Norway - A very different Adventure

March 16, 2020 Generally speaking we book our overseas trips about 9 months before embarkation. This was the case for the Viking ocean cruise, "Searching for the Northern Lights", that we booked for March 9 to March 22. This particular cruise met two important criteria. For Lynda, it added another country to our ever growing list of countries we have visited and, for Tim, it was a chance to view the Northern Lights at their spectacular best. At the time of booking, our only concerns were: 1) we would be leaving only 5 weeks after returning from our trip to South Africa, and 2) Tim's mild concern about missing the Big Ten Men's Basketball tournament and the first week of the NCAA Tournament. With these two concerns dismissed the cruise was booked. Because of the South Africa trip we did not spend a lot of time thinking about the Norway cruise other then when it was time to book excursions and reserve special dining on board the ship. The South Africa trip had been a real adrenaline rush for us. It took us close to two weeks to come down from the high of the trip as well as recovering from the exhausting flights getting home. As we were preparing for South Africa coronavirus was just a story on the news that was a major problem in China. While in South Africa coronavirus became a bigger story on the world stage but one that did not resonate with us yet. Traveling home from Johannesburg we were asked several times at London Heathrow airport if we had been in China anytime in the last 14 days and the same question was asked at Chicago O'Hare. In each intance it was asked with the same concern as "do you have anything to declare". Everything changed in the two weeks before our scheduled flight to Norway. Suddenly there were pictures on the television of cruise ships docked and under quarintine or sailing around looking for a country that would let them dock. Coronavirus was no longer a "China" problem. Ten days before our cruise we received an email from Viking explaining that we would be required to fill out a health survey before boarding and that anyone who had been to China within 14 days of our cruise would not be allowed on board. Every day the news about coronavirus and its spread around the world grew. The weekend of March 1 we had our first discussion between the two of us questioning for the if we should go ahead with the cruise. With many questions and few answers, on the Monday a week before we were to leave we called our travel agent. Lora is located at an agency in Atlanta, Georgia. We accidentally met her online in 2013 when we answered an email about a cruise that piqued our interest. She has booked almost all of the cruises we have taken since. Lora is very good at what she does and is a joy to work with. We trust her completely. While she was not able to answer all of our questions she was able to put our minds at ease. Most importantly she told us of several of her clients who had just returned from a Viking ocean cruise and reported that Viking was being very proactive in addressing health issues on board, i.e much hand sanitizing, etc. As the week progressed we constantly monitored the websites of both the U.S. Department of State and the Center for Desease Control for any alerts that might affect us. By this time we were also fielding questions from our family about the advisability of us going on the trip. The Thursday before we left we received another email from Viking. This email informed us that we could cancel our trip up to 24 hours before boarding with no penalty. We would receive a coupon for the cost of the trip that would be good for 24 months toward any Viking cruise. Even as we packed on the Sunday before we left we were questioning our decision to go ahead with the trip. We are not sure what happened as we slept Sunday night, but we both woke up on Monday, March 9, excited and ready to start our next travel adventure. There is a bus service called "Michigan Flyer" that travels between East Lansing and Metro Airport via Ann Arbor. It is quite convenient and we have used it many times. The scheduling did not work out very well for this trip so we drove to Metro on our own. This turned out to be a very fortuitous decision as the service was suspended a couple of days before our return. We were shocked when we entered the airport. There was a fraction of the people we usually encounter. It was quiet without any of the buzz we usually feel from large numbers of harried travelers rushing to their gates. It was the same when we boarded our plane. It had a capacity of 300 customers but was half full at best. It was actually rather stress free. We flew from Detroit to Amsterdam and then on to Bergen, Norway. It was as good as traveling by air can be. Multiple Viking representatives greeted us at the Bergen airport Tuesday morning. Our first surprise was the fact that there was no snow on the ground. The only snow we saw was at the top of mountains. The temperature was in the low 40's and it was raining. There were a number of fellow Viking cruise mates on the flight from Amsterdam to Bergen. Enough to fill two buses. We had a 25 minute bus ride from the airport to the ship terminal. As always when we enter a new country for the first time we marvel at the different landscape as well as the different architecture. We observed an interesting blend of the old with the new; the new being the contemporary scandanavian style that we like. We also commented on the fact that with all of our travels, when we are in countries that have a "Romance" language we have learned to be able to understand signage. (An aside to our young readers: Romance languages are those languages based on Latin.) In Norway we were pretty much clueless trying to figure out signs on buildings. Once at the terminal we were confronted with the health form. The form asked if we had been in China, Iran, South Korea, or Italy during the last 14 days. It also asked if we had any of the following symptoms: high temperature, cough, shortness of breath or sore throat. We also had our temperature taken. Before boarding the ship we were asked on three different occasions to stop and sanitize our hands. Once on board we were reminded why we enjoy Viking cruises. We were offered a glass of champaigne and everyone offered us warm greetings. Our first indication that there had been a lot of cancelations was when we stopped at the customer service desk to check our reservaions for specialty dining. In the past we have been allowed one reservation at each of two specialty restaurants. For this cruise we were able to book two meals at each restaurant. The rest of the day was spent unpacking and settling into our cabin. We both took short naps. After his nap, Tim took the 15 minute walk from the ship to the town center to find an ATM to obtain local currency. Tim always enjoys exploring new cities, getting a feel of the shops and restaurants. Bergen was no exception other then it was raining the whole time he was out. A quick history lesson. Norway only started to exist as an independent nation in 1905. The hundred years before that it is was under the control of Sweden and the 500 years before that, the Danes. When Norway won its independence the citizens decided they wanted to be a monorchy just like many of their neighboring countries. Of course, they did not have a king so they went out and hired one. The second son of the King of Denmark seemed to have all the right credentials and because he was not going to become King of Denmark he was more then happy to take the job. We know this description sounds a bit flip but it is actually what happened. The good news is that the first King of Norway was actually a good king. He changed his name to the name of a line of kings some 700 years in Norway's past and embraced all things Norwegian. The lineage of the Royal family of Norway continues today from the first king in 1905. We would tell you that first kings name but our Norwegian guide had trouble pronouncing it and an America keyboard probably doesn't have the proper letters to type it. Norway's number one industry was fishing. It was a poor country until 1969 when oil was discovered. Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with around 268,000 citizens. It is a picturesque city situated around two fjiords. On Wednesday morning we took a bus tour of Bergen. It was the type of tour we don't particularly like. There were two stops for photo opprotunities and everything else was a drive by. There were several parts of the town we would have loved to explore on foot as well as a funicular that went up the side of a small mountain that would have had fabulous views of Bergen and the fjiords. That was not to be as our ship left port shortly after lunch on Wednesday. Thursday morning a little before seven, because we were both struggling to adjust to the five hour time difference from back home, we were laying in bed, each reading the latest news on our mobile devices. Of course all the news was about coronavirus. Another cruise ship was in the news so we were discussing our situation and if we trusted Viking to be transparent with us if one of the crew or passengers on our ship was sick. It was at that moment that our Captain came on the intercom and announced that Viking headquarters had decided to suspend all of the Viking ocean and river cruises going on around the world. He had been give those instructions at 4:30 that morning and had turned our ship around and had set course for Tilbury, England where the cruise terminal for London is located. This was where our cruise was scheduled to end. He told us that Viking was in the process of re-arranging flights home for those like us who had booked our air with Viking. The Captain also explained that Viking would also need to change the time that they had reserved to be docked in England. As all of this would take time it might not be until sometime on Saturday that we would arrive in Tilbury. An hour or so after this announcement Tim went to breakfast. One of the senior officers was in the dining room going from table to table talking with the guests. He stopped and talked with Tim, answering his questions as best he could. It was really too early in the process for him to have any definitive information but he was there to talk and reassure the guests that Viking was doing everything possible to ensure our safe return home. We spent Thursday sailing through the inside passage of Norway, seeing stunning scenery. By Friday afternoon we were in the North Sea and we arrived in Tilbury at 2:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon. It was Saturday morning that we finally received our flight plans. We were scheduled to fly the next day nonstop from London Heathrow to Detroit Metro. We were greatly relieved as we knew by this time that there were 13 airports that were allowed to receive international flights. We did not know if Detroit would be one of them. We also decided that once we docked in Tilbury we would try to leave the ship and go into London for the evening. Unfortunately, later in the morning we were told that once we docked we were all required to leave the ship to have a face to face meeting with a British immigration officer and then would be required to go back on board the ship and would not be able to leave until we left the ship for our bus trip to the airport. This was a bit of a disappointment. Sunday morning we left our ship at 7:45 for an hour long bus ride to Heathrow. We enjoyed the views of the English countryside as we reminisced about our many previous trips to the U.K. Unlike Detroit Metro the previous Monday, Heathrow was crowded with everyone trying to get back to the States. When we checked into our flight at the gate we were given a form to fill out. There was a lengthy list of countries that we had to indicate having visited in the last 14 days. Norway was one of the countries on the list. We also had to indicate if we had any symptoms much as when we boarded our ship. There were very few empty seats on our flight home. Upon arriving in Detroit, as we taxied to our gate, the head flight attendent announced that when we arrived at our gate we should all remain in our seats as Customs/Border Patrol personnel may want to have certain passengers leave before others. After a short wait it was announced, with a certain amount of relief, that we could all leave. When we arrived at passport control we went directly to the Global Entry kiosks. We enrolled in Global Entry several years ago and it makes reentering the country a breeze. After having our passports checked the officer told us we would have to go through health screening. While in line we had observed that not everyone was required to go through this screening. The screening was efficiently done. As we walked to the area where we would have our temperature taken an offical walked beside us and went through the form we had filled on the plane. Once our temperature was taken and the health worker was satisfied that we had no symptoms we were given a chart and told to take our temperature twice a day and check on the form if we had a cough or trouble breathing. While they did not come right out and tell us to self quarantine it was strongly suggested we should limit contact with other people. We have decided to self quarantine. This whole process only added 10 or 15 minutes to the whole reentering the country process. With little fuss or bother we were home. Some final thoughts. Viking handled the whole situation as well as can be expected. The personnel on board kept us as informed as they could. The crew continued to work hard to make our cruise experience a good one even when we knew the cruise was being cut short. While everyone was disappointed we heard very little grumbling among the passengers. We all understood the circumstances we were in and made the best of them. Having heard horror stories as we docked in London of long lines at the airports back in the states, we were greatly relieved that the process was handled so smoothly. The fact that Detroit does not handle as many international flights as Chicago or New York undoubtedly makes their job easier. Today, Monday, March 16, looking back at the cruise it seems a bit surreal that we were part of a major international story surrounding a pandemic that was sweeeping across most of the world. Having said that we can assure you that this experience will do nothing to diminish our love of travel.

