The man was all shades of gray and brown such that he blended together from his curly hair to his shoes. He was just walking below us as we were standing on our balcony in the deepening twilight. Where he was headed I do not know but it prompted me to write this short piece. This is a homeless man who I first saw at the little mall in Summerstrand where we go to the grocery store. He was in at the mall parking going through the garbage searching for cigarettes, some remainder of a soft drink, or whatever he could find, I presume. But I have never seen him begging. Begging is very common here. I don’t know how he survives. Now this man is white, most are black, but with all the dirt and grime on him and his clothes it is a hard to tell. Some how he is getting food for he is not getting weaker but he is not getting fatter either. Recently, I saw him coming from the downtown area headed out along Beach Road toward Summerstrand Mall. How does one get to this point in one’s life? How does one survive?
Begging is very common in P.E. and I presume in South Africa in general. It was in Cape Town but again that is a large city which tends to attract the homeless as in any country. It was in Graaf-Reinet where a man saw when our tour bus came in and who followed us for some time hoping someone would relent and give him money. Frankly Graaf-Reinet was not that large so it must be all over SA.
One young man (I would estimate in his teens) begs at the intersection at a robot (stoplight in S.A.) coming from another smaller shopping center. He clasps his hands as if in prayer and rubs his stomach. I have not seen anyone give him money but he must get something for he persists nearly every day. It is one of the most difficult things that I do - is to drive on. Of course, if he were the only one, one would give him something but he is not.
There are certain intersections that attract a large contingent of “sellers” and beggars. The sellers will be offering auto plug-in rechargers for cell phone, a package of garbage bags, a newspaper (in the mornings), and whole array of other items. At the same intersection, I have seen an older white man begging and all he does is have a cardboard sign that he has his short story printed on it. He unfolds it for people to see and stands between lanes while the light is red. He moves to the side once the light changes and starts over again. I have seen someone give him money.
At another intersection on an off ramp, which I take to go to Pendla Primary School in the township, I find there are always men selling newspapers, begging, or simply hoping for a job for the day. The light is long and one can spend a seeming long time not looking at them in order to not attract their attention. It is something that I will not miss.
I didn’t know how much this bothered me until I sat sharing this with Norma. I guess that not being able to help hurts. But I think that it is also the realization of just how precarious life can be. I could be the grey man some day. (B)
While Bruce was pondering on the “need” on the street, I was reveling in the gifts of the street. In the Humewood Hotel next door there was African music and dance presentation going on their veranda and I was leaning over balcony and moving to the beat. It is such richness, a gift and it is tumbling out into the night for my pleasure. My heart was made glad! (N)
Such a contrast! (B)
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Monday, April 9, 2007
Post 9 - Vic Falls and Chobe
Victoria Falls and Chobe National Park
From Port Elizabeth to Jo’burg to Livingstone in Zambia we flew. We were in search of the falls that Dr. David Livingstone (of “Dr. Livingstone, I presume”) described when he found it in 1855. The natives knew it was there all the time and called it Mosi-oa-Tunya which means “the smoke that thunders” but Livingstone renamed it for Queen Victoria. Livingstone is widely revered here as he was a dedicated preacher against slavery.
From Livingstone we went out into the bush to Thorntree Lodge. It is a small lodge right beside the seasonal high water mark of the great Zambezi River. Each accommodation was a spacious “hut” with a conical thatched roof. There are nine huts that sleep two each. They do not accept small children we think because of the quiet ambiance and the fact that they are right on the river banks with crocs and hippos around. Our “hut” had the requisite white bed spread with fresh flowers and mosquito netting draped around it so that it could be pulled down when your room was prepared for the night. They would slip into the room during dinner, pull down the netting and light a mosquito repellent coil. It also had an outdoor shower and an indoor Jacuzzi tub and the whole of our “hut” was shaded by large trees with a “monkey” fruit tree on one side. The fruit looked like a small green orange outside which had orange colored interior and was segmented like other citrus. The Vervet monkeys were mad about the fruit. They frequently jumped onto the roof after harvesting the fruit and would sit on top eating it. While sitting on the veranda we could sit facing the great Zambezi River, which was less than three yards from us. As it was the end of the rainy season the river was full to overflowing in some places but huts did not appear to have been flooded so they have the maximum water height gauged correctly. Besides monkeys there were hippos in the area since one walked out of the river near one of the other “huts” and another time one swam by the lodge as other guests were waiting for dinner. Hippos are rather bad tempered and so running into one on the path would be an experience to be avoided. The staff asked guests not to walk on the paths alone at night because of the hippos and maybe snakes (?). In the morning there were elephants eating small trees in the area around the outdoor pool. They were not wild but from the elephant stables (footnote 1) near our lodge. The food was good, the wine South African and all was right with the world!
From Port Elizabeth to Jo’burg to Livingstone in Zambia we flew. We were in search of the falls that Dr. David Livingstone (of “Dr. Livingstone, I presume”) described when he found it in 1855. The natives knew it was there all the time and called it Mosi-oa-Tunya which means “the smoke that thunders” but Livingstone renamed it for Queen Victoria. Livingstone is widely revered here as he was a dedicated preacher against slavery.
From Livingstone we went out into the bush to Thorntree Lodge. It is a small lodge right beside the seasonal high water mark of the great Zambezi River. Each accommodation was a spacious “hut” with a conical thatched roof. There are nine huts that sleep two each. They do not accept small children we think because of the quiet ambiance and the fact that they are right on the river banks with crocs and hippos around. Our “hut” had the requisite white bed spread with fresh flowers and mosquito netting draped around it so that it could be pulled down when your room was prepared for the night. They would slip into the room during dinner, pull down the netting and light a mosquito repellent coil. It also had an outdoor shower and an indoor Jacuzzi tub and the whole of our “hut” was shaded by large trees with a “monkey” fruit tree on one side. The fruit looked like a small green orange outside which had orange colored interior and was segmented like other citrus. The Vervet monkeys were mad about the fruit. They frequently jumped onto the roof after harvesting the fruit and would sit on top eating it. While sitting on the veranda we could sit facing the great Zambezi River, which was less than three yards from us. As it was the end of the rainy season the river was full to overflowing in some places but huts did not appear to have been flooded so they have the maximum water height gauged correctly. Besides monkeys there were hippos in the area since one walked out of the river near one of the other “huts” and another time one swam by the lodge as other guests were waiting for dinner. Hippos are rather bad tempered and so running into one on the path would be an experience to be avoided. The staff asked guests not to walk on the paths alone at night because of the hippos and maybe snakes (?). In the morning there were elephants eating small trees in the area around the outdoor pool. They were not wild but from the elephant stables (footnote 1) near our lodge. The food was good, the wine South African and all was right with the world!
So we started our adventures the first day by going on a cruise up the 
Zambezi complete with cocktails and snacks and who should we meet? Four charming people staying at our lodge from Minnesota! There were only about 14 people there and 6 of us were from MN. In fact they were from Brainard. We saw hippos, Impalas, Cattle Egrets, a type of Bee Eater nesting in the river bank and a Hamerkop (another large bird) who’s very large nest we saw near the 
lodge. They take shiny objects and put them in the interior of the nest. And for evening entertainment while on board we had rain and a thunder storm with appropriate fireworks.
The next day we went on a game drive where we saw all there was to see…that is to say white rhinos, giraffes, hippos, zebra, warthogs, impala, a marabou stork and a Southern Ground Hornbill, which are about the size of a turkey with a red head and they make a raucous squawk. Then we went on to Victoria Falls for a tour there. We had briefly seen the falls and the narrow canyon it falls into as we were coming in for a landing in Livingstone. This time of year it is hard to view the falls from
ground level in front of the falls because of the volume of water crashing down which makes a cloud of heavy mist…like rain falling. We walked around viewing the falls from points further back where we were able to get some reasonable pictures but the path on the other side of the gorge was so wet and misty that you could hardly see any thing or dare take your camera out for a picture. For the walk near the falls, you can rent rain coats, shoes and camera bags on the way up to the walkway across from the falls. Bruce and I wanted to feel what it would have been like for early viewers of one of the Seven Wonders of the World. I can tell you straight away that it was VERY wet. The wind swirled the droplets around so all sides were drenched! It was like a very heavy rain storm. The view, however, was magnificent from all the different vantage points. 
The drop is 330 feet and it is approximately 1 mile across. The noise is thunderous and the cloud of water rises above the terrain so that it can be seen from miles around. It was amazing and humbling. We worried that we shouldn't go when it was so full but it is far more spectacular now then in October when it is only flowing over one side near Zimbabwe. Now that would have been disappointing.
Zambezi complete with cocktails and snacks and who should we meet? Four charming people staying at our lodge from Minnesota! There were only about 14 people there and 6 of us were from MN. In fact they were from Brainard. We saw hippos, Impalas, Cattle Egrets, a type of Bee Eater nesting in the river bank and a Hamerkop (another large bird) who’s very large nest we saw near the 
lodge. They take shiny objects and put them in the interior of the nest. And for evening entertainment while on board we had rain and a thunder storm with appropriate fireworks.The next day we went on a game drive where we saw all there was to see…that is to say white rhinos, giraffes, hippos, zebra, warthogs, impala, a marabou stork and a Southern Ground Hornbill, which are about the size of a turkey with a red head and they make a raucous squawk. Then we went on to Victoria Falls for a tour there. We had briefly seen the falls and the narrow canyon it falls into as we were coming in for a landing in Livingstone. This time of year it is hard to view the falls from
ground level in front of the falls because of the volume of water crashing down which makes a cloud of heavy mist…like rain falling. We walked around viewing the falls from points further back where we were able to get some reasonable pictures but the path on the other side of the gorge was so wet and misty that you could hardly see any thing or dare take your camera out for a picture. For the walk near the falls, you can rent rain coats, shoes and camera bags on the way up to the walkway across from the falls. Bruce and I wanted to feel what it would have been like for early viewers of one of the Seven Wonders of the World. I can tell you straight away that it was VERY wet. The wind swirled the droplets around so all sides were drenched! It was like a very heavy rain storm. The view, however, was magnificent from all the different vantage points. 
