Africa Trip Report

Wednesday, 13 July
We left home about 10:00 a.m. to catch our noon flight to Chicago. We changed for an overnight flight to Heathrow Airport, London. We arrived in London about noon (London time) on Thursday. Fortunately we had nearly four hours before our flight to Nairobi, Kenya. We needed all of it because we had to wait for a bus to the international terminal (American Airlines comes into the domestic terminal for some reason), then wait almost an hour for a wheelchair to go to the gate. (Yes, a wheelchair. Judy finally gave in to her infirmities and asked for a wheelchair to go between gates at the airport. She can walk, but not too far and not too fast.) But we made it to the gate on time. Heathrow is a very old (built in 1955) and very busy (busiest in Europe) airport—and shows it.

Why did we go to Africa? In 1996, Judy had gone to South Africa with a People-to-People mission of special librarians. The group visited Kruger National Park, a huge park in the eastern part of the country. They saw lots of animals, but no rhino and no lion. She determined to return to Africa and see them. She’d always wanted to see the Masai Mara and Ngorogoro Crater, places she’d learned about in college as anthropology major. We both read about the area and watched nearly every special on Africa on the National Geographic and Discover channels. This tour from Adventures Abroad (of Vancouver, BC, Canada) went everywhere we wanted to go.

Thursday, 14 July
Our flight to Nairobi left about on time, at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. Nairobi time. Our arrival was also about on time, at 9:00 p.m. We had a bit of a problem getting into the country. We had to purchase a visa—cost US$50 each. The officials didn’t want to accept our US dollars since they did not have the new larger portraits (less susceptible to counterfeiters). Fortunately, the wheelchair pusher was able to intervene (all in Swahili, the common language for all African tribes) and we were admitted, but it took a while. We took a taxi into the city. The guards at the hotel looked under the taxi for bombs and we had to go through a metal detector to get into the hotel. Nairobi has had many bombings in the recent past. By the time we got into our hotel room it was about midnight, Nairobi time—5:00 p.m. Cleveland time. We had been traveling for about 32 hours and were beat.

The tour brochure described Nairobi as “the capital of Kenya. Part of Masai land when the British arrived, this modern capital grew with the development of the railway. Derived from a Masai word meaning “Cold Water,” Nairobi is a pleasant mix of colonial British with modern and traditional African influences,” a pretty good description. We were booked into the Nairobi Hilton, right in the middle of downtown Nairobi. From our window we could see hordes of people walking from busses or taxis to their offices. Many others seemed just to be walking around. Always people, everywhere. The areas that weren’t paved were brown and dusty, since we were there during the dry season. (This part of Africa has two dry and two wet seasons—summer, winter, spring, and fall have little meaning so close to the Equator where days are the same length all year around and so are the temperatures. Speaking of temperature, the days were only in the 60-70° F range and nights seldom dipped below 45° F since we were relatively high in altitude on this plain.)

Friday, 15 July
After a nice long sleep in our nice hotel room, we had breakfast at the hotel (a nice buffet with eggs cooked to order, many fruits, sausage, etc., included with the room) then went out to see the city and to get Judy a safari hat. Everywhere we went we were approached by people asking for money or offering tours or beckoning us into their souvenir stores. We got a feeling for the kinds of items we would see on our travels, and the appropriate prices. Kenya uses the Kenyan shilling, which was trading at about 70 to the dollar.

We met our tour leader in the lobby about 5 p.m., along with Ed and Pat Donnelly, who would be on our tour. They are an older couple from Seattle and this was their third trip to Africa. Our tour leader was Deejay Dayton (he says that is his real name), from Vancouver, BC, Canada. He is an anthropology graduate (like Judy) and former actor who had been with Adventures Abroad (our tour company) for just over a year. This was his second trip to Africa. Not exactly the experienced leader we’d been led to expect. But he was a nice guy and knew a lot about East African history and culture. We were taken to a nice (expensive, European) restaurant for dinner.

Saturday, 16 July
At breakfast we met the fifth member of our safari, Kathleen Carroll of Lansing, Michigan. She is about Judy’s age and loves to travel, especially in the third world. She was continuing on for a couple of weeks after we would leave the group. She travels for five to seven weeks at a time, several times a year. After we loaded all our gear—we were allowed only one bag plus a carry-on—into a white Toyota minivan (just like all the other tour groups use), we departed “

This was a good description of what we saw, but (wisely) forgot to mention how we would get there. Except for a short stretch out of Nairobi, to call what we drove on “roads” is to be generous indeed. They were more like wide, rutted, dusty paths, so we bounced and ate dust all over Kenya and Tanzania. There were small stands along many of the roads, offering local produce, clothing, charcoal, shoes, and almost anything else you can image. People were walking or riding bicycles, carrying their goods to market or home. The only other beasts of burden (other than people) were donkeys and camels. The fields were planted in corn, wheat, vegetables, as well as coffee and tea and seemed to be were doing very well. But Kenya, outside of Nairobi, is definitely a third world country. (I’d give it a 2.5 overall.)

