South Africa Part 2: Mountains, Beaches and Elephants

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Hanging out with new friends in Port Elizabeth

The second half of our South African adventure took us across the country and back again, and allowed us to experience rich history, stunning scenery, wild adventures and amazing animals.  Best of all was the friends we met along the way.  Through the rotary international traveling and hosting fellowship club, we were able to meet several incredible people across the country-  Carolyn in JoBerg, who chauffeured us around before we were comfortable getting out and about and then loaned us her GPS for the duration of our trip, Pamella and the seven other members of the Port Elizabeth club who took us out to dinner and were so entertaining they even managed to keep Liam up late, and Cheryl and her husband Richard who hosted a braai for us and told us all about her incredible efforts working to save Rhinos.  Although the kids don’t volunteer much during these get-togethers, we think/hope that they are having as profound an impact as going on safari.  Learning about a country from locals first hand, and more importantly knowing that strangers are willing to open up their homes to a random family based only on an email makes the world seem a smaller, friendlier place. 

Everyone who’s been there seems to love Cape Town, and we were no different.  We learned that Cape Town is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world largely because it has good feng shui cradled in the “armchair” of Table Mountain, Lions rock and Devil’s Peak. We stayed for almost a week in the area in a fantastic Air B&B house where Liam and Xander had their own rooms for the first time on the trip.  We all got to catch up on “lonely time,” laundry and internet.  The house was equipped with a fancy motion-detector alarm and gate, but unlike JoBerg, we were able to venture out beyond the fences and walk around the neighborhood (Jim even went for a run.)   There seems to be a blurry line between safety and imprisonment. 

Top of the world at Table Mountain

Cape Town has a long list of highlights.  Some of the most memorable included:

• Table Mountain- “the oldest mountain in the world” that we accessed via a spinning cable car.  The top greeted us with stunning vistas spanning from the vast Atlantic Ocean and turquoise beaches to the V&A Waterfront shadowed by mountains capped in fluffy clouds, Dr. Seuss-like plants and fat daisies (or “mountain Guinea pig” as Xander named them).
• Robbens Island- Nelson Mandela’s prison for 18 of his 27 years behind bars, where we went on a tour led by a former political prisoner inmate and marveled at a poster of the different food rations allocated to black and colored prisoners, numerically highlighting the inequalities of Apartheid.
• Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens- incredible unique plants and flowers in a stunning setting including a canopy walkway, fragrance garden, useful plants section and our favorite, dinosaur sculptures set among prehistoric plants. 
• Boulder Beach and the Cape Peninsula- we went early and had the beach to ourselves to waddle around with hundreds of charming African penguins, nicknamed “jackass penguins” because they bray like donkeys

After our fantastic week in Cape Town, we headed east along the Garden Route along the southern coast of Africa. We spent a few nights in Heralds Bay, near George.  We took a day trip north through the wine country (one of the few times we wished we didn’t have the kids with us so we could’ve stopped) into Oudstoom in the desert-like Karoo.  Here we visited an Ostrich farm, where Xander and Liam intrepidly rode ostriches,-- When asked if he was scared, Xander said “When I was riding and almost fell off a few times I was worried about the toenail of death that could rip through me. After I was done I only remember it being really fun.”  We also held an ostrich baby and stood on ostrich eggs.  Next we went to the Cango Wildlife Ranch and got to get up close and personal with the lemurs.  Other than the fact that a lemur farted on Xander, it was awesome.  We also enjoyed a walk along an impressive boardwalk jungle trail several kilometers into the aptly named Wilderness National Park where Xander and Liam had to forge a river by pulling themselves across on a pontoon boat.  We had an enjoyable meal and gained more insight to South Africa by meeting the parents one of Jim’s friends.

Our next stop along the Garden Route was in Plettenburg Bay, or “Plett,” where we went to Monkeyland, and got to see sunbathing lemurs and “naughty” spider monkeys, and Birds of Eden where Xander and a parrot traded dance moves.  We also went to a puzzle park where we had to solve different challenges along a forest path within a specific time limit.  The highlight of our time in Plett was going “kloofing” – an adventure trip that included rappelling down a cliff and swimming through a freezing (we had 2 wetsuits on) river canyon, ziplining over waterfalls and jumping off cliffs.  Liam (named “small size” by the guides) and Xander did awesome, although Carolyn still has the claim to fame that she’s the only one not afraid of heights.  The last few days took us through Jeffrey’s Bay (location of the impressive surfer punching a shark video) where we had fun getting battered by the waves, and up to Port Elizabeth, where we flew back to JoBerg.

We headed straight from the airport to Sun City, an oasis in the middle of dry mining area that is sort of like a (very) small scale Las Vegas, with the differentiator that there are warning signs to not leave your window open because the monkeys will come in and steal stuff from the minibar (true story).  Next we stayed at Kwa Maritane bush lodge inside Pilanesburg National Park. We viewed elephants from an incredibly close distance via a hide that we walked through a long underground concrete tunnel to get to (this would be good in a zombie apocalypse, noted Liam).  We’ve been listening to the “Elephant Whisperer” by Lawrence Anthony; that and the opportunity see elephants up close in the wild has given us all a much enhanced appreciation for these magnificent and complex animals. We also saw Rhinos, Giraffes, Zebra, Hippos, Wildebeests, Kudu, Jackals, Warthogs, Impala and other animals on several game drives, from which we all emphatically believe that children under 5 should be banned.

South Africa has been one of our favorite places so far with the adventures, animals, scenery, and especially the people (the common language was a huge bonus even though no one could understand Jim’s “accent”- On several occasions waiters didn’t understand his request for water until we translated from ‘waa-ter’ to  ‘weh-ta’.

We arrived in Buenos Aires yesterday and will be here about a month before we head to Peru--  At least people understand us when we ask for water in our limited Spanish!

Senses:

Carolyn: Liam and Jim waddling along with the charming African penguins in the numbing turquoise water in a boulder cove at Boulders Beach on my wonderful birthday morning; the grape juice like smell of the delicate pink flower surrounded by other yellow, peach and orange cycads and protea plants in the lovely Kirstenbosch botanical gardens; the mellifluous sound of the multiple bird calls echoing through the thick forest while we pull ourselves across the river on the pontoon boat in the verdant Wilderness National Park Kingfisher trail; the baby elephant sliding out from under its mom's legs to sneak in among the five other trunks of its family to grab a drink at the watering hole at Kwa Maritane Bush Lodge

Jim: the cool wind in my face from the rotating cable car and seeing beautiful beaches and colors from the flowers the make up the Cape flower zone, Feeling the fast beat of baby ostrich heart as I hold the astroturf-feeling feathered baby in the palm of my hand; The bright beautiful colors of the golden pheasants running the boardwalk; amazed that these colors appear naturally; The exhilarating chill of being crushed by the Indian ocean waves on the coast in Jeffrey's bay; the striking, beautiful,  purple flowering Jacaranda trees lining the streets of JoBerg. 

Liam: the blue jagged layer layers of foggy peak after foggy peak unfolding before my eyes as I climb up Table Mountain, supposedly the oldest mountain in the world; my hands tightly grasping the muscular but boney ostrich wings as the fluffy feathers wrap around my arms and I lean back to begin my "segway of the bush" ride; my huge muscles straining my shirt as I grab hold of the blue striped rope and pull the couple across the river on pontoon boat in Wilderness National Park; the click of the complicated puzzle flipping over because it was solved as dad and I knock fists in celebration of our victory; the rhythm of the african drums and xylophones echoing off the land as the great fire at the center of the boma burns farther and farther down at the Kwa Maritane bush braai; The picture of the still alive Rhino's pink and bloody nasal cortex caused by the harsh cruelty of the poachers chopping off its treasured horns 