More Excitement at Thornybush

February 2, 2020 We told you in the last blog post that that post would probably be the last one for this trip unless something exciting happened. Well, there was lots of additional excitement created by lions and a cocktail party. Friday Lynda decided to skip the afternoon game drive, but Tim gamely(!) carried on. We were not far into our hunt when word came that another leopard had been sighted. Our ranger quickly took us to the spot where we saw the leopard as it walked through the brush. This was a different leopard from the one we saw in the morning. It was a bit bigger and more vibrantly colored then the young animal we saw napping in a tree Friday morning. It was a chaotic scene as three bush vehicles chased the poor leopard through the bush. As earlier reported, rain over the last several weeks has led to abundant growth so it was easy for the leopard to walk through the tall grass undetected. The three rangers and trackers unfortunately quickly lost the leopard. We were thrilled with our brief sightings but Tim was unable to get a picture of the beautiful cat. Good fortune was ours as we soon were parked next to 8 female lions laying in the grass. Quite frankly, while it was initially a rush to see these lions, after a few minutes of watching them sleeping it was pretty boring. As Tim discussed this with his fellow safari mates we decided that none of our friends back home would feel sorry for our boredom. So we sucked it up and spent about 20 minutes marveling at these magnificent beasts. After we left the lions, out ranger/guide/driver found a clearing in the bush where we would be safe from the resident wildlife and we had a brief picnic with beer, wine and snacks. After this break we started to make our way back towards the lodge. After this, our third game drive, we had seen just about every animal there was to see in Thornybush but we still were pleased to see the occasional elephant, giraffe and cape buffalo as well as the hundreds of impalas, wildebeasts, and zebra along the way. Lynda also decided to skip Saturday mornings game drive as she had been up at 5:00 a.m. the last two mornings and was going to have to be up that early on Sunday. She missed another amazing experience. The sunrise over the South Africa bush was breathtaking but there were few animal sightings in the first hour and a half. That changed when we found a male lion, the head of one of the two prides in Thornybush along with three lionesses. The male actually tried to mate with one of the lionesses two times. She was having none of it. It is easy to see why the lion is considered the "king of beasts" as we were all enthralled with the regal bearing of the male lion. We spent probably a half hour watching these lions. We would have stayed longer but our guide told us we had to move on so other groups could also watch. We are not sure if we have impressed upon you how close our vehicle gets to these animals. We were no more then 20 or 30 feet from the male and two of the lionesses literally walked right beside our land cruiser. Because of this only a couple of vehicles could be watching the animals at a time. If watching the lions was the "sublime" then what we saw next was the ridiculous. We don't konw how our tracker and driver saw it but the truck suddenly stopped and our guide pointed out a dung beetle moving a piece of elephant dung at the edge of the road. The dung beetle is no more then an inch long and was attempting to roll a round piece of dung the size of a softball up a hill. The beetle kept pushing and pushing the ball up the hill and just when it looked like it had made the top of the hill the ball rolled back down. This hill was in reality about a six inch incline at the edge of the road. We watched the poor beetle make at least five attempts up the hill next to the road without success. It really was comical although we doubt the beetle saw any humor in the situation. The highlight of Saturday evenings game drive was the cocktail party. Rather then each truck stopping for its own break along the way, all of the vehicles gathered together at a large clearing where the resort had set up tables with muliple snacks and beverages. We had a wonderful view of the bush and it was a beautiful night to watch a spectacular sunset. The only way to top this wonderful gathering of people who had become friends. was encountering two female lions walking along the road as night fell which is what we did. We had one final game drive Sunday morning highlighted by seeing two young male lions and later watching a group of 10 giraffes moving through the bush. Once this last safari was completed we packed our bags and began the long journey home. As a matter of fact this last posting is being written from the comfort of our house. It was a bit sad to look out to our backyard and not see the ubiquitous impalas wandering through the yard that we had seen for the last four days. As we flew home we discussed the trip and agreed it was one of our best ever. The accommodations and food were excellent and the experiences throughout the trip were exceptional. But what added to the joy of this trip was meeting like minded people who became friends and shared in the pleasure of the trip.