We stopped for a morning break at a souvenir shop (because the have relatively decent toilet facilities), and of course we bought some little things. We were heading to the Samburu National Reserve, which we entered through zebra striped gates, arriving in time for a nice buffet lunch. “The Samburu Reserve is mainly semi-desert savannah plain, with the seasonal Ewaso Nyiro River supporting a wide variety of game such as elephant, buffalo, cheetah, leopard and lion as well as dik-dik (a tiny antelope), and warthog. On your afternoon game drive you can almost certainly be guaranteed close-up sightings of elephant, giraffe and gazelle.”

Our “home” was the Samburu Serena Lodge, probably the nicest place we stayed. It is at latitude 00’ 36” N, almost on the Equator, but at 2785 feet above sea level. Our room was half of a cottage, with a nice porch overlooking the river (and the monkeys cavorting on the grounds) and twin beds covered with mosquito netting. The lodge was very nicely decorated and the buffets were delicious.

Our first game drive was very exciting. We spent about three hours driving all over the park. We saw reticulated giraffe—we would see three different types of giraffe, Grebe’s zebra (lots of them), Grant’s gazelles (ditto), a secretary bird, warthogs (ugly critters), oryx, Cape buffalo (big, mean looking, and very plentiful), impala, elephant, geneluk (a giraffe-necked gazelle that stands on its hind legs to eat from the tops of bushes), guinea fowl, and lots and lots of baboons. The dainty little gazelles and baboons must have had a death wish; they didn’t get out of the road until the vehicle was almost on them. These were all exciting, but the best was the sighting of a leopard and two cheetah. They are not easily found and we got within ten feet of the leopard. The cheetah were farther away, on a high spot in a field, looking for potential prey. Our driver-guide, Richard (a Kikuyu) was outstanding at finding game and getting very close. We got within 20 feet of most of the animals and we got fantastic photos.

Sunday, 17 July
The next morning we went on another game drive. It was exciting to see so many animals so close. Far better than a zoo. After lunch and a short rest, we took advantage of the opportunity to visit a native village. It was somewhat unusual because it was home to both Samburu and Turkana tribespeople. They’ve banded together to make a larger, more defensible settlement. For US$15 we were invited to look and take photos as much as we wished. Their homes were framed with sticks and covered with cattle dung, animal hides, or paper (whatever they could find). They were small, only about 10 feet wide and 6 or 7 feet high. (The Turkana homes were a bit larger and were rectangular rather than round like the Samburu.) The village was surrounded by spiny thickets, to deter the predators. Small animals like chickens, goats, and sheep are kept within the settlement. The large herds of cattle are mostly kept nearer their grazing lands. Both the men and women danced and sang for us. The women made and wore many necklaces made of small beadwork (which were, of course, for sale). Some of the men demonstrated how they make fire by swirling one stick on another (the old Boy Scout method). Both men and women wore “skirts” of highly colored cloth, mostly red and plaid for the men. The (many) children were dressed in castoffs. One wore a man’s vest—and nothing else. The Samburu are semi-nomadic pastoralists well-known for their proud adherence to traditional tribal customs and elaborate personal adornment.

Monday, 18 July
We breakfasted, loaded the vehicle, and were off. Along the road we stopped to watch a troop of baboons play and fight. We could have watched them for hours, but we were on the way to Mt Kenya—at 16,728 feet, it is Africa’s second highest peak. “Our drive will take us into the Central Highlands, the heartland of the Kikuyu people. This is a very fertile region, well-watered, intensively cultivated, and thickly forested. The land was coveted by the Europeans who began arriving in ever-increasing numbers once the railway through the area was completed. The settlers established coffee and tea plantations on the eastern slopes of Mt Kenya and cultivated wheat on the western slopes” (from the brochure). As usual, we stopped at a souvenir store at mid-morning. Our lunch stop was at the Trout Tree Restaurant. It was set in a lovely valley with lots of trees. Our table was on a platform about halfway up a tree, with a great view of the trout pond/beverage cooler. We saw troops of black and white long-haired colobus monkeys, a rock hyrax (a gopher-sized animal whose closest relative is the elephant), and cute squirrels. The food (Steve had trout, of course) was delicious.

Our accommodations for the night were at the Serena Mountain Lodge, “uniquely designed and situated to provide one with an often extremely close-up view of a wide variety of wild animals as they come to drink and cavort.” The lodge is configured in a large semicircle around a waterhole which favored by the animals for the salty soil around it. The accommodations were not plush, but we did get to see a lot of animals. Steve took the optional nature walk. Judy stayed up late to watch the animals. We saw waterbuck, Cape buffalo, and elephant. There was also a very determined gazelle that kept trying to get to the water, but it was shooed away by the elephant. One baby elephant practiced his trumpeting on a bird. Finally, the smaller animals were driven off by three hyena, leaving just the elephants. Two of the elephant were not getting along and we could hear trumpeting and the trampling of bush as they vied for dominance.

Tuesday, 19 July
After an early breakfast, we traveled from Mt. Kenya to Lake Nakuru, “a shallow soda (very alkaline) lake in the Rift Valley. The Rift Valley was created millions of years ago, under the strain of enormous volcanic eruptions which resulted in a giant split in the earth’s surface from Syria to Mozambique. Lava flowed into the valley, forming escarpments on either side of the gigantic trough, which can be up to 50 miles wide, big enough to be visible from outer space.” On the way we stopped at Nyahururu Falls (also called Thompson Falls), a 240-foot high cataract. Steve walked down for a closer look while Judy stayed at the top of the cliff, taking pictures—of a beautiful chameleon and five magnificently garbed Kikuyu dancers.

After checking into the Lion Hill Lodge (our room was named Agauria after a local tree), delighting in the magnificent views, and partaking of a good lunch, we were off on a game drive. Lake Nakuru is a bird-lover’s paradise. It is very shallow, and can fluctuate up to 12 feet each day. When the water is low, you can see a white band of crystallized soda along the shoreline. On the lake are up to two million greater and lesser flamingos. There is pink as far as you can see—and when they take off from the lake and fly into the air you see pink, white, and black (wing tips). Beautiful. We also saw marabou storks (famous for their feathers), pink-backed pelicans (much prettier than their drab brown cousins that we usually see), water buck, zebra, eland (the largest antelope), Rothschild giraffe (type number two), ostrich, lots of birds (including the black winged stilt, the chestnut-banded sand plover and the blacksmith plover) and the common jackal.

But the most exciting sights were another cheetah, a large herd of wildebeest all charging for the water at the same time, the endangered white rhino and a baby (we didn’t get very close to them) and our first lion! We encountered a pride of lion with the remains of a kill. The females (who caught it) had eaten after the male, but he was on his second helping. Everyone seemed very fat and happy. They were rolling over in their sleep. We were within 20 feet of them. The animals are very accustomed to the tour vehicles. They’ve determined that we are neither prey nor a threat, so they simply ignore us—as long as we stay in the vehicles.

Wednesday, 20 July
We left Lake Nakuru early and drove through the Rift Valley, passing above Lake Naivasha and nearby Mount Longonot, a relatively young volcanic reminder of the Rift’s violent past on our way to the Masai Mara National Reserve and the Mara Sopa Lodge (128 miles south of the equator). The grounds of the lodge were absolutely gorgeous, with many beautiful plants. The Masai Mara is the northern part of the Serengeti eco-system and has an amazing concentration of wildlife. We got there in time for lunch.

Following our usual pattern, we took an afternoon game drive across the rolling grassland. The Masai Mara is located at the northern end of the Serengeti Plain. “Considered the best of Kenya’s parks, it is on the pathway of the yearly wildebeest migration, which comes north from Tanzania about the end of June and returns to Tanzania around the end of September. The Mara sustains all of the Big Five—lion, elephant, leopard, rhinoceros and buffalo—and many other animals as well.

After dinner there was a demonstration of native dancing; some non-natives danced too—Steve, for one. This is when we found out that he had taken a tumble up the stairs to our cottage. He bruised his ego and his rear end. It caused some difficulty in bending his leg, so he got to sit on the large back seat of the vehicle for the rest of the trip—on a pillow borrowed from the lodge to help soften the effect of the bumps on his sore tail. But it didn’t slow him down a bit and he recovered completely in a few weeks.

Thursday, 21 July
Ed and Pat took advantage of the opportunity to take a hot air balloon ride over the Mara. They had to get up at 4:30 a.m. in order to see dawn from almost 1000 feet high in the balloon. They were able to see the migration rather well. After the flight they had a champagne breakfast and a game drive back to the balloon station. The rest of us (who didn’t spring for the $350 per person flight) had an all-day game drive after visiting a Masai village. It was much like the Samburu/Turkana village, but with larger dwellings. The Masai warriors were faster at making fire.

We saw so many animals on the Mara that we almost lost count. We saw topi (a large antelope), ostrich, Masai giraffe (type 3), white-backed and Egyptian vultures. We spent about 20 minutes watching about 8 lion watching a herd of buffalo, hoping to see a kill. We guess the buffalo got tired of this because they charged the lion—who scattered like scared little pussycats. Not what we expected and, according to our driver, uncommon. Of course, none of us had the presence of mind to take a picture of the charge; we were too transfixed by the sight of the charging animals.

