving that! Also saw a great sign:

We then went to another, larger, winery, and then off to the town of Stellenbosch. It was fine, but I'm tired of craft markets. The architecture here is amazing, though.

Next stop, the cheetah reserve. (Since we hadn't seen them in the wild, we thought we'd catch a glimpse here.) So Bob and I - the only ones with a hankering to pet large, dangerous cats - decided to pay the extra 3 bucks to pet another large animal that could kill us... Meet "Johnathan", the cheetah:
Turns out it's OK that they are wild, cuz I'm apparently allergic to cheetahs. How's that for a useful piece of information?

Our luck held on the drive home, and we caught a glimpse of the Cape Zebras and a rare winter appearance of the "tablecloth" on Table Mountain. Both went by too quickly for me to get photos, though. Bummer.

I took a stroll along the boardwalk before sunset, and caught this girl tossing the seagulls some bread. I don't know why but the moment really touched me:Last sunset in Africa: