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| Nelson Mandela's house |
Back at the lodge and dried out,
we had breakfast with our new Canadian friends, Dave and Linda, and then it was
time to pack up and head to the airport for our flight to Johannesburg. We traveled
to the airport in covered Land Cruisers and spotted all sorts of animals. It
never stops! Two of the nicest things about group travel are that you don’t
have to constantly handle and worry about your luggage. Turn it over to the
porters (which we were told were handsomely tipped) and it magically appears
where it needs to be next—even carry-ons. The other thing we enjoyed were group
check-ins at airports or priority handling at immigration and customs which make
other travelers standing in line ahead of you just fume.
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| Nice airport for Zimbabwe |
Arriving at Joburg or Josie as it’s
called by the locals, we board a bus as our bags are taken care of and ride to
our next hotel—54 on Bath—for check-in. We find the hotel to be nice and
upscale, but somewhat sterile and cold with its gray, black, and white color
scheme. Our bags were no sooner delivered to our room than it’s time to board
our bus for our Joburg tour.
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| One-legged women only, please |
Our
first stop is the Apartheid Museum, and just
as we arrive it starts raining. At the entry into the museum, each
entrant is
randomly assigned to a white/non-white category which exposes him/her to
what would be experienced as an individual under the rules of
apartheid. Capt. Larry was
a white, and Jane a non-white (she has Cajun in her!) and we saw the
documentation and rules that the government required for each group.
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| Taking drink orders |
We rejoined
inside the museum and started a tour of the apartheid movement which initially
dated back to the 1920’s. The history and timeline of the implementation of
apartheid was interesting and we were at the 1950’s when the timeline was
abruptly truncated by our local guide, so that we would have time to see the
other part of the museum which focused on Nelson Mandela. We were
irritated that our historical recount of the apartheid movement was
interrupted so that we could visit the adjoining Mandela museum which
was not nearly as historically interesting.
 |
| Leaving the water to feed |
If you
are going to make apartheid history the focal point of the tour, allow enough time so we can absorb
the entire line of events.
 |
| A "float" of hippos |
To the blacks in
South Africa Mandela is godlike, but little credit is attributed to Prime Minister F. W. de Klerk who set Mandela
free and really was responsible for starting to roll back the oppressive acts of the
apartheid movement.
Done with the museum and it’s
still raining, we board our buses and
head to Soweto (SOuth WEst TOwnship), a section of Joburg that was the focal
point of the anti-apartheid movement.
We saw the home that Mandela occupied
after his release from Robben Island, and before he moved to more upscale digs
as the head of the new government. We then retired to a local restaurant for
lunch which was sort of a soul food mecca for local palates.
 |
| Maybe I'll get back in... |
We
had our lunch
then retreated to the streets for some shopping with the local vendors,
before
boarding our bus and returning to our hotel. We found it ironic that
with all
of the emphasis on the good things that came with the fall of apartheid,
we would be cautioned
not to venture outside the confines of our hotel and adjacent shopping
mall (in what seemed to be a fairly upscale neighborhood) as
it was deemed not to be a safe neighborhood.
 |
| Hotel lobby and StanleyRoom |
We did
manage to meet up with Dave and Linda for some pizza and beer, after which we toured the mall, getting lost only occasionally! After this day,
we returned to our room and prepared to check out the following morning for our
flight to Zimbabwe, the next stop on our itinerary.
After breakfast the next morning,
we boarded a bus that would take us to the Joburg airport.
 |
| Hotel lounge |
We were able to
store our big suitcases with the local Tauck representative, so we only had two
carry-ons which we checked. How nice not to have to deal with luggage. The
flight to Zimbabwe only took 45 minutes, but our guide, Jeff, told us to expect
at least an hour to get through immigration control. Again, we were moved
through immigration as a group which didn’t sit well with some of the other
travelers.
 |
| Livingston, I presume... |
Jeff obviously has some really good connections and we imagined him
going through airports, hotels, and transfer companies with a big bankroll of
cash, greasing every palm that would benefit his tour group and likely earn him
the moniker “Mr. Quick Lube.” The week before we arrived in Zimbabwe there was
a military coup that forced President Mugabe from power, a position he had held
since 1983. But the county is very desperate for cash and this power struggle
would not negatively affect tourism which is a major source of income.
 |
| ~88 cents in Zimbabwe |
Jeff gave
every American $30 USD and every Canadian $150 USD (they must have made someone
mad!) to purchase our visas. The passport control agents do all of their
paperwork manually so we expected a long wait, but amazingly the entire group
was finished in about 25 minutes.
We boarded a bus and met our local
guide “Lucky” who shared some background facts about Zimbabwe as we rode to our
hotel, THE Victoria Falls Hotel (apparently there are imposters). We checked in
and got settled into our room, only to get ready for a river booze cruise on
the Zambezi River, the stream between Zambia and Zimbabwe that supplies
Victoria Falls.
 |
| Main part of Victoria Falls |
As we arrive at the boat dock, we are met by a singing and
dancing group of males dressed in native costume. Of course, they want money to
pose for photos. Boarding our pontoon, we are given safety instructions by our
captain as we place our drink orders. We are not far from the dock when we spot
a bloat (yep, that’s the collective noun) of hippopotamuses in the water. We count
7 including a baby hippo. We are told that hippos do not swim so we estimate the
river depth to be fairly shallow.
 |
| Falls overlook |
The water level is low as the dry season is
just ending and more water will collect as the coming wet season progresses. Hippos
are nocturnal and spend most of the day in the water. They have sensitive skin
that can crack in the sunlight so they come ashore to feed at night. The Zambezi
River is the fourth longest river in Africa and we are told that the falls are
about 4 miles downstream. Victoria Falls was discovered by Dr. David Livingston,
a Scottish-born, doctor, and missionary, and iconic explorer that spent many
years exploring central Africa in the mid-1800’s.
 |
| Long way down |
As we were starting our
return trip to the dock we were treated to a lecture about Livingston’s life
and explorations by a local Livingston expert. As the sun was setting at the
conclusion of the lecture, we spotted an adult hippo leaving the water to feed
on the bank. It was a great little cruise.
 |
| Cecil Rhodes' bridge |
Back at the hotel we get ready for a
night of food and entertainment provided by a native group of dancers and turned
in early after a very busy day.
The next morning we breakfast
with Dave and Linda as we watch groundskeepers deal with a troop of baboons
that are trying to steal food from the buffet. They shoot them with pellet guns
which sting the animals and scatter them when they see a groundskeeper with a
rifle approach.
 |
| Elephant Camp main lodge |
Boarding a bus we head out to see Victoria Falls, one of the 7
world wonders. The falls are in a national park and we were disappointed that
they did not have a stamp for our national park book. Outside the gate, Dave
is approached by a local who has a handful of Zimbabwean money he is trying to
sell. The first thing we notice is the one billion dollar note followed by 4-5
notes denominated in the hundreds of millions. Dave asks how much and buys the
notes for $10.
 |
| Sly and some friends |
He's told that the billion dollar note is worth about
$5. Unreal that conditions are that bad off. The falls are viewed from the Zimbabwean
side of the river from a trail with 16 overlooks extending for about 1¼ miles. Victoria
Falls is the tallest waterfall in the world, but Iguazu Falls in Brazil is the
widest and Niagara Falls is the most voluminous. We made our way along the
trail, stopping at the overlooks to snap some pictures.
 |
| Jane makes a friend |
At the final stop we
were able to view the bridge that was constructed by Cecil Rhodes, an African
entrepreneur in diamonds and gold. Rhodes envisioned a Cape Town to Cairo
railroad that would cross the Zambezi River at Victoria Falls. He ordered the bridge so passengers
could see the falls from it. Completed in 1905, the bridge was
prefabricated in London and shipped to the falls and reassembled and erected in
only 14 months time. We walked back to the park entrance, boarded our bus, and
rode to our next destination—Elephant Walk Rescue Center.
The Elephant Camp provides a safe
refuge for elephants that have become injured or abused.
 |
| Linda, Dave, Elephant, Jane, Capt. Larry |
But probably the center’s
most famous resident is a cheetah named Sylvester. Sly was brought to the
center as a cub after a lion killed his mother and two siblings. Raised among
humans, the cat has no wild instincts and for all intents and purposes is more
comfortable among humans than other wild animals. Everyone in our group had a
chance for a photo session with Sylvester. The staff noted that Sylvester the
Cheetah is the only cheetah with a Facebook page. The center then served us a
delicious lunch, after which the elephants were paraded in for an up-close
petting session.
 |
| "Trunk up!" |
These animals have been domesticated and familiar with being
around people. But the elephants also know that treats will be fed to them
after the petting is over. When it came to feeding time, we were told
they understand two commands: “trunk up” where they raise their trunks and open
their mouths so we can throw the pellets directly into their mouths; and “trunk
down” where they invert their trunks so we can place the pellets in their
snouts and they feed themselves.
 |
| The cleanup crew! |
After the elephants were fed they retired to a
pond to cool off and a family of warthogs moved in to devour the pellets that
fell to the ground. We watched a video on elephant social behavior, then moved
to the gift shop (Jane was already there!) before boarding the bus and
returning to the hotel.
No rest for the wicked
and back at
the hotel we had to pack our suitcases for tomorrow’s flight back to
Johannesburg where the tour ends, and get ready for tonight’s farewell
dinner. The dinner started with cocktails before retiring to the Stanley
dining room for
dinner.
 |
| Farewell dinner in the Stanley Room |
The meal was good, but the food at the hotel did not match that at some
of the other venues we had eaten at. We were given carved wooden “Big 5”
animals as a gift along with a group photo.
The next morning we had breakfast
with Dave and Linda then prepared to go to the airport for a flight back to Johannesburg. We retrieved our stored
bags at the Joburg airport and passed through immigration control and security.
We said our goodbyes, exchanged our information, and headed home. We spent the
layover at the Frankfurt airport in the Lufthansa business class lounge.
 |
| Some of Africa's beauty |
Jane said
she could live there. Finally it was time to board our flight and head back to
Miami. The travel to and from was really arduous, but the in-between was really
great.
