The cape of good hope through foggy wine goggles

I flew directly from Zambia back to South Africa so I could spend 5 days in Cape Town and the nearby winelands. After a week of roughing it, staying at An African Villa was a complete relief. The villa was so charming with really hospitable owners and best of all, the best hot showers and full English breakfasts (!!).

Cape Town is a really fantastic city. The complete opposite of Jo’Burg, it reminded me a lot of San Francisco with its laid back feel. Best of all, a friend of mine from NY also happened to be there on vacation so we met up. The world really is so small that I can catch up with friends on the opposite end of the world.

The 4 Nobel Peace Prize winners from South Africa with Table Mountain in the background and an old apartheid sign. I went to all the requisite tour sites (Table Mountain, District 6 Museum, V&A Waterfront, etc) but really just took it easy and soaked it all in.

The best part of Cape Town by far was the drive down to Cape Point on my way to the winelands. The drive was also great because you get a better sense of the land and people. Being in cities and on tours, you can easily forget the problems South Africa faces with racism and poverty. As I left Cape Town I passed endless townships with destitute tin shacks and appalling crime/unemployment/poverty rates.

The coastal views were even better than Hwy 1 at home with turquoise water, white sand beaches and amazing coastal cliff views.

Welcome to the end of the world.

Got this recommendation from a friend and it was amazing. The best seafood pasta I’ve ever had!

Me and my ride! The thing was easily the smallest car I have ever been in. Also, they drive on the wrong side of the road, which took some serious getting used to.

I ended my time in South Africa with a couple of nights in Franschhoek. Its the culinary capital of the winelands so you can imagine the incredible food I had. Every time I thought it couldn’t get any better, the next meal would just blow me away. And of course, the wine! Being the responsible lush that I am, I decided to join a tour to go wine-tasting and it was so fun to learn about the wines from our guide while getting totally sloshed. Loved it!

It’s a beautiful little town in the valley surrounded by these incredible mountains. And then include rolling fields of vines and you have Franschhoek.

Yum, wine. South Africa is really known for its sauvignon blanc, chenin blanc and pinotage.

Dr. livingstone, I presume?

Our safari ended at Victoria Falls in Zambia, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. And a wonder it definitely is. It was also "discovered" by David Livingstone, the great British explorer. We were there during the end of the rainy season so the falls were an incredible force of nature with the water barely containing itself. Livingstone (the town) was also a great place to end our tour with a relaxing campsite complete with a nice restaurant, full bar and a booze cruise to celebrate the end.

What a site! But what was even more incredible is that from the Zambian side we were really only seeing a fraction of the falls.

Because of the heavy water mist we could barely see anything at all. But it was fun to run along all the trails, soaking wet, and catch the incredible glimpses when we could. And the rainbows!

At the top of the falls there are no gates or fences and people actually swim up there. It’s a little scary to think of what could happen, definitely not like at home.

They say the best way to see the falls is from the air and I decided to go on what is basically a motorized hang glider. It looks a little precarious but such amazing views! You can see on my face how thrilling it was.

Our great guides, Jimmy and Geoff!

Thanks for a great week, guys! I really could not have asked for a better group. Mostly Aussies and Americans with a couple of Irish thrown in, we had a fantastic time. I’ll never forget putting up/taking down camp, long talks on the endless road, awful sandwich lunches and so many laughs around the campfire fueled by all those cans of terrible beer.

Crikey, we're on safari!

For the safari, we were in the Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park in Botswana. The delta is incredible with the rivers from Angola flooding into the Kalahari Desert. We did an overnight trip into the delta, traveling in mokoros (traditional canoes with polers as guides). The delta trip was really special and so peaceful since there’s nothing out there but these small canals surrounded by tall grass and water lilies. The stars out were also so amazing since there was no moon and definitely no competing lights and we saw so many shooting stars.

Look, its Safari Jane! That’s our guide, Michael, in the background.

What a peaceful ride in the canoes, watching the reeds and lilies float by.

