Africa - Johannesburg/Namibia, Sunday, March 5, 2017

You can't imagine how quickly 4:15 rolled around this morning, particularly after not closing my eyes until around 2:00 a.m.  But I managed to have my NatGeo wheelie bag downstairs by the required 5:15 deadline, loaded up on the deluxe motor coach and set off to the "Black Pearl" (our private jet)  for the short flight to Johannesburg.  We landed, hopped on another bus and made our way to an archeological site for a quick visit.  

I was having a difficult time understanding why we had this stop scheduled.   It's insanely expensive landing that big jet for a two hour stop.  And the logistics of getting 45 people moved to an archeological site to see some dirt and a few bones ... well, it just didn't make sense to me.  That was BEFORE "Indiana Jones" set foot on our bus.  Charismatic Paleoanthropologist, Lee Berger, began to talk to us about his discoveries here in Johannesburg at the Rising Star Site.  This is not just another "dig," rather THE most famous and important site on the planet.  The earliest known remains of our ancient descendants have been discovered in a cave just 15 minutes from the edge of Johannesburg.  

Lee Berger, whom I've nick named "Indiana Jones" joined us on our bus for the ride to his archeological site The Rising Star.

Lee was working at this site in 2008, when he told his "bored" son, Matthew to go find a fossil.  He  did.  Matthew came back with a clavicle and jawbone embedded in rock that he found in Malapa Cave.  That certainly got everybody's attention.  When they returned to the site where Matthew found the fossils, Lee quickly learned the opening to the area where his son found the fossils was extremely narrow, the width of a dollar bill, and there was no way he could navigate the opening.  So he did what any responsible paleontologist parent would do.  He sent his skinny son back into the area with a camera to document the find.   What he learned was the cave held the skeleton of a hominin fossil,  a new species he's named "Australopithecus sediba," which has a mixture of primitive and modern characteristics of the Homo habilis, and carbon dated back millions of years.  The Australopithecus sediba, represents a potentially unknown transitional species between the ape-like Homo habilis and Homo sapiens.   Imagine how difficult this must have been for the explorer to know something so interesting was so close, yet out of his reach.  He wanted to build a team of scientific explorers and trying to figure out how to find them, he turned to social media putting an ad on FaceBook.  Requirements were a Phd in Anthropology and Paleontology, the desire to relocate to South Africa and explore in a potentially deadly environment and, by the way,  they had to be SKINNY.  He figured he'd only find 2 or 3 interested people.  He had 60 applicants and narrowed the field to six young women, who were later dubbed "The Underground Astronauts," or "The Skinny Scientists."  This team began work in the caves where Lee's 9 year old son found the first fossil and have since discovered the largest collection of Hominin fossils on planet earth.

National Geographic sponsors Lee's work and therefore, we were fortunate enough to venture into the cave where these fossils were located.  We are the FIRST group of folks outside his team of scientists to ever enter this area.  What a thrill and honor to share this space with Lee and his team and hear first hand about this amazing discovery. 

Members of Lee's exploration team.  No fat on these boys!!

Preparing for our cave spelunking, Stevie is ready. 

Lee shared a cast mold of the skeletal fossil.

Always a cut up!!  Just had to see what this guy looked like in my hat.   Relax folks.  This is just a mold, not the actual skeleton.  Otherwise, that would be creepy and disrespectful.  Right?!

Lorri and I are ready to go into the cave.

Look how skinny these guys are!!

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Stevie emerges from the cave.

Lorri and I head into the cave.

"Indian Jones" Lee Berger explains the site to us.

Had to have a photo with this rock star of exploration.

So THAT's why they put the plane down in Johannesburg and took us to a cave to see some dirt and bones.

After our two hour tour, we boarded the mother ship and headed on to our next destination, the deserts of Namibia.  Located on the west coast of Africa, for as far as the eye can see, this area is sand, sand, more sand and sand dunes.  

From the airport, we drove almost an hour to reach The Strand Hotel in the small oasis town of Swakopmund.  This is a nice change from the rain forests and jungles we've been visiting.  As I write, I hear the waves crashing on the sandy beach.  

Greeted at The Strand Hotel with local ladies in their native costumes.  It was a bit breezy this afternoon.  Our photographer, Jay Dickman snaps a photos of the ladies.

As is our ritual, we met at the bar overlooking the beautiful beach for happy hour, followed by dinner at the hotel in the seafood restaurant.  

Happy Hour.

Stevie's martini came with black olives.  Well ... this is Africa!  Ok.  That comment is going to come with some criticism.  To which I respond ... folks, stop being so damn racist and get a life!

Dinner with Jen and Luke.

It's time to call it quits tonight.  More adventures tomorrow!!

Africa - Cape Town, South Africa, Saturday, March 4, 2017

South African Wine Farms.

Vineyards are called "Wine Farms" here in South Africa.  There are over 450 different Wine Farms in the area and today, we are going to visit three of them.

First stop was at a charming college town called Stellenbosch.  We were scheduled to visit Village Museum, but Stevie, Lorri and I ditched the museum group and stopped for cappuccino at a corner coffee shop and then visited a few local merchants.  We've been dubbed "the walking stimulus package" for South Africa.  I bought a hand carved  box.  Not really intentionally, but the artists made me a deal I couldn't refuse.  

A short time later, and another bus ride, we arrived at our first Wine Farm, Boschendal.  The setting for the wine tasting was beautiful. Huge Oak trees created a shady canopy over tables set with glasses of red and white wines. 

Meet Jen.  She was with us on the NatGeo Around the World trip.

Let the tasting begin.

Our first tasting at Boschendal Wine Estate

It's a lovely setting surrounded by rugged mountains.

Office and wine store.

They were quite good.  Why is it the last one always tastes the best?  I had a couple of cases shipped home.  I know when I get it, I'll ask myself, "What were you thinking?  This tastes horrible!"  But it was quite good at the time so it's on the way.  So please come over for a tasting and let me know what you think!

We also tasted a new wine called Pinotage.  A young South African wine maker cross pollinated two grapes, the Pinot and Cincault (pronounced sin-saw).  The result, a Pinotage.  It tastes very much like a Pinot Noir.  Actually, it's quite good.  Now I can't describe the fragrance to you when "nosing" (smelling) the wine.   Does it have essence of cinnamon and elder berries or oak and currants or dirty tennis shoes and manure?   I just don't have a sophisticated enough nor discerning palate to distinguish between the different types of red wines.  A red is a red to me.  

On the way to our second tasting and lunch, we stopped briefly at the Victor Verster Prison, the location of Nelson Mandela's release in 1991.  Mandela is quite a hero to the South African people.  I guess I need to read up on this.  I remember it a bit differently.

Mandela's statue marks the entrance of Visitor Verster Prison.

Our second tasting and lunch stop was at Laborie Estate.  The wine was so-so, lunch was so-so, but the dessert was excellent.  Sticky Toffee Pudding that was almost as good as Andrea's at Michael's Grill in Tampa.  

Second tasting and lunch at Laborie Estate.

Sticky Toffee Pudding.  Almost as good!

It is autumn here in South Africa.  The grapes have been harvested, but I managed to find one tiny little cluster of grapes left behind.

Lorri checks out the grapes on the vine.

Awesome smile, Stevie!!

And our final stop was at KWV for a short cellar tour and tasting.  The cellar that we visited is now a museum of sorts.  When these huge barrels were in use, each one could hold 15,000 bottles of wine.   They have been beautifully hand carved with different wine stories.  

As our sommelier described each wine, we obediently tasted.  She began talking about a cognac that we were tasting as having a delicate fragrance of fruit and nuts and caramel and smoke, vanilla.  She further described it as being oaky with a hint of dried fruit and citrus.  IS SHE KIDDING???  Maybe she's had too much of this stuff or she's smoking some good weed.  It was such a foul tasting brandy that I went through the whole basket of crackers to cleanse my palate.  I did not ship any of these wines home as they were ... well ... not special.  I've had better wine out of a box!  Sorry.  

The huge barrels are no longer in use, but make a beautiful display.

Tasting?

At one time, this barrel could hold 15,000 bottles of wine.

The fronts of these barrels have been hand carved with wine stories.

Now for the REAL tasting.

Most of my wine was poured in the black cup!

Before.

After.

We arrived back to the One and Only at ... yup ... HAPPY HOUR!!  But first, we had to scoot upstairs to pack our large suit cases for a 9:30 p.m. pick up.  Other bags need to be downstairs by 5:15 a.m. tomorrow morning.  Ugh!!  What's up with that???  

Happy girls at Happy Hour.

We had dinner tonight at Belthazar, Cape Town's version of an upscale Outback Steak House.  They had interesting things on their menu like Ostrich, Crocodile, Kudu and Wildebeest ... to name a few.  I settled for a salad with chicken.

Back at the hotel now, packed and ready to ship out tomorrow morning for a brief stop in Johannesburg and then on to Namibia.    5:15.  REALLY???  Nite nite.