Friday, 22 July
After breakfast, we started off for Nairobi, again. We stopped at a view point where we got a great view of the Rift Valley. Our lunch stop was The Verandah, a lovely restaurant in the suburbs of Nairobi. It was set in a beautifully landscaped garden. Next door was Utamaduni, a craft workshop/salesroom opened by Dr. Richard Leakey, son of Louis and Mary Leakey (more on them later). Just outside the capital, we visited the Karen Blixen Museum. Baroness Karen Blixen-Finecke emigrated from Denmark to Kenya in 1918 and, in 1937 wrote Out of Africa under the pseudonym, Isak Dinesen. The novel tells the tale of the Baroness’s experiences on a Kenya farm. Her home is now a museum, restored to the style in which she maintained it. Much of the movie starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep was filmed here. The house and gardens were beautiful—we didn’t know it was in a suburb of Nairobi.

We stayed again at the Nairobi Hilton. This time we had a poolside room. For dinner, we went to the Carnivore restaurant. Judy had been to their restaurant in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1996. In addition to “normal” entrees such as beef and chicken, they served ostrich, kudu and camel (all are farm-raised). Servers come to the table with skewers of meat, tell you what it is, and cut off a piece for you—and keep coming until you say stop. The ostrich tasted like chicken and kudu tasted like strong venison. I don’t know what camel tasted like, but it was sweet and flavorful and yummy. The huge restaurant was full of tourists and locals alike. A nice evening.

Saturday, 23 July
We left early for our last stop in Kenya, Amboseli National Park. “Just across the border from Tanzania, this park is situated on the African plain at the foot of snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro, the continent’s tallest mountain at 19,300 feet. The Park is also famous for its large herds of elephants. Here they cover themselves in red dust, giving them an even more imposing appearance.” Unfortunately, the elephant strip the bark off the trees, killing them. We’d never seen so many dead trees. After getting settled at the Amboseli Serena Lodge, eating lunch, and watching the adorable vervet monkeys that were all over the grounds, we were off for a game drive, of course. We saw elephant and hippopotamus standing knee-deep in a swamp, eating and keeping cool. Also around were ostrich, zebra, wildebeest, spotted hyena, giraffe, and guinea fowl. Clouds prevented us from seeing Mt. Kilimanjaro—Kili—here and at our next stop, Arusha, Tanzania.

Sunday, 24 July
Today we left early for the Tanzania border and the long drive to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We had to bid farewell to Richard, our wonderful Kenyan driver, and the Toyota van in which we’d spent so much time. At the border, we were handed over to Martin and Levis, Tanzanian driver/guides and their trusty Toyota Land Cruisers. (We had to have two vehicles because in Nairobi we picked up another older couple from California and the Land Cruisers seat no more than seven.) We drove through Arusha, the starting point for the northern safari routes of Tanzania, and one of the country’s “most attractive” towns—not that it was much to see. The high point was lunch at the New Arusha Hotel which was furnished in classic British Colonial style and had a beautiful garden. It was located right across from the clock tower, which marks the halfway point between Cairo, Egypt and Cape Town, South Africa. (The clock face, like many things in Africa, is sponsored by Coca-Cola and sports the red and white Coke logo.)

We expected the drive to be another bumpy, dusty ordeal, but we were pleasantly surprised to find a brand-new paved road all the way to Ngorogoro—a real treat! We drove through the highlands, past Lake Manyara, another Rift Valley lake, renowned for its unique rainforest micro climate. We saw many huge baobab trees; they and the omnipresent acacia are the signature trees of the area. The brochure said, “A rough road takes us up the rift escarpment, through dramatic rolling green fields and tiny traditional villages.” They weren’t kidding about the road. It snaked through jungle, past elephant and baboon, and into the clouds at the top of the Crater’s rim. Unfortunately, because we arrived after dark, we missed the sunset from the Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge, perched on the rim of the Crater. Our rooms were huge, with two double beds, an entry hall, a sitting room looking out at the Crater, and a modern bathroom complete with bidet.

Monday, 25 July
We spent the whole day in the Crater. It is 13 miles wide and 2300 feet high. We had a box lunch next to a hippo pond. We saw lots and lots of hippo—and not the little ones you see in zoos. These were huge! The Masai are allowed to bring their cattle into the Crater to graze, but may not stay overnight. There is a resident herd of bachelor elephants (ones that do not have their own harem of females) that sleep up on the slopes of the Crater and come down to the floor during the day to eat and drink. We also saw lion, wildebeest, zebra, egrets, heron, crested cranes, the sacred ibis, jackal, and baboons, but the Crater itself was the main attraction. We searched for some of the 20 very rare black rhino, but they were hiding—no one saw them that day. (The drivers keep in contact with each other by radio. They also talk when they pass each other on the road. They all know each other even though they are from different areas and different tribes. Swahili is the common language.)