The drop is 330 feet and it is approximately 1 mile across. The noise is thunderous and the cloud of water rises above the terrain so that it can be seen from miles around. It was amazing and humbling. We worried that we shouldn't go when it was so full but it is far more spectacular now then in October when it is only flowing over one side near Zimbabwe. Now that would have been disappointing.
The next day was our adrenalin day…remembering that I can get an adrenalin rush from looking out of a second story window…this does not have to be a lot! [This picture is of the bridge where they bungee jump from below the falls.] Bruce and I went back to the waterfront above the falls where he took an ultra light flight over the falls and canyon. It was cloudy and they were lowering so he was 
the last one to go up that morning. He found it great fun and I am sure generated some adrenalin. [Yes that is him in the back seat.]Then we toured a village which like some townships had no electricity, out houses on the perimeter of the village and 3 bore holes for water which were donated by an NGO. The family compounds were tidy. Several of them were making a frothy beer called chibuku or “shake-shake.” The lad 
from the village that gave the tour noted that it was brewed in a large cooking pot with the grayish mash fermenting away as it sits there. The one we saw had not been going long enough since it was not yet bubbling…”two days more”, he said. He noted that few of the visitors to the village try the brew as there was no top on it and it did not look appetizing (read: looks vile). I do not have a picture of the brew and am only showing the cooking area under the eves of the hut.
from the village that gave the tour noted that it was brewed in a large cooking pot with the grayish mash fermenting away as it sits there. The one we saw had not been going long enough since it was not yet bubbling…”two days more”, he said. He noted that few of the visitors to the village try the brew as there was no top on it and it did not look appetizing (read: looks vile). I do not have a picture of the brew and am only showing the cooking area under the eves of the hut.Now it was time for my adventure. I chose to ride an elephant…remember the elephants around the pool? There were 7 of them of which 
one was a baby and took only the trainer on his back. The full grown ones took two to three people. They had a nice elephant saddle on them which is good, as some folks from SA warned us off doing this because if you ride it bare-back you encounter the considerable sharp vertebra of the creature. The elephants plus riders went out on a walk and one thing I noticed right a way is that giraffes look different when you look across at them rather than up at them. Also the African elephant has a trunk with two tips one top and bottom at the end which pinch together thus allowing them to pick up things that are small. His feet are very soft and they don’t make much noise when going through the bush. They eat 
something like 100 lbs of foliage a day. It was great fun and we will enclose some pictures from our adventures on the blog.
one was a baby and took only the trainer on his back. The full grown ones took two to three people. They had a nice elephant saddle on them which is good, as some folks from SA warned us off doing this because if you ride it bare-back you encounter the considerable sharp vertebra of the creature. The elephants plus riders went out on a walk and one thing I noticed right a way is that giraffes look different when you look across at them rather than up at them. Also the African elephant has a trunk with two tips one top and bottom at the end which pinch together thus allowing them to pick up things that are small. His feet are very soft and they don’t make much noise when going through the bush. They eat 
something like 100 lbs of foliage a day. It was great fun and we will enclose some pictures from our adventures on the blog.Now we were off to Botswana where we will stay on the Chobe River, which eventually runs into the Zambezi, and see what Chobe National Park has to offer. Between game drives at 6 AM and boat tours at 3:30 in the afternoon we saw all there was to see except a hyena. A cobra, probably a spitting cobra, was 
swimming across the river. (There was very high water and the island across from us was underwater and he was probably escaping). We saw loads of impala [They are in the picture on the left. They are one of the most common animals in the park], kudos, pukus and other antelopes as well as zebras, baboons, wildebeests, giraffe, crocodile, water monitor and mongoose. We saw four of the big five: lions, panthers, elephants, cape buffalo but no rhinos in 
Chobe. We did see them in Zambia where they are guarded by an armed guard but allowed to roam within the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park. They had had 5 rhinos there but through misfortune lost 3 of them. We met some interesting folks from Britain and ended up having several meals with them. They may even come to visit.
swimming across the river. (There was very high water and the island across from us was underwater and he was probably escaping). We saw loads of impala [They are in the picture on the left. They are one of the most common animals in the park], kudos, pukus and other antelopes as well as zebras, baboons, wildebeests, giraffe, crocodile, water monitor and mongoose. We saw four of the big five: lions, panthers, elephants, cape buffalo but no rhinos in 
Chobe. We did see them in Zambia where they are guarded by an armed guard but allowed to roam within the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park. They had had 5 rhinos there but through misfortune lost 3 of them. We met some interesting folks from Britain and ended up having several meals with them. They may even come to visit.I forgot to mention that in order to cross the Zambezi River between 
Zambia and Botswana you must take a ferry, if you are a truck…there were as many as 15 trucks trying to get across from either side. The ferry can take one at a time. It takes about 20 minutes for the ferry to cross. Some times it can take up to two or three days for a truck to get across. We, however, did not have to cross that way. The company that moved us 
around, Bushtracks of Africa, dropped us off at the river and a nice fishing boat with an outboard motor took us across where their guys picked us up on the other side and drove us to the Chobe Marina Lodge, which is located on the banks of the Chobe River.
