Southern Africa Tour

Days 1–3: I took a 16–day Gate 1 tour of Southern Africa that went to South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. Not all of my tour mates did the entire 16 days, as three groups were put together in the beginning of the tour. We started out with 39, all Americans. It is a long trip from the United States to Cape Town, South Africa, where the tour started. From Los Angeles, it was a 10.5 hours to London, a three–hour layover, then 11 hours to Johannesburg, South Africa, and, next, a two–hour layover before then flying 2 hours to Cape Town. We left LA on a Sunday and arrived in Cape Town on Tuesday. Map of the entire 16–day tour.

Southern Africa Tour

A look at our tour from a T–shirt that I bought. We didn’t go to Mozambique, but was told it was on the other side of the mountains that we drove past. We also didn’t go to Namibia, but we saw it on a river cruise across the river. We did see many wild animals.

If someone tells you that Cape Town is cold, believe them. This is one place, especially if you are near the water, that you could use a warm coat, a scarf to keep your neck warm, and a hat that covers your ears. The other places where you would be happy to have cold–weather wear is on morning game drives. The weather is very cold in the early morning and you are in an open vehicle with the wind blowing on you.

South Africa

The flag of the Republic of South Africa, the southernmost country in Africa. It is bordered by both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Swaziland, and surrounds the kingdom of Lesotho. It is a constitutional republic. Its population is about 56 million, with about 80% of the population of Sub–Saharan African ancestry with the remainder being European, Asian (Indian), and multiracial. It has 11 official languages. We found that many people spoke English. We also found that the people that we met were very nice and made us feel very welcome. BUT, on the practical side as a tourist, we had poor wifi in most of our hotels and Apple products were not being supported. When I reached Cape Town, I could not send out email or receive it on my iPad. I got one message sent out on my iPhone and that was it. When wifi did work, I was able to put photos on Facebook, which was the best method of communication during the trip. Android phones are supported and so is gmail, but my email, Earthlink, wasn’t. I talked to Apple and what may work: change your country settings; delete your email account and then put it back on; delete your email account and add a gmail account; or take off photos, etc., off your devices to add more room.

Tour Mates

People on my India tour will recognize these three beautiful ladies: Melody, Maida, and Pauline. I flew from Los Angeles with Maida and also knew that Melody would be on our tour. We did not know that Pauline had decided to go to Southern Africa as well, so we were very surprised and overjoyed when we found her on our tour. Our great tour director was Barry Fuller, who we met at our hotel in Cape Town.

City Bowl Section

I think Maida and I must have gotten a lot of sleep on our flights as we were ready, after a short nap, to go out to dinner after arriving in Cape Town. We asked at our hotel for a recommendation for a restaurant and were directed to an African restaurant only a 10–minute walk from the hotel (we were told that Cape Town is safe to walk around in the day but don’t show that you have a camera; not safe at night)––maybe its 10 minutes if you have long legs or you know where you are going, neither applying to us. Maida asked a woman on the street if we were going in the right direction. The woman, Bianca, an actress, offered to take us to the restaurant. We accepted. I did take some photos. The area we were in, the City Bowl section, had many interesting Victorian buildings such as the one in the photo.

City Bowl Section

Two interesting buildings on our walk.

City Bowl Section

Not Victorian, but certainly an interesting building.

Mama Africa

We made it to the recommended restaurant, Mama Africa. However, it was closed due to a fire they had recently.

Mama Africa

Murals on the side of Mama Africa.

Bianca

Bianca walked us to another restaurant and Maida and I asked her to join us for dinner. Maida, Melody, and Pauline met her twice again. I was too tired at night to join them. Bianca is an actress, and now if she becomes famous, we can say that we know her. A very sweet woman and a very nice introduction to South Africa.

Our Meal

This restaurant served small bits, more like South African tapas, so we shared three small dishes. First, a small pizza and then salmon. All very good.

Our Meal

I think this one was a pork dish. Bianca called Uber to take us back to our hotel. It arrived even before we could get to the street. Its cost was one–third of what we would have paid for a taxi (we checked the price before we left on our walk). Here, with Uber, you are given an option to pay for your ride with cash.

Cape Peninsula Tour

Day 4. Our tour officially started this morning. We took an all–day Cape Peninsula tour that took us from Cape Town all the way to the Cape of Good Hope and back. The views along the coast were spectacular.

Cape Peninsula Tour

Hout Bay.

Cape Peninsula Tour

Chapman’s Peak.

Cape Peninsula Tour

A beautiful scene.

Cape Peninsula Tour

Misty Cliffs, not misty today. This should be part of the 17,300–acre Cape of Good Hope Natural Reserve.

Cape Peninsula Tour

The Old Lighthouse on top of the hill at Cape Point.

Cape Peninsula Tour

Baboons at Cape Point. We saw only two baboons here, but saw very many later on our tour.

Cape Peninsula Tour

Even though we were so close to Cape Town, we saw other animals in the wild other than the baboons. Here, a wild ostrich on the ocean side.

Cape Peninsula Tour

Next, at the Cape of Good Hope, the most south–western point of the African continent. I was really thrilled to be here as I remember reading about the Cape of Good Hope in school and it seemed so far away that I didn’t think I would ever be here.

Cape Peninsula Tour

After lunch, another treat––viewing the African penguins at Boulder Beach. The African penguins are found only in the waters of the south–western coast of Africa. They are an endangered species. There used to be millions of them, now only thousands.

African Penguins–MOVIE 1

The penguins at Boulder Beach.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/AhQMMgq42uE

African Penguins–MOVIE 2

African penguins at Boulder Beach.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/yDPlf9j_–LI

South African Masks

This was the only time on my tour that I got separated from my tour. After walking back from seeing the penguins, I stopped to buy the mask on the right. I wanted a mask to fill in a display that I have. I was very surprised on how much this mask resembled the mask on the left that I had bought in Colombia, another world away. Both are beaded, they use the same colors (the colors in the mask on the right are more vibrant than in the photo), and the dots on the nose are very similar. Barry realized I was missing and found me. Thank goodness for tour directors who count the number of people on the bus before leaving. I was already trying to figure out how to get back to Cape Town.

Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens

Our last stop on our tour was at the Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens. At the entrance were displays of artwork. This photo shows part of a quilt.

Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens

One of the many sculptures on view.

Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens

A tribute to Nelson Mandela in the gardens. Mandela planted a pepper–bark tree here and the yellow flowering plant, a stelitzia (what we call a bird of paradise), in the photo was developed just for Mandela.

I have put my photos of our Cape Peninsula Tour on a slideshow. Go to

http://www.peggysphotos.com/cape–peninsula/

(Slide Shows, Southern Africa, South Africa, “Cape Peninsula”).

Welcome Dinner

Tonight we had a welcome dinner at a restaurant near our hotel where we got to know some of our tour mates better.