Tuesday, 26 July
Going back down the winding, bumpy road, we left the Crater and went back to the Serengeti Plain, “stretching out endlessly before us. Indeed the name Serengeti derives from a Masai word meaning land-without-end. On the way, we stopped at Olduvai Gorge (properly named Oldupai). It was here that Mary Leakey, wife of the more outgoing Louis, found remains of early hominids, dating back as far as 1.8 million years. We learned about the site from a lecture and from the small, but well-done, museum at the site. The site is still being excavated today.
We arrived at our home for the next two nights, the Serengeti Sopa Lodge, right in the middle of the Serengeti National Park. We drove past rock outcroppings called kopjes and so much game it was amazing. With all that space to roam in, we couldn’t believe that we could find so many animals so close to where we were. After lunch Steve went along on the usual afternoon game drive while Judy rested up for the all-day drive the next day.

Wednesday, 27 July
And it really was an all-day drive. We were out about 10 hours, looking at everything from iridescent blue starlings to the usual zebra, buffalo, giraffe, weaver birds (so named because they weave nests high in the trees—lots of nests), kongori (also called hartebeest), topi, elephant, baboons, a huge Nile crocodile (from a great distance, fortunately), vervet monkeys, saddle-billed storks, and black-back jackal (whose back really looks blue). But the two highlights were a beautiful cheetah sitting calmly right by the side of the road, only 3 or 4 feet away, and three lionesses, hunting gazelle. It took all three of them, but one made a kills. We heard it but didn’t see it, although those in the other vehicle did. That was really exciting. We picnicked at a small shelter and Steve took a short nature hike.

Thursday, 28 July
We left the Serengeti and drove through the countryside to Gibb’s Farm, where we had a fantastic lunch—all the Western comfort foods, mac and cheese, roast, potatoes, and pineapple upside-down cake. “Founded during German colonial times and still privately owned, Gibb’s Farm is now a small hotel perched on the outer slopes of the Ngorongoro Highlands, surrounded by coffee plantations with long views over lush and beautiful agricultural country.” Steve took a short nature walk and saw people sorting, drying, and grinding coffee beans. Judy just shopped (we each have our specialties) and took photos of the gorgeous scenery.

We headed on to our safari’s last stop, Lake Manyara National Park, the smallest of the northern parks in Tanzania. We thought we were to stay in a lodge within the park, but we were in a “luxury” tented camp (Kiboko Bushcamp) outside the boundaries instead. It was a camp, it was tented (sort of—there was a raised platform with a tent over it, but the bathroom was in an attached concrete block building), but luxury it definitely was not! The shower was a concrete floored room about 6 feet square and there was no hot water; there was only one light bulb—in the bathroom; the beds were made up with scratchy flannel sheets and what looked like an old army blanket; the desk was a metal table and folding chair; the closet was a hanger on a string; and the mosquito nets had holes in them. After some argument and a cold shower, Deejay admitted that it was not up to par. It seems we were booked into the wrong camp. Oh well, better accommodations were in our near future and the food wasn’t bad.

Friday, 29 July
We had a short morning game drive through the park. We saw elephant, baboons, giraffe, blue monkeys, hippo, zebra, wildebeest, grounded mongoose, and impala. We also saw a lot of birds, including silvery-cheeked hornbills, gray-headed kingfisher, African fish eagle (a very majestic bird), and white heron. We didn’t get to see too much of the park because we had to leave for Arusha to catch our plane to South Africa. We were quite disappointed not to see the famous tree-climbing lions, which spend most of the day spread out along the branches of acacia trees. But that and the elusive black rhino were about all we didn’t see.

Back to our lovely paved road to Arusha, a quick trip to change our Tanzanian shillings (1000 to the dollar and not accepted outside Tanzania because of their precarious economy), and off to Kilimanjaro airport. The flight from Arusha to Johannesburg was the hardest for us to book since tickets for the airline, Kenya Airways, cannot be booked from the USA—only from Africa. We made a quick but spectacular trip back to Nairobi. We finally got to see Mt. Kilimanjaro, from the air. It is huge and we could see the snow that is permanently found at the top. We flew on to Johannesburg, arriving (late) at about midnight. We had a reservation at the Holiday Inn Garden Court, but waited an hour for them to pick us up at the airport; it isn’t safe to take a taxi from the airport, especially at night. Finally, we talked the driver of the Holiday Inn Airport van to take us to his hotel. It was absolutely wonderful—one of the nicest hotels we’ve ever seen. What a shame we were only there for about nine hours!

Saturday, 30 July
We had to leave our huge, comfy bed and gigantic marble walk-in shower to catch a 2:00 p.m. plane to Cape Town. We arrived at the airport in Cape Town, got our rental car (Avis upgraded us from a VW to an Audi Quattro—very nice), and were off to The Peninsula All-Suites Hotel on Beach Road in the Cape Town suburb of Sea Point. We stayed here using our time share points and it was well worth it. The hotel overlooks the beach across the road. We had a two bedroom deluxe unit, with two baths (one with a whirlpool tub), and a large balcony from which we could watch the waves of the South Atlantic Ocean crashing over the rocks. We were on the first floor, which in South Africa means one flight up, so we didn’t even have to wait for the elevator. There was even daily maid service and we could order room service from the two in-house restaurants (but we didn’t—we either ate out or cooked for ourselves). There was a grocery store just a few blocks away. We even had flowers. A librarian colleague of Judy’s had sent us a beautiful arrangement featuring the South African national flower, the King Protea. Everything was just perfect.