Zambia and Botswana you must take a ferry, if you are a truck…there were as many as 15 trucks trying to get across from either side. The ferry can take one at a time. It takes about 20 minutes for the ferry to cross. Some times it can take up to two or three days for a truck to get across. We, however, did not have to cross that way. The company that moved us 
around, Bushtracks of Africa, dropped us off at the river and a nice fishing boat with an outboard motor took us across where their guys picked us up on the other side and drove us to the Chobe Marina Lodge, which is located on the banks of the Chobe River.Here is a note that travelers to this area should know about before arriving. I say this because it does not show up in the guide books and the group arranging this trip were not aware either. It is a bit of a scam on Zambia’s part. We paid a fee for a visa when we entered Zambia. This was done through the lodge before our arrival. We were listed in a notebook that this was covered before entering otherwise you had to come up with the money in dollars, euros, pounds, or rands to enter the country. It is not a security check but rather a way to get money from the tourist. There is also a airport tax payable on leaving which fortunately was handled through the lodge or the travel agent. I am not sure. It is the payment of $100 apiece for Americans (90 pounds for Brits and $25 pp for other nationalities) to cross Zambia from Botswana or wherever to get to the airport. The problem, besides the unevenness of the fee, is the lack of information about it. We found out that we would need to pay $100 from the guide when we crossed from Zambia into Botswana. If we stayed in Zambia for another night it would be the $25 fee again. We converted some of our rand into dollars in Chobe but as it turned out we could have used rands so we lost a little money on that exchange. Because of all the fees we were a bit short of cash and were a bit concerned before we finally got out of the country.
It was a beautiful trip and I don’t begrudge them the money since Zambia is so poor but it would be nice to know in advance that you would have these additional charges. Who knows if we will ever get back to the banks of the Zambezi again!
Footnote 1 - Hey wouldn’t you like to clean that stable?! Norma wanted me to move this comment away from the wine and pleasant scene being painted in the paragraph. In fact she sort of raised a stink about it. BE
It was a beautiful trip and I don’t begrudge them the money since Zambia is so poor but it would be nice to know in advance that you would have these additional charges. Who knows if we will ever get back to the banks of the Zambezi again!
Footnote 1 - Hey wouldn’t you like to clean that stable?! Norma wanted me to move this comment away from the wine and pleasant scene being painted in the paragraph. In fact she sort of raised a stink about it. BE
We have more pictures to share but I will put them into another post.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
A poem on faces
Norma wrote this poem because of what she is experiencing in South Africa. I liked it and thought that I would share.
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Faces
From round to lean
From lily white to ebony
Dimples that make you grin
Deep dark frowns
Shimmering smiles
Eyes fiery with tightly curled lashes
Eyes grey and tired
Race by
Stroll by
Eyes meet and recognize, with fascination, the other.
This happens daily here in PE. Streams of faces I meet while walking!
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Faces
From round to lean
From lily white to ebony
Dimples that make you grin
Deep dark frowns
Shimmering smiles
Eyes fiery with tightly curled lashes
Eyes grey and tired
Race by
Stroll by
Eyes meet and recognize, with fascination, the other.
This happens daily here in PE. Streams of faces I meet while walking!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Post 8a - Knysna
Cape Town Trip - First Day
The last picture of the three is the intrepid five some who went on the canopy tour.. It was very interesting and lasted longer than the bungee jump.
Jessica and Todd stopped at Storms River and talked about how pretty the area was so we were pleased when Alan Sparg, our tour director, put it on the schedule as a stop.
This is a picture of the Storms River Canyon. The walls are nearly vertical with some vegetation on them but bare in others. There was a cave in at one point but I do not have a great picture of it so it will not be included at this time. There are a number of areas where the rivers have cut very narrow canyons into the rocks. It is a beautiful area. The rocks on the coast are really great.
This view is across the Knysna bay toward the heads or cliffs that guard the entrance to the bay. We took an evening cruise out on the bay but could not go into the gap because the tide was running out and every so often you would see a large swell rise up and break in that area. It is very dangerous. Fisherman loose their lives every so often because they need to go out to work and don't make it back. It is such a pretty area that is rapidly growing so consequently one that is under a lot of pressure to development. Their problem of destroying the area that people want to live in looks like what we do back in the U.S.