Thornybush Nature Reserve

January 30, 2020 Thornybush Nature Reserve is approximately 150 miles east of Johannesburg, South Africa. It borders the Kruger National Park. We are located at the Watersite Lodge inside Thornybush. Arriving shortly after noon we immediately went to lunch which was served "al fresco" (outside) overlooking a large pond. We could see a Hippo bobbing to the surface of the pond as we ate. After lunch we were shown to our cabin. The cabins are in duplexes spread out around the grounds near the main lodge. Our room is large, well appointed and comfortable. We had the afternoon free until our first safari drive at 4:00. While Lynda napped, Tim sat on the small patio outside our room. While he read he also watched nyala, a small antelope, wander by and a troop of 8 small monkeys cavorted in and around a tree just off of the patio. At 4:00 we met for our first safari. Each couple along with two other couples were assigned to a ranger, the driver and guide, and a tracker. We will have the same ranger and tracker all three days. Guyani, our ranger, filled us in on a few quick rules and we were off. Very soon we came upon some zebras and wildebeast. While Guyani was talking about these animals the largest bull elephant we have seen came lumbering around a large bush towards us. The elephant was flapping its ears at us and made a few aggressive steps towards us. It was enough to cause Guyani to back our vehicle up and give the elephant more room. What an exilerating start to our safari. Thornybush has had rain in the last few weeks so the vegatation is quite lush making it a bit harder to see the animals. On the positive side, when we do see them we see them up close. At the other two parks we visited all of the vehicles went pretty much in the same direction. In Thornybush each vehicle went its own way so we seldom saw anyone else. After seeing lots of impala, a few more elephants and many birds we came to a waterhole where there were two young lions, a brother and a sister, laying in the grass near each other. We spent at least 15 minutes watching these regal cats as they rested, totally oblivious to our presence. We were only 10 or 20 feet from these animals. In Africa the goal of a safari is to see the "big 5": elephant, cape buffalo, rhinoceros, lion and leapord. Leaving the lions behind we went in search of a rhino. We drove around the bush in a fruitless quest for a rhino sighting until about 6:15 when Guyani parked our vehicle in a an open area that he said was safe enough for us to get out of the truck. Much to our surprise, Guyani attached a small shelf to the front of the vehicle, draped it with a small table cloth and set out a selection of beer, wine, liquiors, soft drinks, and snacks. How very civilized. As we were enjoying our picnic we watched a spectacular sunset. Our picnic was stored and we resumed our safari in the gathering dark. Our tracker sat on a small seat attached to the front of the vehicle shining a spotlight back and forth to each side of the road. At one point we had to make a sudden stop for a giraffe standing in the middle of the road. The giraffe was our last animal sighting before returning to the lodge. It was a good way to end our safari. One of the rules of the resort is that after dark you cannot walk between your cabin and the lodge unescorted. As it was dark when we returned from safari we were escorted to our cabin. A half hour later we called reception for an escort to dinner. Dinner was again outside in a very romantic setting. It was also delicious. Friday mornings wake-up call was a 5:00. By 5:30 we were on safari again. Within 45 minutes we came upon a mother and baby rhino laying in the middle of the road. As we watched both eventually got up on their feet. As if choreographed by the park, two giraffes walked out onto the road about 50 yards past where the rhinos were standing. As if that was not entertaining enough, we heard a rustling in the bush and a huge bull rhino appeared, and, as the elephant did yesterday, made threatening steps toward our vehicle. Guyani assured us that he could read the signs of danger from the rhino and was not seeing any. We were probably no more then 20 or 30 yards from these ugly but mesmerizing beasts. Soon two more safari vehicles approached from the opposite direction and Guyani decided we should leave giving the other safari hunters time with the rhinos. Soon after leaving the rhinos we stopped so that Guyani and our tracker, Mandle, could get out of the vehicle. They saw leopard tracks in the dirt and wanted to see which direction the leapord was traveling. Mandle was the first to return climbing up to his perch at the front of the truck. As he scoped out the area around us he was barely able to see a cape buffalo in the bush. Eventually the buffalo moved out in open so we got a good view of it, although it was not "up and personal" as with the rhinos. The cape buffalo sighting left us with only the leopard to complete our having seen the "big 5". The rangers communicate with each other over radios informing each other of "big 5" sightings. Guyani received word of a leapord sighting and we were off. 10 minutes later we saw another truck off of the road a short ways parked next to a tree. We drove up behind and saw a leaopord draped over a limb about 6 feet above the ground. We did not have a particularly good view of the cat but soon the other safari truck left and we took its place right next to the tree. We were within 10 to 15 feet of this beautiful animal. We must have spent at least 20 minutes there. None of us could tear our eyes away from this young leapord. When we finally left we had driven no more then 50 yards down the road when we encountered two hyenas. As we watched them walk into the bush they suddenly turned and ran back towards where the leopard was located. Guyani immediately backed our vehicle back to the tree as we watched the hyenas stalking around as the leapard, now fully awake, sat in the tree watching them. Guyani told us that the hyenas had no interest in theleopard, but was looking for a possible carcass that the leopard had killed. The hyenas decided there was no carcass and left, as did we. By the time we left the leopard for the second time it was time to head back to the lodge. On the way Guyani apologized to us. He said that because of the excitement of seeing the rhinos and then hunting down and finding the leopard, he had forgotten to take time for our morning picnic. We assured him that given the thrill of the mornings safari we had not missed the picnic either. We returned to the lodge about 9:30 where we had breakfast and free time until noon. At noon one of the rangers presented a lecture about the Tsonga culture. Most of the rangers, trackers and other employees of the lodge are Tsonga. Several interesting facts about the Tsonga. The Tsongas still allow men to have multiple wives, although it is rarely done anymore. When the children turn 13 the boys and girls are taken seperately into the bush for an "initiation". For the boys this involves being circumsized. No mention was made of the girls "initiation". After the lecture a few of our women cornered the ranger, asking about the girls "initiation" concerned that the girls might be subjected to genital mutilation. The ranger assured the women that this did not occur. He said that girls were mostly instructed on how to pleasure their husbands once they were married. We have another safari at 4:00 Friday afternoon. There are safaris again tomorrow at the same time as today's and we understand we have an early morning safari on Sunday before we fly back to Johannesburg for our return flights home. Unless there is something more exciting than what we have already reported on our remaining safaris this will be our last blog posting. We will spend most of Sunday and Monday on various airplanes, returning to Mason sometime late on Monday. This trip has been exciting beyond our wildest dreams. We hope you have been able to enjoy that excitment through our blog postings. We hope you will all join us in mid-March as we cruise along the coast of Norway into the Artic Circle "Exploring the Northern lights".