Xander: The penguins squawking their donkey-like defense call as we walk through the cool turquoise water to meet the black and white birds; the large grains of sand curling around my beaten up “frankenshoes” as we trek off the beaten path along the bank of the rust-colored river; the thick wetsuits restraining my arms movement and circulation as we swim to our next rocky traverse in the challenging africanyon kloofing tour; the mud covered elephant's foot squishing silently stepping in front of  my face as its muscular trunk tears green leaves from the shrub next to me; the journey of giraffes' gracefully gliding out of the safari car's spotlight into the pitch black of the Pilanesburg bush

• The cape of good hope is the most south westerly part of africa-  it's commonly thought to be where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet, but that's actually farther south
• The Atlantic is cold because of Antarctic currents
• The cape of good hope is further north than a lot of argentina and new zealand
• The tropic of cancer  (northern hemisphere) and the tropic of capicron (southern hemisphere) are at 23.5 degrees-- the same angle as the tilt of the earth.  The tropics are the two latitudes where the sun is directly overhead at the solstices (june and dec 21st)
• Cape town is closer to the equator than Denver
• Robben island housed political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela for 18 years
• Nelson Mandela had to do hard labor in the lime quarry-  The lime caused many eye problems, including blocking his tear ducts so that he couldn't shed tears.
• The Cape Town area is one of 6 floral kingdoms in the world.  It's by far the smallest-- another one is North America and Europe
• The slower we travel the less money we spend per day
• Pinotage is a unique south african grape/wine vintage
• If your bag is packing too easily, you've forgotten to put something in
• You can stand on ostrich eggs and they won't break
• Female ostriches are brown, male are black.  Females sit on eggs during the day, males at night
• Ostriches lay eggs every 2 days and have a body temperature similar to humans
• To check if an egg is fertile,  shine a light into it to see what’s inside
• Ostrich eggs are 2mm thick
• Ostriches eat stones with their food because they don't have teeth and the need the stones to grind up the food in their stomach
• Lemurs are light on their feet, and on your head
• Lemurs feet are really warm
• Nile crocodiles jump out of the water to catch their prey
• An ostrich egg is the size of 26 chicken eggs and weighs a kilogram
• lean back and keep your feet even and wide when you're abseiling (rappelling) down a cliff
• "New world" monkeys from the americas have prehensile tails while "Old world" monkeys from africa only use their tails for balance
• To mark their territory, lemurs use the scent gland on a claw in theirs paws to scratch trees
• They used to clean chimneys by dropping live chickens down them
• A group of parrots is called a "pandemonium"
• Chicken eggs can be green or blue, and have been known to contain 9 yolks
• Squirrel monkeys hang out in groups of 50-100 and will all attack things that threaten them as a group
• Impala can carry their babies up to an extra month to have their babies at the right time
• Kudu have a white stripe under their eyes to reflect the glare of the sun and see better at night
• Rhinos have 5 layers of skin that allows them to heal wounds in a matter of hours
• Animals of different species (impala/wildebeest) hang out together to take advantage of their difference strengths (e.g., good eyesight, good hearing) and to form a bigger herd
• Lion tongues are like sandpaper and could rip off your skin in a few licks
• Why do elephants knock down trees?  Because they can.
• Wildebeests can run for 3 days straight
• Teesebeasts are the fastest long distance antelope and can run at 60kph for 3 hours
• Jackals are the #1 carriers of rabies in Pilanesburg national park
• A group of giraffes is called a "journey"
• The traits that make us human are: bipedalism, being omnivours, using fire, working with tools, talking, living together, spreading out throughout the planet, and having a big brain
• Humans did not descend from apes, but rather we both had a common ancestor
• both south africa and east africa claim to be the birthplace of humankind
• The "nadeli fossils" discovered in the cradle of humankind caves north of Johannesburg were recently identified as a previously unknown human relative that revolutionizes the human family tree. Check out the Oct 2015 issue of National Geographic!