Knysna, Storms River
What if I told you to jump off a bridge? Would you do it? What if you had to pay money to do it? That is even more insane - right? Would you do it? That is exactly what 23 of our students did our first day on the trip to Cape Town near Storms River. They even claimed to have enjoyed it! Adrenalin rushes come at a high price at about R550 or just under a hundred dollars not counting the cost of the DVD of your final moments before, during and after the fall. It recorded that fateful moment just before you leap into space or were you pushed… I am certain the devil him/herself didn’t get that many opportunities to consider her/his descent as a fallen angel. It is the highest (216 m or approximately 642 feet) bungee jump in the world at the Bloukrans River Bridge which is just west of Storms River. I guess that means that you have more time to think about the course of your life so far as you fall into the canyon below. Now I know that the thick rubber band seems relatively safe or at least any fatalities seem to be unreported but I fail to see the fun. NO I am not getting old! It is just that over the course of a couple of years, so to speak, I have learned that falling usually has unpleasant consequences and is therefore to be avoided. [I am featuring no pictures of this event. It is too gruesome! (I am sure that there are some pictures on the student blogs if you can stand.)
This is how Norma, three students and I avoided the fall by getting dropped off at the Tree Canopy slide, really zip lines between platforms on trees while the rest of the group went on their merry way to jump. If you have never done a zip line before, it can be scary but at least you are not free falling and you have time to examine some great trees that grow along the coast near Knysna such as yellowwood, stink wood and others. We saw a Knysna Lourie (I have found some differences in how to spell Lorie) which is quite colorful especially when it flies. Here is a link to a site to give you a better view. [http://alexanderbeutel.tripod.com/world_of_birds/index.album/knysna-lorie?i=3] We have found some variability with how well it displays on systems. I hope it shows well on your system.
This is how Norma, three students and I avoided the fall by getting dropped off at the Tree Canopy slide, really zip lines between platforms on trees while the rest of the group went on their merry way to jump. If you have never done a zip line before, it can be scary but at least you are not free falling and you have time to examine some great trees that grow along the coast near Knysna such as yellowwood, stink wood and others. We saw a Knysna Lourie (I have found some differences in how to spell Lorie) which is quite colorful especially when it flies. Here is a link to a site to give you a better view. [http://alexanderbeutel.tripod.com/world_of_birds/index.album/knysna-lorie?i=3] We have found some variability with how well it displays on systems. I hope it shows well on your system.
The last picture of the three is the intrepid five some who went on the canopy tour.. It was very interesting and lasted longer than the bungee jump.
Jessica and Todd stopped at Storms River and talked about how pretty the area was so we were pleased when Alan Sparg, our tour director, put it on the schedule as a stop.
This is a picture of the Storms River Canyon. The walls are nearly vertical with some vegetation on them but bare in others. There was a cave in at one point but I do not have a great picture of it so it will not be included at this time. There are a number of areas where the rivers have cut very narrow canyons into the rocks. It is a beautiful area. The rocks on the coast are really great.This view is across the Knysna bay toward the heads or cliffs that guard the entrance to the bay. We took an evening cruise out on the bay but could not go into the gap because the tide was running out and every so often you would see a large swell rise up and break in that area. It is very dangerous. Fisherman loose their lives every so often because they need to go out to work and don't make it back. It is such a pretty area that is rapidly growing so consequently one that is under a lot of pressure to development. Their problem of destroying the area that people want to live in looks like what we do back in the U.S.The downtown harbor is lovely but developed. Just by chance they were having the national water polo contest, for the more mature fellas, in the harbor while we were there. There are a lot of different contest that demand athletics skills and endurance in S.A. While we are gone the S.A. Ironman contest was going on at Hobie beach practically in front of us. There are a lot of people staying very fit.
We stayed at a caravan park in Knysna, which had cabins such as the one on the right but others were in small trailers that had a room permanently built on to them - unusual. At least at this point it seems unusual. We had a view of the bay from the front of this cabin, from which I took the picture of the Knysna Heads. I now will show the next picture because in a way it epitomizes the contrast in S.A. The fence topped with the barbed wire. I will take time in another blog to talk about this as a feature of S.A. but also in many third world countries.
We will complete the rest of the trip to Cape Town in the next blog but Post 8b. Until then we hope you are all well.
B & N
Monday, March 26, 2007
Post 7
Post 7
It’s a warmish 75 degrees and gray with 30 percent chance of rain. A gentle wind…they don’t call Port Elizabeth the “windy city” for nothing. I can hear the tide coming in with gentle lazy crashes…that is when there are no cars or motorcycles going by. I feel kinda gray and sluggish too but I need to catch you up on our trip to the Karoo.
So what’s a Karoo anyway? Well to quote the Lonely Planet guide on the subject it “is a vast semi desert stretching over miles of the great South African plateau inland from the Cape coast. The Karoo’s southeastern extension is in the Eastern Cape (which is the province we live in) and includes the exquisite town of Graaff-Reinet, ….It is one of the region’s most intriguing areas, with an overwhelming sense of space and arid beauty that stands in sharp contrast to the cheery holiday atmosphere of the western coastline.”
From here the eloquence quickly evaporates as I reminisce on small pieces of what I did on my summer vacation written on wide lined paper in the third grade.