Rovos Rail, Hwange National Park, and Soweto

January 26, 2020 Sunday afternoon we boarded the Rovos Rail train. It was every bit as elegant as we imagined. We had upgraded to a larger cabin and were glad we did. Talking with fellow members of our tour, we found those that did not upgrade disappointed in the size of thier cabin. Despite the upgrade, the cabin was still small but comfortable. Within a few minutes of leaving the station we realized we were not on one of the TVG trains we've traveled on in France and Italy. Rather than gliding along smoothly and quietly at over 120 miles per hour, we lurched and swayed at a sedate 35 miles per hour. A bit later we discovered the adventure of showering while our train was in motion. We felt like we had gone back to a bygone era. Dinner was announced by one of the train's attendants walking through each car striking a gong. Men were required to wear coats and ties; the women cocktail dresses or suits. Both lunch and dinner were a set 4 course meal. One of our first courses was kudu carpaccio, a member of the antelope family. An evening meal featured Springbok loin as an entre. Springbok is also a member of the antelope family. All meals were excellent. 6:00 Monday morning we were in our safari jeeps heading out into the Hwange National Park. Hwange's landscape is very different from Chobe National Park. It features more grass plains than Chobe with the occasional stand of trees and bushes. Unlike Chobe, Hwange does not have a river running through the park, but, instead, has a number of waterholes. We were surprised to see solar panels near some of the larger waterholes. The solar panels were connected to a pump that maintained the water level in the waterhole. We saw fewer animals on this safari. We enjoyed spending at least 15 minutes watching a pair of giraffes. Our guide was able to bring our jeep much closer to these graceful animals. We were excited to see several different herds of zebras and wildebeasts. It seems these two animals get along well and usually are seen together. While we were told that there were 55,000 elephants in Hwange we only saw one small family of 5 or 6. They were in a stand of trees and bushes so we only got glimpses of them. The only other animals we saw were a single kudu, a pair of cape buffalo that we were not able to get close to, a small group of warthogs, and a leapord tortoise. What we did enjoy was a large number of very interesting and colorful birds. Before the safari began, our guide told us that safari's were like mining; you never knew what was going to show up. This safari was not nearly as exciting as Saturday's safari in Chobe National Park. Fortunately, we have at least 4 more safari's scheduled at Thorny Bush Safari resort in the Kruger National Park. We have been assured that we will see big cats there. Tuesday morning our MSU faculty host, Dr. Isaac Kalumbu, presented a lecture on board the train. Isaac has a PhD in Ethno Musicology. After a number of years as a faculty member of the School of Music he now works in the Center for African Studies. Most of his lecture focused on MSU's presence in Africa. We learned that MSU was the first American university to have a program of International Studies. Over the past few years the university has partnered with several African universities in such area's as both human and vetenarian medicine among others. According to Isaac, MSU has the largest footprint in Africa of any American university. He finished his lecture with an interesting discussion of the history of pop music in the Afro-American culture. Wednesday morning we stepped off our train onto the platform in Rovos Rail's private station in Pretoria, South Africa. Rohan Vos, the owners of Rovos Rail greeted us and took us on a tour of the facilities at the station. All of the locomotives and cars for the trains are reclamation projects. He buys the rolling stock in poor condition, completely guts the carriages and then rebuilds them. We were unable to see cars being rebuilt but we did see several locomotives in various states of repair. Some of his explanations were a bit technical but still interesting. We left the rail station by bus, driving about an hour and half south to Soweto. Soweto was a town built outside of Johannesburg for the sole purpose of housing black South Africans. It was in Soweto where the first major protest rally against apartheid occurred. It was this rally that was the first to turn violent with the police shooting a number of protestors. Since the end of apartheid, efforts have been made to improve the conditions in Soweto but it still remains a city of poverty. Interestngly, we ate lunch at a small restaurant that caters to tour buses. Lunch was a buffet of typical Africa food. It was a culinary adventure that for the most part was very good. After lunch we visited Kliptown, a community of 45,000 people in the middle of Soweto. Kliptown has no utility provided electricty. They have managed to hack into the Soweto grid to basically steal the electricity that they use. They claim they are "borrowing" the power. The only water they get is from 50 water taps provided throughout the community. Toilets are a row of what we call porta-johns. The 45,000 people are crammed into a small area with everyone living in corregated metal shacks. The conditions were beyond deplorable. However, what we found was an oasis of goodness, the Kliptown Youth Project. The KYP is a community center that is providing the youth a safe place to go where they receive two meals a day and some basic school like training. Through a grant of $50,000 they were able to build a computer lab so the children/students have computer training and access to the internet. There is also training in the arts. We watched a group of 10 teenage boys sing and dance to traditional African music. The KYP is particularly proud of the number of their youth that they have placed in various area high schools and secondary schools. These people's pictures appear on the Projects "wall of fame". Also on this wall are pictures of people from KYP who had found jobs. The Kliptown Youth Project was all about helping children be better prepared for school and having tutoring and homework help. Most of the parents of these kids are illiterate so the community center provides the supports the kids need, including their school uniforms, shoes, etc. Some of the youth return to the community while others move on but many of them become donors to the KYP once they have jobs. Later, at dinner, we were discussing the day. We agreed that while we saw abject poverty, we did not see hopelessness. After the last 9 days of luxury accommodations and exquisite cuisine, today was a sobering experience. But, as we have said before, our love of travel comes from all that the world has to offer, both good and bad. Have a good day and count your blessings.