South Africa Part 1: Fences, Friends & the Big Five

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Apartheid Museum

Liam admitted when he heard that we were going to be in South Africa for 5+ weeks he was a little sad because he couldn’t imagine what we would do in one country for that long.  Now that we’ve been here for 3 weeks, he wishes we could stay longer.  We arrived in Johannesburg from Ethiopia and happily soaked in the English and (mostly consistent) hot water and electricity.  The high walls with razor wire everywhere and safety warnings (don’t drive at night, you will likely get mugged, don’t use your phone/kindle in the car for fear of “opportunity” smash and grab crimes, don’t leave anything in the car,  “high carjacking zone” warning signs) were pretty intimidating.  Like with pretty much anything, we’ve gotten used to both the fences and the driving on the other side of the road, and have all enjoyed this incredible diverse and beautiful country.  

We spent the first week in South Africa in the Johannesburg area recovering from Ethiopia and

getting ready for Madagascar.  Most tourists don’t venture out far into “JoBerg”, let alone stick around for so long, but we ended up having a fun week relaxing and exploring the area.   We went to the powerful Apartheid museum and only found out afterwards that it has an age minimum of 11.  (Nothing like scarring the kids when they’re young and impressionable). The change South Africa has experienced just in our lifetimes is incredible.  It’s been enlightening to spend time with (white) South Africans that grew up (like we did, albeit across the world) during the change from Apartheid.  We learned about the high level of discontent regarding the current government (“Nelson Mandela would roll over in his grave…”) because of the high level of inefficiency and corruption.  One older couple we talked to said that if they were younger, they would emigrate to a different country, and that all the families they know have at least one or two kids who have moved overseas. That said, we heard a lot of justifiable pride about how far the country has come in the last 25 years.  Some of the more amusing conversations involved us trying to explain the US use of the term “African-Americans” and hearing about how some South Africans assumed the Indians in Cowboys and Indians were from India.

In addition to the Apartheid museum, we went to the botanic gardens, and an amazing bird park at Monte Casino- a huge entertainment complex that has an indoor city with a painted sky similar to the Venetian in Las Vegas. Another highlight was a day trip up to the cradle of humankind (that has been in the news for the discovery of the oldest humanoid remains—as Liam noted, “everywhere in Africa says it’s the cradle of humanity”) where we went to the Rhino and Lion reserve and got our first look at big Africa animals up close. 

New mode of transport

After our adventure in Madagascar we came back to JoBerg and got to stay with Clinton and Tanja (Carolyn’s friends from work), learn more about Rugby (the Rugby World Cup is going on right now and the South African Springboks just crushed the USA team) and braai (i.e. BBQ grill) pork and chicken and sausage (yes, the same meal).  Carolyn was sad she was sick and couldn’t eat anything. Next we headed north east to Mpumalanga and the Drakensberg Escarpment, Blyde River Canyon and Kruger National Park for a week.  It was awesome. The Drakenberg escarpment is where the Highveld plunges 1000m down to the Lowveld- a stark lesson for Liam in different climates (his class is studying weather) and a lesson learned for Carolyn to make sure that guest houses booked in hot areas have air conditioning.   We spent a morning at “Elephant Whisperers”, where we got up close and personal with the huge and majestic African elephants, and a day hiking around the waterfalls and cliffs at places aptly named “Gods Window” and “Wonderview” (no pressure).

Views from the car at Kruger

Next we headed to Kruger National Park.  Kruger is HUGE  and we were dubious about going on a “self-drive” with the potential of driving slowly for a long time (the speed limit is 50kph) and not seeing anything for hours.  Turns out we averaged less than 20kph because we stopped so many times to see so many animals.  Jim is doing a great job driving on the “wrong” side of the road.    He reminded that us, “it’s customary to tip your driver.” Xander retorted “here’s a tip- work on your jokes.” Ahh, family bonding.  Right off the bat we saw a group of over 100 water buffalo aggravating a huge bull elephant.  It is unbelievable to be driving in your car and seeing elephants, rhinos and giraffes materialize out of the bush.  Freaky cool. We went for a sunset game drive with a park guide (there are very strict rules against regular people driving around the park after dark - 6pm) and had amazing luck-  we saw a leopard lounging in a tree less than 1km from our camp (!), lions eating a water buffalo and running off another leopard, a hyena den complete with surprisingly endearing cubs, a surprisingly light on its feet hippo walking through the forest and a tiny bush baby that bounced meters up into a tree.  “I am satisfied,” stated Xander (math translation 11 out of 10).  Happy, happy day.