First stop was a cheetah breeding farm. They take injured animals for rehabilitation as well as breeding for sale to game farms. We got to feed bread to the black wildebeest (a very short and knobby looking fellow) and the kudo. Then we went around to where we could pet the cheetahs. These are not tame cheetahs and these cheetahs would not be sent back to the wild. These had some malfunction like being blind in one eye or a limp. In any event we were quietly let into the enclosure and the cheetah lay down and we lined up to quietly approach her and pet her head. When she became restive we paused for a bit before resuming petting. I touched her head as though I were petting our kitty and she purred. I was pleased! The other noise that they make sounds more like high yelps and rather bird-like. I heard this when we went to Kragga Kamma Game Reserve here close to PE. The cheetah cubs were fighting over a carcass. At this stop I bought some prickly pear jam. It has nice sweet flavor but is full of tiny little seeds. Eating a piece of toast generously slathered with jam would give you enough roughage for a week!
On from there to a small farming community and it’s township. The township is where the blacks live. We went there to see a very unusual business. There is a man who digs worms and sells them to fishermen. If that were all it wouldn’t be a very big story but these worms are more than three feet long. They were amazing! It was unclear on what kind of fish was caught with these beauties.
From there we went to Noorspoot Guest Farm, a fully functioning farm. They had sheep and were moving into game animals as well as adding the holiday stays. You could tell those farms who had moved into game farming because they had fences twice the height of regular farm fences. Game farming has increased as more people want kudu and other venison species and warthog for their braais (barbeques). I can recommend both…the tenderloin of warthog is very tasty! Bruce and I were put up in the honeymoon suite in the original family home…the family has been here for about 200 years. The room was the size of Rhode Island and included a claw footed tub with a decorated screen around it. The bed boasted a down comforter that was another enterprise they had started. They had a lot of geese. So many businesses were needed to keep the farm functioning because of droughts that come and last for years. Remember the “semi desert”? We had a lovely braai with a whole sheep and some kudu and some sausages….sausages are always included in the braais. Much later many, not me, went out gaze at the stars through a 10” telescope. Sadly, there were some clouds but all seemed to enjoy looking at the stars in the southern hemisphere. They certainly weren’t bothered by ambient light. Some even stayed up and caught the total ellipse of the moon.
On Saturday we found ourselves in beautiful Graff-Reinet. It was a lovely little town that we didn’t stay in long enough. It is the 4th oldest town in SA. There were several museums we visited and discovered that many fossils from prehistoric animals were found in the vicinity as well as many homes from the early 19th century. We went out to the local tequila factory and looked at the process. They cannot call it tequila so they call it agave which we would know vaguely as the century plant. Farmers are beginning to grow the agave for the distillery. Mexico has a lock on the name tequila so they call their brew agave.
Finally that day which proved to be partly cloudy we wound up in the Valley of Desolation on a high cliff above the canyon floor. We were there for sunset and before that sun disappeared we were getting chilly and hungry. The sunset made us forget all of that. Sunset was through some clouds and so was particularly spectacular. As we looked down into the canyon and the valley floor the terrain became pink and orange on both sides of us. And if that were not enough, the full moon rose behind us just as the sun was setting. It was magnificent! It gives me chills just recounting it.
Before going home we went through a wonderful cave that had lots of stalagmites and stalactites and wonderful formations and then we went to an ostrich farm where we stood on ostrich eggs (to prove their strength), learned about ostrich breeding and many took a ride on an ostrich!...OK…I just sat on his back and had picture taken but the riders looked hilarious! By the way, it was still cool and having your knees under the ostrich feathers was soft and warm. We got home late and fell into bed!
Right now I am looking at a sail boat catching the last rays of the sunset in its sail coming into harbor. Every Wednesday the yacht club goes out and asks for crew. I know Bruce is going to get there soon. It is a very picturesque scene!
ND
Blog for some pictures: http://bndickau.blogspot.com/
It’s a warmish 75 degrees and gray with 30 percent chance of rain. A gentle wind…they don’t call Port Elizabeth the “windy city” for nothing. I can hear the tide coming in with gentle lazy crashes…that is when there are no cars or motorcycles going by. I feel kinda gray and sluggish too but I need to catch you up on our trip to the Karoo.
So what’s a Karoo anyway? Well to quote the Lonely Planet guide on the subject it “is a vast semi desert stretching over miles of the great South African plateau inland from the Cape coast. The Karoo’s southeastern extension is in the Eastern Cape (which is the province we live in) and includes the exquisite town of Graaff-Reinet, ….It is one of the region’s most intriguing areas, with an overwhelming sense of space and arid beauty that stands in sharp contrast to the cheery holiday atmosphere of the western coastline.”
From here the eloquence quickly evaporates as I reminisce on small pieces of what I did on my summer vacation written on wide lined paper in the third grade.