Victoria Falls and Chobe National Park

January 26, 2020 Before telling you about our two amazing days in Zimbabwe and Botswana we need to revisit our last night in Cape Town. After we had written the blog post about Cape Town we heard a lecture from Peter Storey. Rev. Storey has an impressive resume. At one time he was the Bishop of the South African Conference of the Methodist Church. A friend and counselor to both Nelson and Winnie Mandela, he was, by many accounts, a quiet voice instrumental in the break down of apartheid. His lecture was based on a book he has published entitled "I Beg to Differ" and was a powerful and inspiriational reflection on both the ending of apartheid and lessons from that event that can resonate in each of our lives. We also had the opportunity to talk with him after the lecture about the LGBTQ issue that the Methodist Church is now facing. Friday was a very early day as we had two flights that took us to our destination of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Victoria Falls is the name of the city where the Victoria Falls are situated. We went directly to the falls from the airport. The first explorer to discover the Victoria Falls was David Livingston in 1855. The locals called the falls "Mosi-oa-Tunya" meaning "Smoke with Thunder", but Livingston renamed them Victoria Falls after Queen Victoria. The falls are on the Zambezi River and is one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World. The falls are a group of falls interupted by small islands. The total width is 1.7 kilometers, just under 2 miles and the tallest of the falls is about 108 meters, almost 350 feet. The falls truly are "Smoke with Thunder" as there were many times we could not see the falls due to the mist ("Smoke") rising from the bottom of the gorge and the noise was deafening. We were fortunate in that at the end of the long walk observing the falls a rainbow appeared over the falls creating a breathtaking picture. Victoria Falls ranks near the top of the natural wonders that we have seen. Leaving the falls we were taken to our hotel, The Victory Falls Hotel. It is another beautiful old hotel that hosted then Princess Elizabeth in 1947 when she was on a grand tour of Africa with her parents and sister. The back of the hotel faces the falls and we can see the mist rising up and can faintly here the "Thunder". On Saturday we celebrated our 51st wedding anniversary spending the day at the Chobe National Park in Botswana. The park is over 11,000 square kilometers, almost 7000 square miles. Chobe is unlike the plains that one usually sees on videos of African wildlife. It is somewhat hilly and is covered in bushes and trees. We rode in safari jeeps that had three rows of three seats each. We rode for 10-15 minutes before we encountered our first animals, a herd of impalas. The Impala is known among the locals as the "McDonalds of the bush". This is for two reasons. 1.Each impala has a distinctive black marking on its rump that looks like the Golden Arches of McDonalds. 2. It is the "fast food" of the bush for the pretator cats. We stopped to watch them graze, the animals totally oblivious to our presense. Suddenly the entire herd froze looking back behind where we were parked, obviously spooked by something. Many of the impalas were emitting warning grunts. Our jeep backed up and we noticed movement the brush in the area the impalas were watching. We excitedly whispered thoughts of a cat hunting the impala. Much to our disappointment a baboon wandered out on the road and the impalas relaxed. Our guide told us the baboon was of no danger to the impalas. We started on our way again and did not go more then 20 or 30 yards when we discovered a giraffe standing under a tall tree munching away at the leaves. Our jeep parked and we watched this large but graceful animal for at least ten minutes. Leaving the giraffe behind we drove along for another 10 minutes seeing lots more impala until we came upon the shore of the Chobe River. For the next two hours we drove and parked along the river observing the elephants. We must have seen over 50 of these magnificent beasts, many of them walking right next to our vehicle. We "oohed" and "aahed" over a small family of elephants that included the cutest little baby elephants. Lynda elbowed Tim when he started humming Henry Mancini's "Baby Elephant Walk". We laughed as we watched the adolesent elephants wallowing in the mud and marveled at the young bull elephants as they playfully fought with each other. We watched two bulls stalking a female elephant and we all commisserated with the poor rejected bull as he walked off by himself, obviously dejected. Elephants were not the only animals along the shores of the river. We watched a small congress of baboons (not the ones in Washington D.C.) as the females nursed their young. The mother baboon would walk along on all fours as the baby clung to her underbelly. We also watched a Cape Buffalo as it scratch its massive horns on the limbs of a large bush no more then 20 or 30 feet from us. Our guide told us this was an exercise the cape buffalo did to strengthen its neck muscles. We finally left the river, heading back to the park lodge for lunch. As we drove we still saw many impala and elephants. After the adrenalin high of the morning and a large lunch we were feeling a bit languid, wishing for time for a nap. It was not to be as we boarded a large pontoon boat in which all 26 of us in our tour group could fit. Knowing that we probably would see the same animals we had seen in the morning we were less than excited. That feeling did not last long as we saw our first hippopitamus, the top of its head just sticking above the water. As we watched,three more heads popped out of the water. This was a recurring theme the rest of our 2 hour cruise. We never ceased to get excited as we watched these large heads come up to the surface of the river. We also observed several hippos grazing on the grass on the large islands in the middle of the river. We had two more elephant encounters of note. It turns out elephants like to swim. We watched two young bulls as they splashed in the water, at times becoming totally submerged. Not everyone saw the last bit of excitement as it occurred in a matter of a few seconds. We were lucky enough to be watching a large bull elephant as it walked into the river. Suddenly there was a large splash, the elephant reared up and scrambled, as much as a large elephant can scramble, out of the river and ran for 50 years at least. The elephant's exteded private parts had been attacked by a crocidile. We looked back at the river and could see the head of the crocidile above the water staring back at the elephant. Even our guide who was fortunate to see this was beside himself with excitement. We have had many memorable anniversies over our 51 years together. Our day in the Chobe National Park ranks high on the list. Saturday night we had an elegent five course dinner in the Livingston Room in our hotel. We won't list each course but highlight the first course which was ostrich carpaccio with a hard boiled quail egg on top of ostrich tartare. The entre was a delicious Zimbabwian beef tenderloin filet. During the break between one of the courses, our MSU faculty host stood up and announced that it was our wedding anniversary. We received an nice round of applause and many well wishes later when we left the restaurant. It was a wonderful end to a great day. It is Sunday as we compose this posting. We have nothing scheduled until 3:00 when we board the Rovos Railroad train for our three day trip to Pretoria, South Africa. This is a luxury train on the order of the Orient Express. We will be relaxing in the lap of luxury for three days as the only event on the schedule is another safari experience along the way. We have been told that there is no wifi on the train so the next blog may not occur until Thursday. You can check back on Wednesday if you like, just to be sure. As always, thanks for reading. And as this is now January 26th...Happy Birthday Jilayne!