South Africa Part 2: Cape Town, the Garden Route, and Pilanesburg Safari…coming soon.

Senses:

Liam: Floating in the cage of the UFO ride as I scream my head off and clutch the bars tightly in the hope to not fall out at the Gold Reef Amusement park, Johannesburg; the bristly wire-like hairs poking into my skin as I grab the 3.5 m tall elephant's trunk and drop small pellets into it's seemingly endless nostrils; the four lions digging their chubby snouts into the poor old cape buffalo's dead body searching for the last little bits of succulent meat; the majestic oddly shaped spots on the graceful giraffe as it sticks out it purple tongue to grab the sharp thorns and leafs of the plant

Xander: The African tortoise snapping all the twigs in its way as it treks across the flower bed in the Walter Sisulu Botanic Gardens; the Guinea Fowl clumsily running across the small grass field as the sun sets for our last day in South Africa before we leave for Madagascar; the hot air spewing out of the elephant's slobbery two holed trunk as it grasps for more pellets and lush bamboo; the haunting sound of the water buffalo's skin being torn from its body by enormous lions after they chased off the spotted, stalking leopard

Jim: The smell of fresh laundry reminding me that some of the pleasures in life are small; the delicious taste of meat followed by meat follow by meat followed by meat (chicken, pork, farmed sausage) from the typical South African Braai; The sight of a large bull African elephant sanding alone drinking his water peaceful until he was mobbed by 100 water buffalo that kept their distance but still irritated him; hearing the crunching of the impala bones as the lions feast on the tasty snack 50m from the entrance gate

Carolyn: the cars seemingly driven by ghost drivers on the other side of the road surrounded by streets bracketed by high walls topped with intimidating spiky barbed wire; the circuitous groves on the huge elephant's football-shaped front and rugby ball shaped back springy footpads; the hearty laugh of the African woman after she fell down into the stream on the mud-slicked river rocks above the curved canyon walls at the Potholes; the graceful glide of the family of giraffes sauntering around our car to join their friends on the other side of the road munching on leaves with their thorn impervious lips

Lessons Learned

• Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years from 1962 to 1990
• Keep your butt in the middle of the road to stay on the “right” side of the road
• Elephant's height is twice the circumference of their front foot
• Elephants walk with one foot off the ground at a time
• Elephant tails are wiry and very sensitive
• Elephants usually die due to wearing through their six sets of molars
• Elephant's front feet are round like a soccer ball and back feet are oval like a rugby ball
• Elephants are right and left handed like humans-- you can tell the by the calluses on the inside of it's trunk and that one tusk is more worn down than the other
• Mosquitos suck everywhere (both literally and figuratively)
• Hyenas can have wet nurses
• White rhinos are grazers and have flat wide mouths and three bumps and a ridge on their back while black rhinos are browsers and have rounded sway backs
• Bush babies can bounce about 5 times their height
• In South Africa, if you want to buy cough drops, you have to get them from the pharmacist, who will put them in a metal cage with a lock that needs to be taken off at the register
• Female elephants live to ~50 years, male to ~60 years and captive to ~70 years
• Elephants have temporal glands between their tusks and eyes that secrete when they are stressed or in musk
• Hippos walk up to 20km at night, and can reach speeds of up to 35km per hour.  They are one of the deadliest African animals
• Self-drive safaris are a reasonable way to see lots of animals in Kruger National Park
• There's no such thing as a 1 hour game drive in Kruger.  With the stopping and sightings, its typical for 30km to take about 2 hours
• Liam always leaves 3 bites of food from whatever he's eating
• Listen to songs from “The Lion King” if you’re driving around a game park in Africa