Sunday, 31 July
It was winter in Cape Town, a time that is usually cloudy and rainy, so when we woke up on Sunday to find a beautifully clear day, we decided to take advantage of it and drive down the Cape Peninsula to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope—the southwesternmost point on the African Continent. (The southernmost point is about 150 miles to the east.) This route takes you past some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. When Judy had been here in 1996 it was rainy, so she took lots of pictures this time. The temperatures were in the 60s during the day and got down to 40 or so at night. Oh that winter in Cleveland was this nice!

Our first stop was Hout Bay, a beautiful spot just south of Sentinel Peak. The small town has many good restaurants, but we didn’t stop except to take photos. Here you can choose the free, inland route to the Point or the Chapman’s Peak Drive toll road. The cost was only 22 Rand (the Rand was about six to the dollar), so we chose the toll road—and were we glad we did. The views are magnificent (I hope I don’t run out of adjectives) along this two-lane highway carved out of the granite cliffs. There are structures and metal-chain nets to keep the rocks from falling on the roadway. Along the way we stopped at East Fort, built by the British during their first occupation of the Cape from 1795 to 1802. There were ruins of a powder magazine, cookhouse, and store.

Once we got to the Point, we took a funicular railway to an area near the top. Steve climbed the stairs that led to the lighthouse (Judy had done it in 1996, so didn’t need to this time). He took pictures of the signpost that showed the distances to various places: South Pole 3994 miles and New York 7792 miles, for example. We saw a few of the Cape’s chacma baboons, in danger of extinction. We had lunch high up on the Point, then took off to return to Cape Town.

But we had one major stop to make—Boulders Beach. It was a beautiful beach, surrounded by large rocks (hence the name), but why stop here? To see the African penguins, of course. Formerly called the jackass penguin (for their donkey-like braying), they are endemic (native) to South Africa and this is one of their three breeding grounds. After a not-so-short walk from the parking lot, we were able to walk down the raised paths to see them. And there were lots of them. Penguins mate for life and saw many pairs, some with young of varying ages and a few sitting on eggs in their nests. Since they felt safe, we were able to view them acting naturally, strutting around, walking single file, napping, etc. We had to tear ourselves away in order to get back to town before dark. Cape Town is relatively safe during the day, but it isn’t a good idea for anyone to be out after dark—besides, we had a dinner date.

We went to dinner with Debby Myers, librarian at a large investment company, and her husband, a contractor. He happened to be starting a project to build five townhouses on the vacant property right next to the hotel. We went to La Perla, a great seafood restaurant just a few blocks up Beach Road. Unfortunately, it was a bit cold to sit outside on the patio.

Monday, 1 August
We woke up to another beautiful day. We were so lucky that it was nice and sunny for the whole week we were in Cape Town. Today we were off to the east of Cape Town, to visit the Wine Country. Our first stop was the Taal Monument—the world’s only (as far as I know) monument to a language. The Monument is just outside of the town of Paarl and honors the origins of the Afrikaans language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa. Most signs are in English, Afrikaans, and one other language (they rotate). It consists of two very tall rounded pillars, three smaller ones graduated in size, and three half-domes—all of concrete. The tall pillars, representing the language, sit in pools of water, symbolizing the living nature of the language; the small ones reflect the influence of the European languages (Dutch, English, and German); and the domes show the influence of African languages, including Swahili. The Monument is perched on top of a mountain, giving fantastic views of the valleys around it and is surrounded by beautifully landscaped grounds, with lots of flowers. We could identify foxtail fern, King protea, red-hot poker flowers, and bird-of-paradise. We met two of the locals: a rock hyrax and the husband of an artist who was displaying and selling her paintings. One, of a Cape Dutch house in front of an impressive mountain range, just jumped out at us asking to be bought, so we bought it. He was an Afrikaaner and told us all about the Monument and the surrounding area.