Nelson Mendela and Apartheid

Thursday, January 23, 2020

One cannot come to South Africa without the issue of apartheid coming up.  As reported in our last blog posting,  a very powerful speaker spoke to us last night about the history of South Africa with particular attention given to apartheid, its beginnings and how it ended.  Twenty five years after apartheid was abolished the country still struggles with racism.  We have discovered that racism here is much more complex then what we face in America.  It began when white European men came to South Africa in the 1600's and very soon began fathering mixed raced children with the local women.   As the Europeans began to gather more economic power they imported Asians and Indians (from the country of India not Native Americans) to provide trained labor.  As South Africa became more affluent, impoverished blacks from central Africa migrated in hopes of improving their lot in life.  South Africa ended up with a four tiered society.  In order of their status were the whites, coloured (these are mixed race peopland the term is not a perjorative here), the Asians and Indians and finally the blacks. In 1948 whites were a decided minority in the country but still passed a number of laws the institutionalized racism, the beginning of apartheid.  These apartheid laws were directed specifically at blacks. During the ensuing years the White government arrested and imprisoned many of the black leaders of the anti-apartheid movement. Late in the 20th century  the rest of the world was finally recognizing the horror of apartheid, putting in place many economic sanctions.  The result was that the economy of South Africa was in danger of total collapse.  The effects of these economic sanctions played as much a part in the final ending of apartheid as did the recognition of the horrific social injustice perpetrated on the blacks. The first democratic elections in 1994 marked the end of apartheid.

We spent most of the morning on Robben Island, the home of the prison that housed the polical prisoners.  Robben Island is located over 7 miles from Cape Town in the Atlantic Ocean.  It was the location of a Leper colony from the mid 19th century until 1931.  The first political prisoners were brought to the island to build what became a maximum security prison.  Approaching the entrance to the prison it appears an attractive building, camouflaging the horrors inside.  While building the prison with primative tools and minining a nearby limestone quarry, these men faced unspeakable physical torture. The mental torture these men faced was equilly as bad.  They were allowed only one letter and one visit from a family member every 6 months.  The letters were heavily censored to the point some men received a letter that contained only the greeting and the closing.  Wives or other family members had to apply for permission to come to the island to visit their loved one.

The government imposed the same apartheid laws in the prison in an attempt to further torture the prisoners.  The imprisoned leaders of the movement worked hard to keep all of the prisoners unified as one against the prison wardens.  They come up with ingenious ways to communicate with prisoners throughout the prison as well as communicate with the outside world.  The prisoner leaders also placed great value on education and worked hard to improve the education level of many of the prisoners. We were told these prisoners showed incredible dignity in the face of the atrocities that they endured.

Our tour guide was a black African who had been convicted of sabotage when he was 16 years old and spent 6 years on Robben Island.  It was sobering to listen to this man talk of his experiences. The last stop on the prison tour was the cell that Nelson Mandela occupied.  It was a tiny almost square cell with no bed.  He slept on a mat with 3 blankets; one as the bottom sheet, one as an actual blanket to cover himself and one as his pillow.  There was no sink or toilet.  A plastic pail sat in the corner of the cell that he used to relieve himself.  There was a small stool against one wall on which sat a metal plate and cup and fork. That was all there was in Mandela's cell.

The dock where our boat returned from Robben Island was next to the Victoria and Alfred Riverside Shopping Center. We had an hour and a half of free time here.  After a quick lunch we visited several galleries of contempory African art.  We saw many interesting pieces but nothing that we absolutely had to have.  We also window shopped outside many high end clothing and jewelry stories.