First stop was a cheetah breeding farm. They take injured animals for rehabilitation as well as breeding for sale to game farms. We got to feed bread to the black wildebeest (a very short and knobby looking fellow) and the kudo. Then we went around to where we could pet the cheetahs. These are not tame cheetahs and these cheetahs would not be sent back to the wild. These had some malfunction like being blind in one eye or a limp. In any event we were quietly let into the enclosure and the cheetah lay down and we lined up to quietly approach her and pet her head. When she became restive we paused for a bit before resuming petting. I touched her head as though I were petting our kitty and she purred. I was pleased! The other noise that they make sounds more like high yelps and rather bird-like. I heard this when we went to Kragga Kamma Game Reserve here close to PE. The cheetah cubs were fighting over a carcass. At this stop I bought some prickly pear jam. It has nice sweet flavor but is full of tiny little seeds. Eating a piece of toast generously slathered with jam would give you enough roughage for a week!
On from there to a small farming community and it’s township. The township is where the blacks live. We went there to see a very unusual business. There is a man who digs worms and sells them to fishermen. If that were all it wouldn’t be a very big story but these worms are more than three feet long. They were amazing! It was unclear on what kind of fish was caught with these beauties.
From there we went to Noorspoot Guest Farm, a fully functioning farm. They had sheep and were moving into game animals as well as adding the holiday stays. You could tell those farms who had moved into game farming because they had fences twice the height of regular farm fences. Game farming has increased as more people want kudu and other venison species and warthog for their braais (barbeques). I can recommend both…the tenderloin of warthog is very tasty! Bruce and I were put up in the honeymoon suite in the original family home…the family has been here for about 200 years. The room was the size of Rhode Island and included a claw footed tub with a decorated screen around it. The bed boasted a down comforter that was another enterprise they had started. They had a lot of geese. So many businesses were needed to keep the farm functioning because of droughts that come and last for years. Remember the “semi desert”? We had a lovely braai with a whole sheep and some kudu and some sausages….sausages are always included in the braais. Much later many, not me, went out gaze at the stars through a 10” telescope. Sadly, there were some clouds but all seemed to enjoy looking at the stars in the southern hemisphere. They certainly weren’t bothered by ambient light. Some even stayed up and caught the total ellipse of the moon.
On Saturday we found ourselves in beautiful Graff-Reinet. It was a lovely little town that we didn’t stay in long enough. It is the 4th oldest town in SA. There were several museums we visited and discovered that many fossils from prehistoric animals were found in the vicinity as well as many homes from the early 19th century. We went out to the local tequila factory and looked at the process. They cannot call it tequila so they call it agave which we would know vaguely as the century plant. Farmers are beginning to grow the agave for the distillery. Mexico has a lock on the name tequila so they call their brew agave.
Finally that day which proved to be partly cloudy we wound up in the Valley of Desolation on a high cliff above the canyon floor. We were there for sunset and before that sun disappeared we were getting chilly and hungry. The sunset made us forget all of that. Sunset was through some clouds and so was particularly spectacular. As we looked down into the canyon and the valley floor the terrain became pink and orange on both sides of us. And if that were not enough, the full moon rose behind us just as the sun was setting. It was magnificent! It gives me chills just recounting it.
Before going home we went through a wonderful cave that had lots of stalagmites and stalactites and wonderful formations and then we went to an ostrich farm where we stood on ostrich eggs (to prove their strength), learned about ostrich breeding and many took a ride on an ostrich!...OK…I just sat on his back and had picture taken but the riders looked hilarious! By the way, it was still cool and having your knees under the ostrich feathers was soft and warm. We got home late and fell into bed!
Right now I am looking at a sail boat catching the last rays of the sunset in its sail coming into harbor. Every Wednesday the yacht club goes out and asks for crew. I know Bruce is going to get there soon. It is a very picturesque scene!
ND
Blog for some pictures: http://bndickau.blogspot.com/
Sunday, March 25, 2007
More Karoo
We are going to try to add more pictures of what happened in the Karoo. I hope that this time I will not have the problems with the pictures that were such a tussle last time. You can see that Shivan was standing down the slope taking a picture of the sunset after our hike up the mountain to the west end where we could get the best view of impending sunset. It had been cloudy all day but began to break up just to the west so the sunset was more spectacular than usual. This was good since it was very cool. I won't say cold to MN and WI 'ites but it was cold for the clothes we had on. 
In the end it was worth it because the view was super!
In the end it was worth it because the view was super!
It is still hard to see but I did a photo (below) of a S.A. map in my apartment to show where we were when we were in the Valley of Desolation in the Karoo. 
This is in a park just outside of the picturesque town of Graaf-Reinet. (At the end of the pen) It is the fourth oldest European city in S.A. They have kept the architecture of the Cape Dutch houses of course I didn't take any pictures of the houses because it was raining much of the day. There are a number of interesting museums as well. Norma and I explored the Old Library museum which had information on Robert Subukwe who was the founder of the Pan African Congress. He was one of the people most prominent in forcing the changes to happen in S.A. He spent much time in jail needless to say. An interesting aside is the fact that his children were raised in the US with the help of Arthur Ashe the tennis star. It had some other local history, some fossils and an excellent section on the rock paintings done by the San in the area. We all thought that we would like to explore the town further if given the chance.