That’s one of our Intrepid guides, Geoff, taking advantage of the transport. Life is so hard :)

While we didn’t actually see any animals on our game walk we got to soak in the beautiful landscapes. The grass, trees and views were just incredible, even the land looked so wild. And we got to hear from our local guides how to track animals and what plants the bushmen used to use when they also roamed the land.

Enjoying a few beers after a tough trip into the delta! I think we could have flooded the delta with all the Windhoek Lagers we drank on the trip. But what a great group to laugh and share beers with.

I went on a flight over the delta. I’ve never been on such a small plane before and it was definitely an experience with all the bumps in the air but the views were spectacular. We saw a few animals but they were mainly dots on the landscape.

But the real animal bonanza was really Chobe National Park. We did a sunset boat cruise and an early morning game drive and saw so many amazing animals! They look so strange in comparison to what we have back at home. But it is a bit like a live amusement park for animal lovers. We were in national parks and private reserves where the animals are confined to a certain area and acclimated to humans and cars. They are still very much wild but not the way Africa used to be with animals free roaming across the continent.

Gratuitous animal photos. Just imagine jaw on the ground at seeing them so close. Cueing Toto...:

Cry, the beloved country

What was I expecting when I arrived in Johannesburg? Hmm, tough question. First of all, its considered to be dangerous where the chances of getting mugged are pretty much next to certain. Second, South Africa has such a complicated history with race relations and the apartheid so I really wanted to learn more. Finally, I was also meeting up with my Intrepid tour group, which can be such a gamble. After all, I’m stuck with this group for 8 whole days so they better be good!

Luckily, my time in Jo’burg was amazing. I saw Soweto (a fascinating township with a tragic role in the apartheid history), went to the Apartheid Museum and met a fantastic group of people for my safari tour.

Welcome to Soweto, one of the major townships outside of Jo’burg. Townships are suburbs of the cities though they can be nothing more than shanty towns. They also historically were the areas that Africans were segregated to during the apartheid.

Kids playing soccer in the shanty areas of Soweto. World Cup fever has definitely taken hold here. Go Bafana Bafana!

I visited both the Apartheid Museum and Mandela House, both incredible museums.

A quick word about the tour. Its an overland trip from Jo’burg through Botswana and ending in Zambia at Victoria Falls. Which means, on top of the loads of animals we’ll see, its going to be one looooooonnnnnnggg road trip. I don’t really mind because I love watching the road pass by plus we’re riding in this gigantic truck so we’ll be riding in style.

On the road and my first wildlife sighting! There was actually a hippo just hanging out at the petrol station. How funny does it look? But be careful, hippos kill more people than any other animal in Africa.

Back on the road

So after all this time I've decided to revisit the travel blog and post about my travels. Even after all these years, I love looking back at my "modern day grand tour" and remember all the great places I've been and the amazing things I've done. As I (sadly) grow older and have less time for such adventures these memories are even more important! Even since my world trip in 2005-06 I've been to some really incredible places so I'm going to have to go back and document them at least with some pictures.

I don’t think this will surprise anyone but I love to travel, and the stranger and more far-flung the better. But some things do change. As I get older and get better jobs, I find I can live without the hostel dorm rooms, budget overnight border crossings and poorly self-cooked rice and bean dinners. Not that its 5-star travel but I appreciate showers with hot water, quick and efficient plane rides and the occasional taxi. But don’t worry, I’m still keeping it real.

So to the present day. Now as a working stiff, its harder to find the time for any type of extended travel but I always do seem to find a way. I'm in the middle of transitioning my career and with a new job comes time before having to start it all up again. This time I really hit the jackpot, not only with a great job I'm thrilled about, but with a start date 3 months away! So, of course, I immediately started researching plane tickets and destinations. So for the next three months, I'll be in Southern Africa on safari and doing volunteer work (South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia), Cabo San Lucas for a good friend's birthday (not the same type of travel but international nonetheless) and then to Japan where my brother and sister-in-law have recently moved to. Whew, busy.

So where am I now? I'm currently at Heathrow awaiting my flight to Jo'burg. I’m ridiculously excited to be back on the road and to see Southern Africa but not looking forward to my 11-hour flight Jo’burg since it already took me 11 hours to get here. I love to travel but why does everything have to be so far away?