We tore ourselves away from all this and went on to Stellenbosch in the heart of the Wine Country. Stellenbosch, the home of the University of Stellenbosch (which has a library school), has a population of 90,000, but it looks more like an 18th century village because of all the old Cape Dutch homes. Cape Dutch architecture, characterized by their white color and rounded central gable. We lunched on the village green and then toured the Village Museum, which is made up of four houses of historical interest and their gardens. To quote from their website: “Each of these beautiful homes represents a different period in the architectural development of Stellenbosch. The houses, their interiors and their gardens have been wonderfully restored, furnished, planted and decorated to illustrate the particular style and taste of the time. The first house the museum has restored is the Schreuderhuis, built in 1709; it survived the first great fire in Stellenbosch. Schreuderhuis is the oldest restored and documented town house in the whole of South Africa. The interior furnishing and the garden are typical of a Stellenbosch home from the period of 1680-1720. In true pioneer spirit much of the furniture was made from locally available materials. The strings of onions, herbs and salted fish hanging from the rafters, the open hearth in the kitchen and the primitive Cape furniture lend a special charm to this dwelling. The second home is Blettermanhuis, restored and furnished to illustrate a wealthy Stellenbosch home from around the period of 1750-1790. Blettermanhuis was built in 1789 by Hendrik Lodewyk Bletterman, who was the last landdrost (magistrate) of Stellenbosch to be appointed by the Dutch East India Company. This house is built in the typical 18th Century Cape style, with 6 gables in an H shaped ground plan. Originally built by Christian Ludolph Neethling in 1782, the third house, Grosvenor House was added to by successive owners until it reached its present appearance in 1803. Grosvenor House, along with Koopmans de Wet House and the Martin Melck House in Cape Town , is one of the most outstanding examples of a two-storeyed, flat-roofed patrician town house. A large garden and early 19th century appointments characterise this home, which represents the period from 1800 to 1830. The fourth house, which was the home of O.M Bergh, originally had a thatched roof and gables similar to those of Blettermanhuis. During the 19th Century it was altered to look as it does to this day. The home of OM Bergh is a typical mid-nineteenth century home with wall-paper, furniture and accessories from the period of 1850 to 1870.” This is a fabulous and important museum. There were costumed interpreters in each house to direct us and answer any questions we might have. We were impressed by the beautifully cared and polished wood furniture in the homes. To see photos of the houses and learn more about the museum, go to http://www.museums.org.za/stellmus/village_museum.htm

Tuesday, 2 August
Okay, enough being a tourist—Judy had to work. She gave a three-hour talk on marketing and advocacy to the Western Cape Library and Information Association of South Africa Special Libraries Interest Group (LiSLIG) and the Sub-Saharan Africa Chapter of the Special Libraries Association (SLA). This was arranged by Debby Myers and Naylah Ismail (librarian at another Investment firm), both of whom Judy had met on her first trip to Cape Town, and Amy Bell Mulaudzi, Vice Chair of LISLIG and librarian at the US Consulate, where the meeting was held. Over 40 people attended the seminar, which was accompanied by a grand spread of food. Seven of us went out to lunch afterwards to continue our networking—something librarians are masters at doing.

While Judy was working, Steve walked down Beach Road and caught the hop-on-hop-off tour bus and got a good overview of Cape Town. Founded in 1652 as a supply depot for the Dutch East India Company, it is home to about three million people and is the third most populous city in South Africa. It is the capital of Western Cape province and one of South Africa’s three capitals: Cape Town, the legislative—and tourist—capital; Bloemfontein, the judicial capital; and Pretoria, the executive or administrative capital. But the city is probably most famous for Table Mountain, which juts up right in the middle of the city. There are also other mountains right in town, so you to go around the mountains to drive from one side of the city to the other, making for a long but beautiful but trip. There are still “townships” within the city—high-density, low quality (shacks) housing for the native population. Although these are being replaced by modern apartments and homes, it is still heart-wrenching to see the residents waiting outside fancy (white) homes to take buses or trains (or walk) back to their shacks after work. But it all looks much better than it did in 1996.

After Judy got back from lunch, we drove out to Groot Constantia, one of the oldest wineries in South Africa (founded in 1685) and located in the steep valley on the eastern side of Table Mountain, on the edge of Cape Town. We got there too late to tour the wine cellars or the magnificent Cape Dutch mansion, but we were able to taste seven of their wines, from a light white to a ruby red, rich port. We bought a bottle to give to Debby as a gift for arranging our stay in this lovely city. Why were we so late? Because we took the scenic, winding road past some of the most expensive homes in Cape Town. The drive was a destination in itself.

Wednesday, 3 August
We slept late and enjoyed our apartment. About 1 p.m., Judy was picked up by Amy Bell Mulaudzi to go to the LIASA Western Cape Branch Annual General Meeting. Judy has been a member of LIASA for nearly ten years and was thrilled to finally get to a meeting. It was held at iThemba Labs in Somerset West, about 30 miles east of Cape Town. Actually, we had passed the Labs on our way home from Stellenbosch a couple of days before. The facility is a laboratory for accelerator-based sciences as part of the South African National Research Foundation. About 30 librarians from the province attended, mostly from academic institutions. The program was presented by Ingrid Thomson (University of Cape Town), Nazeem Hardy (Heideveld Public Library, Cape Town), and Alvina Mathee (Medical Research Council, a quasi-governmental research association). Nazeem participated in the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs Associates program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 200; Ingrid and Alpina participated in 2004. (Since the Mortenson Center was founded in 1991, more than 680 participants from 86 countries have participated in Mortenson programs. The Mortenson Center has partners in Costa Rica, Haiti, South Africa, the Russian Federation, and the United States.) They told us about “The FISH! Philosophy: “catch the energy, release the potential.” This morale-building and attitude-changing program is based on the famous Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle, Washington, USA—we were there a few years ago and it is an amazing place. After the meeting there were fish-based hors d'oeurves. As usual, Steve continued exploring the city while Judy was at the meeting.