This is in a park just outside of the picturesque town of Graaf-Reinet. (At the end of the pen) It is the fourth oldest European city in S.A. They have kept the architecture of the Cape Dutch houses of course I didn't take any pictures of the houses because it was raining much of the day. There are a number of interesting museums as well. Norma and I explored the Old Library museum which had information on Robert Subukwe who was the founder of the Pan African Congress. He was one of the people most prominent in forcing the changes to happen in S.A. He spent much time in jail needless to say. An interesting aside is the fact that his children were raised in the US with the help of Arthur Ashe the tennis star. It had some other local history, some fossils and an excellent section on the rock paintings done by the San in the area. We all thought that we would like to explore the town further if given the chance.The next morning we headed down to the Klein or Little Karoo to see the caves and the ostrich farms. It also is a semi-desert valley but smaller and it appeared greener because they had had some recent rains that started the greening process. We stopped at an ostrich farm where some sat on and others actually rode. They normally wouldn't have as many ride as our group but most got a ride that wanted it. No ostrich tongues were hanging out so they seemed to be okay.
They have little shelters for the nest to keep the temperature down so more chicks will hatch. It is an A-frame structure that the ostriches can stand in and is open on both ends. The top left picture was the female moving away from the nest. We had to hold thorny branches to keep the male away should he decide that he was not happy with our being near the eggs. Fortunately, he didn't care. He probably thought that we were just some more crazy tourist. The students stood on the eggs and they will not break. This is due to a thick shell and good distribution of weight from the sand on the bottom side.
The top right photo shows the guide putting the saddle on one ostrich. Notice that they have it blindfolded to keep it calm while this was being done. The two bottom pictures contained Laura and Norma sitting on the bird but they didn't go for a ride. Riding on an ostrich is not easy because you feel like you will be falling off at any moment. They have plenty of help so if you look like you might fall someone comes over to help.
Linda was visiting us at the time so here is her picture on a "mean" looking bird.
The last part of the trip was a tour in the Cango Caves. Most of the group went through an area where they had to crawl through a tight area. About four stayed with Norma and I and we went on a more conventional tour of the main part of the cave. It was a very nice cave.
Linda was visiting us at the time so here is her picture on a "mean" looking bird.
The last part of the trip was a tour in the Cango Caves. Most of the group went through an area where they had to crawl through a tight area. About four stayed with Norma and I and we went on a more conventional tour of the main part of the cave. It was a very nice cave.
In total it was a nice trip but the bus ride back after the ostrich ride took a long time. We got in at about 11:00 P.M. We had work at Pendla and The House the next day so it was a short night.
I am running behind since I have the Cape Town trip to describe but I don't know if I can get it out before we leave for our Easter Break in Zambia and Botswana. That is it for now.
B.
The Karoo
Norma did the most recent post on our trip to the Karoo and the Klein (little) Karoo in the latest post. I had too much grading an other work to help put it together but I still want to share some pictures of the area. I did a quick and dirty photo of a road map of the areas that we are talking about so if you have a reasonable map of S.A. you can find the areas.
The Karoo is a vast semidesert area surrounded by mountains that are often flat topped. This area had been buried under the sea for millions of years but over time was raised to a position higher than it is currently and was eroded down to its current position. You can see the folding in the rocks very clearly in some areas.
Because it is semidesert, it gets very hot in the summer and very cool in the winter (not MN cold however). It was hot the first day but day but we brought rain and cooler temperatures.
The picture on the right is what you see as you are driving up the mountain to this high valley on the side of the mountain. The picture on the left is an overview of the valley with two of our students getting their pictures taken on the edge. Many did more hair-raising poses that I didn't want to watch. We heard two troops of baboons having a "discussion" over territory at the bottom of the valley. I could seem them but it was quite far away and they blended in very well so I picked them out only when they moved. It was a cool evening since it had rained during the day.
I will have to come back to this topic again because the program is not now letting me put the rest of the pictures into this entry. I have lost one picture three times as I have tried to get it positioned properly. Needless to say I am not happy about how this program works.
More to come...
The Karoo is a vast semidesert area surrounded by mountains that are often flat topped. This area had been buried under the sea for millions of years but over time was raised to a position higher than it is currently and was eroded down to its current position. You can see the folding in the rocks very clearly in some areas.
Because it is semidesert, it gets very hot in the summer and very cool in the winter (not MN cold however). It was hot the first day but day but we brought rain and cooler temperatures.
The picture on the right is what you see as you are driving up the mountain to this high valley on the side of the mountain. The picture on the left is an overview of the valley with two of our students getting their pictures taken on the edge. Many did more hair-raising poses that I didn't want to watch. We heard two troops of baboons having a "discussion" over territory at the bottom of the valley. I could seem them but it was quite far away and they blended in very well so I picked them out only when they moved. It was a cool evening since it had rained during the day.
I will have to come back to this topic again because the program is not now letting me put the rest of the pictures into this entry. I have lost one picture three times as I have tried to get it positioned properly. Needless to say I am not happy about how this program works.
More to come...
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