Our last excursion of the day was to have been a cable car ride to the top of  Table Mountain, so named because it has a very flat top.  As we rode our ferry back to Cape Town from Robben Island, Table Mountain provided a dramatic backdrop for the city of Cape Town.  This excursion was canceled due to high winds.  While the views from atop the mountain would have been spectacular, we were both drained from our morning visit to Robben Island and did not mind at all coming back to the hotel and collapsing.  This also gave us extra time to do our packing as we leave for the airport tomorrow morning at 5:00 for our flight to Victoria Falls.  We will visit Victoria Falls tomorrow afternoon.  Saturday we will spend all day on safari in Chobe National Park in Botswana. Monday afternoon we board the Rovos Railroad train for our three day journey to Johannesburg.  There is wifi on the train but it is said to be rather spotty.  Interpret that to mean we don't know when we will next blog

.
The top three pictures are from the prison including Nelson Mandela's cell.  the bottom picture is Table Mountain.

Thanks for reading.

Arriving in Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula

Cape Town, South Africa

January 22, 2020

After two days of arduous travel, an overnight flight from Chicago to London on Sunday and an overnight flight from London to Cape Town on Monday, we arrived in Cape Town on Tuesday morning at 7:30 a.m.  On our bus trip from the airport to our hotel we were immediately struck by the physical beauty of the country side.  Our excitement level which was high before leaving Mason jumped even higher during that bus ride.  At the hotel we went through the check in process and stored our luggage as our room was not ready yet.  We knew this would be the situation so had a plan in place already.  After a refreshing welcoming drink we set out for our first stop: The Company's Garden.  This is a park like area very much like Central Park in New York City only on a much smaller scale.  It's name is derived  from the fact that the park was created by the Dutch East Indies Company several hundred years ago.  "The Company's Garden" seemed to roll off the tongue easier then "The Dutch East Indies Company Garden".  It was a lovely green space that included a rather formal garden as well as a vegatable garden.  The formal garden pailed in comparison to like gardens we have seen in other countries but the veg garden was interesting because of the mix of recognizable plants next to those we never did figure out.  Tim went on his regular rant about gardens that do not take the time to label everything.  We had a wonderful walk through the garden on a bucolic summer day.  On the opposite end of the garden we visited the Cathedral of St. George, an Anglican Cathedral that is the oldest cathedral in Africa.  We relaxed in the splendor of the cathedral as we listened to the cathedral's organ being tuned.  We walked back to our hotel by way of an ATM machine and a bar for adult liquid refreshment.  Arriving back at the hotel around 11:30 the plan was to take a hotel shuttle to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront Center to find lunch and explore the different shops we had read about in preparation for this trip.  That plan was nixed when we found out we could get into our room.  Our hotel, the Belmond Mount Nelson, is an old style luxury hotel.  Our room is beautiful with the prerequisite bed that also includes a large sitting area with a sofa and two side chairs.  We spent the rest of the day unpacking and napping.  Tuesday evening there was a welcoming reception where we met most of the other 26 members of our tour, our tour director as well as the MSU faculty member also on the trip. The faculty member, Dr. Isaac Kalumbu, is a member of the music faculty who specializes in African music and is originally from Zimbabwe .

This morning, Wednesday, we were on our bus at 8:00 for the days excursion.  We started the excursion with a three hour bus ride down the west coast of the Cape peninsula, our ultimate destination being the Cape of Good Hope.  We passed through some spectacular scenery with stark mountains on one side and sheer drop offs to the Atlantic Ocean on the other.  On some of the three hour trip the landscape was shrouded in fog which only added to the beauty.  The drive took us through the only national park that protects the flora of SA,  rather than wild life.  Many of the plants in our gardens in the US originated here,  including geraniums.   The park has over 600 species of heathers, while Scotland has 6.

When we arrived at the Cape of Good Hope  we were treated to an unscheduled photo opp.....5 wild ostrich were grazing between the road and the ocean, just yards away.   We then took a funicular up to the light house overlooking the Cape.  This light house is no longer in use as it sits so high above the Cape that there are many foggy days when passing ships cannot see the light.  Unfortunately, in 1907, on one of those days a passing ship hit a rock with the death of three people.  The South African government built a new light house down closer to the water.  The views from the old light house were spectacular as was the wind.  It was probably blowing at least 30 mph, enough to make climbing up and down stairs a challenge.

While we waited to leave we were entertained by baboons that are aboundant in this area of South Africa.  They have no fear of humans and wander around the parking lot at their leisure.  Those of us who returned to the bus before our meeting time discovered that our driver would only open the door to the bus when we wanted to get on.  If he left it open there was the danger of a baboon climbing on board.

Leaving the Cape of Good Hope we drove along up the eastern coast of the peninsula to Simon Town where we had a delicious fish (hake) lunch.  Nearby the restaurant was Boulder Beach, the home of a colony of Africa Penguins.  This beach was originally a very popular beach for humans until the late 1990s when the penguins arrived.  When the penguins showed signs of being permanent residents, the powers that be decided to close the beach to humans.  The African Penguin is one of the smallest species of the penguin family and is often called the Jackass Penguin by the locals because its cry sounds very much like a donkey braying.  We can confirm this.  We walked along boardwalks through the sand so we were right among these fascinating creatures.  We had abundant sunshine but still had a blustery wind that made the walk difficult and the sand airborne.   We noticed all the penquins stood with their backs to the wind..  The Penguin Colony was our last stop of the day.

At 6:00 we had a lecture presented by a South African farmer/historian.  His lecture was about the history of South Africa with special attention focused on the effects of apartheid and how it ended.  It was an interesting as well as entertaining lecture.  After the lecture we joined several of our fellow tourists for dinner.  We mention this only because Tim had ostrich medallions for dinner.  Suprisingly they looked and tasted like beef.

Until next time, Cheers!