Thursday, 4 August
Today was Judy’s day to explore Cape Town. We started in the middle of downtown, at the Company’s Garden. From the website (http://www.southafrica-travel.net/westcape/cato_03.htm): “The Company's Garden was laid out by Cape Town's founding father Jan van Riebeeck on order of the Dutch-East India Trading Company to secure the provisioning of the colonists with vegetables. Today the Company's Garden is a large public park and botanical garden. Particularly in summer, when the heat is trapped in the streets of the city, a stroll through the lush gardens is really refreshing.” It is like a smaller version of New York City’s Central Park. It was filled with schoolchildren on field trips, businessmen taking a break from their busy days, and others just enjoying the shade and flowers. We parked near the new South African Jewish Museum. It is set in the old synagogue and a brand new addition and was officially opened by Nelson Mandela in 2000. It traces the history of Jews in South Africa with interactive and high tech exhibits and is absolutely beautiful. Judy had seen the beginnings of the museum when she visited in 1996.

Our next stop was the South African Museum, established by Lord Charles Somerset in 1825. It is the country's second oldest scientific institute, after the Royal Observatory (1820). It has wonderful collections in natural history and anthropology and has a modern planetarium, but has more space than money. Over 400,000 people visit the museum every year. We then strolled through the Garden and had a picnic lunch while watching the passing parade of people. We also saw the South African National Library and the Anglican church where Nobel Peace Prize recipient Desmond Tutu served as archbishop from 1986 to 1996.

We finished our visit at the South African Cultural History Museum. Judy had seen this museum in 1996, but had not had time to visit it. The Museum is housed in the Slave Lodge, one of the oldest buildings in Cape Town. It was built in 1679 to house the slaves of the Dutch East India Company, but was substantially modified when it was converted to Government offices in 1811. It has also housed the South African Supreme Court. They had a wonderful exhibit, Hands That Shape Humanity, on people who have helped the underprivileged around the world. Each person was represented by a photo, a cast of their hands, a biography, and a video of the person talking about their work. People included Bishop Tutu, US senators Richard Lugar and Sam Nunn, the widow of the Shah of Iran, Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop, musician Carlos Santana, chess master Gary Kasparov, track star Marion Jones, motivational speaker Tom Peters, Gillian Anderson of The X Files, hockey great Wayne Gretzky. and various other statesmen, authors, and artists. To top off our day, we went to Camps Bay, a popular suburb of Cape Town for dinner. We found a nice Italian restaurant with a winter half-price special and a wonderful view. We were treated to a magnificent sunset over the ocean.

Friday, 5 August
Our last day in paradise. For the first time in a long while, we had enjoyed Cape Town so much that we didn’t want to go home. Our plane for London didn’t leave until 8:00 p.m., but we had to check out of the time share at 10:00 a.m., so we decided to spend our last day at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. From their website: “Situated between Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned) and Table Mountain in the heart of Cape Town's working harbour, the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront has become South Africa's most visited destination. Set against a backdrop of magnificent sea and mountain views, exciting shopping and entertainment venues are intermingled with imaginative office locations, world-class hotels and luxury apartments in the residential marina.” It is named for British Queen Victoria and her second son, Prince Alfred, who “tipped” the first stone into the harbor in 1860. The old harbor was transformed in 1990 into the Waterfront, a complex of over 300 specialty stores, craft markets, 7 hotels, 14 conference venues, an IMAX theater, the world-class Two Oceans Aquarium, and more than 70 restaurants and cafes. One could spend days here and not see all of it. After looking at native crafts and in expensive shop windows, we chose the Baia restaurant for our last meal in Africa. Steve dined on a medley of ostrich, kudu, and wildebeest steaks, while Judy had duck, all very delicious. The bonus was a wonderful view of the harbour, Table Mountain, and Cape Town. A fitting end to our trip.

We returned the car to the airport and boarded our American Airlines flight directly to London. We traveled on to Chicago and finally, home to Cleveland. Our friend, Chuck Dostal, who had been staying in our house and taking care of our cats, picked up two very tired travelers, having been en route for about 29 hours.

Was it worth it? YES, INDEED! It was a once in a lifetime trip and we’re so glad we did it.

Will we go back? To Kenya and Tanzania, no. To South Africa, we hope so. There is an international library conference (IFLA) in Durban in 2007 and we plan to arrange a trip there, then on to Johannesburg-Pretoria and Cape Town so Judy can do a couple of workshops and help pay for the trip. We can’t wait!