I don't know what the wifi will be like in Namibia.  If you don't hear from me in a day or two, it must be pretty lousy wifi. 

Africa - Cape Town, Friday, March 3, 2017

First, I'd like to wish a huge Happy Birthday to my friends, Sharon and Jan!  Wish ya'll could be here with us today.  We're trying to have fun without you, but it's difficult ... as you can see.

Table Mountain.  I borrowed this photo from a poster in the Cable Car wait station.

Check out the cable cars.  They hold 65 people and the floor rotates so everybody gets a view of the entire area.

We started our morning with a cable car ride to the top of Table Mountain for a look a the city of Cape Town.  I was told by my son that Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities on earth.  I must agree with him.  It is truly gorgeous.  And the best view of Cape Town and the surrounding area is from Table Mountain. 

Table Mountain selfie.

Overlooking Cape Town.

Cape Town.

I was intrigued by this cloud sneaking around the mountain.

We were very lucky, as the morning was clear and sunny and the temperature was comfortable.  I could have spent hours on the top of the mountain, but we had several stops today and had to rush on.  But not before meeting several local critters.  Rock Hyrax were abundant a the top of Table Mountain.  I am told the nearest relative of the Rock Hyrax is the elephant, which is really interesting because there is a weight difference of several tons!!  Some times, I think these "evolution folks" just don't get it.  If this animal is a distant relative of the elephant, then I must be related to Bo Derek.  

The Rock Hyrax looks more like a Marmot than an elephant!!

Anyway, after visiting the summit of Cable Mountain, we continued on to the Boulders Penguin Colony at Cable Mountain National Park.  We arrived about the same time as three other bus loads of tourists.  And we all together set off in search of the penguins.  It didn't take long to spot our first "Jack Ass" Penguin and pretty easy to figure out how they became named,  "Jack Ass" Penguins.  They make a braying sound just like a Jack Ass.  These penguins looks very much like the South American version that Jac and I met last March in Patagonia.  The German tourists were a bit ... I take that back ... they were a LOT overwhelming, so it didn't take me long to check out the penguins and move on.  It was crowded and almost impossible to get a photo of the unique birds.  So I snapped a few shots and headed back to our coach.

If you look closely at the two penguins on the left, you'll see they are sitting on eggs.  I didn't notice this until AFTER I took this photo and downloaded it to this blog.

Shortly, we headed off for Table Mountain National Park where we had a lovely lunch at Two Oceans Restaurant, a very touristy and crowded place, but the food was acceptable.  

We were scheduled to take helicopters back to the hotel from here, but weather set in and the helicopter ride was cancelled.  NatGeo had back up vans available (they think of everything!) to take us the one hour drive back to Cape Town.  We made a quick turnaround and headed to the shops located next to the hotel for a little retail therapy.  I found some really cool South African art to bring home.  The first treasure, a beaded Leopard head.  I absolutely love this piece.  I'm not sure where I'll put it, but it's kind of like having a black outfit in one's closet,  it goes with anything.  I'm sure this beaded Leopard will go anywhere in the house.

I'm sure it will go somewhere.

Next purchase was "The Girls."  Made of sculpted clay busts and palm frond skirts, these girls tell my 2016 story.  Going from nurturing Mom  ... to fighting for my life ... to kicking cancer's ASS!  I love the last girl.  She's strong and sassy!  Anyway, I'll find an interesting place for these pieces, too.  

These stand about 24 inches tall.  Love the gal in the middle.  She has attitude and is sassy!!

Shopping was fun, especially when Stevie and I stumbled upon a woman selling dookies, a headdress worn by African women.  Of course we had to have one.  We were walking through the mall area and two African women were so pleased with us, they wanted their photo made with us sporting our dookies.  I'm sure they went home tonight telling their families about the three women who were acting like American Idiots.

Stevie gets her dook.

We surprised (rather ambushed) Lorri with a dook, too!

Dames with dooks!

Tonight, we did NOT have a buffet.  We had dinner at Nobu, the same Japanese sushi restaurant that we have in Aspen, Matsuhisa.  The food was great, if you're a sushi lover, but the Sakkatinis were better!!  Vodka, Saki, and Cranberry juice.  Yum.

Sakkatini at Nobu.

Yes ... we went to dinner with our dooks on.  Someone thought we were a bunch of chemo patients.  Thank GOD we are NOT!!

Dinner and drinks for three???  Yikes!!
OK.  This is in Rand instead of dollars.  Thank goodness.  Converts to just over $300.00.

It's getting late and we have another early call tomorrow.  Cheerio.