I only had to wait until the morning after I arrived to reaffirm that Cape Town is the most beautiful city in the world. I had a little over a week to be reminded daily of this.
My first morning I woke and after sitting in a car for days, I decided to go for a run. I was staying with Judy and Richard at their house in Constantia, a suburb of Cape Town, on the back side of Table Mountain. I went out heading towards the mountain and soon found myself running through vineyards and wine estates. It is hard to describe how beautiful it was to be running through the estates, with the cape dutch houses, the rows of vines with ripening grapes, and the smell of sea air coming from the coast. There is nowhere else like this.
I had a few days to spend with Judy, as she was still on vacation, not starting work again until February. I had met Judy twelve years ago on a trip to South Africa that I did with a high school group going to learn about the new South Africa. I had kept in touch with her since then, visiting whenever I was able to make it to Cape Town. She is an artist and anyone interested in looking at her work just google Judy Moolenschot and you will find her website with her amazing work. I must say that I am quite jealous of her studio which is in the loft of an old wine estate, right next to Buitenverwachting. The views from the studio are amazing and I can see how anyone can be inspired here. In the days that I spent with her, we had an amazing time driving around the Western Cape, taking in the views of all of the sights around the cape. We had some amazing days exploring the local wineries, spending our days eating olives and drinking wine. Judy gave me some lessons on wine, explaining what to look for, how to hold a glass, and how to taste. I wasn’t willing to spit out such good wine though. My favorite was a newer winery that opened called Morgenster. If anyone is in Cape Town, I suggest heading out to this winery. It had the best wine that I tasted and even better, it was an olive farm. I learned a lot about olives, what makes a good olive, and what makes a good olive oil. We did the olive oil tasting and it was amazing how good it was. I got a contact in the states that hopefully distributes their wine and oil, it is www.twgrape.com. Anyone interested, try the Lourens River Valley, one of the best wines I have ever had. The days that I spent with Judy were amazing, as she took me for quite a tour of the cape. I didn’t want to leave, but again I had to say goodbye and keep moving. I know I’ll see her again, hopefully being back in Cape Town soon.
Cape Town always allows me to catch up with old friends and family that I haven’t seen for a while. This trip was no different. I was able to spend a day with my aunt and uncle from Kroonstad. I went out towards Paarl for the day with Eve, Wally and Marcelle. I hadn’t seen the family in years and it was great to catch up with everyone, spending the day in the winelands. I was lucky that the family was in Cape Town while I was here and it was good to see everyone again. I even got a surprise from a close family friend Henry from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe who was in Cape Town as well. I was able to meet up with Henry and spent the day with him, catching up. He even offered me a job managing his crocodile farms up in Zimbabwe for him, but I graciously turned down the offer.
I didn’t go very far on my way to my next stop, but had quite an adventure getting there. My cousin Gavin picked me up from Constantia in the afternoon and we headed for town to go climb Table Mountain. We left from the cable car station and headed towards Plattenklip Gorge. The walk to the gorge gave us some incredible view of Cape Town in the late afternoon. Once we reached the gorge, it wasn’t far to the top of the mountain, but it was a difficult climb up the vertical slog. After about an hour of climbing up the gorge, we made it to the top of the mountain. We walked around the top for a bit, taking in the different views. As you look south you see the Twelve Apostles, and the mountains all the way down to Cape Point. As you look north you see Signal Hill, Lions Head, the city bowl and Robben Island. We decided to stay at the top to watch the sunset and then we would take the cable car back down. I’m glad that we stayed because we were treated to an amazing sunset from the top of the mountain. We took the cable car back down to the base of the mountain and then headed off for Sea Point, where I would be staying for the next few days.
While in Sea Point I was staying with my dad’s best friend growing up, David, and his wife Elmarie and two daughters Cara and Tahlia. I had such a good time with the family, telling them about everything that I had done and everything that I planned to do. Elmarie even tried to convince me to stay with them and just go to the University of Cape Town. I would have loved to stay with them, but I had to move on to go and see the rest of my family on my way around the world. I had such a fantastic time with them though that I really didn’t want to leave. They treated me to dinner on my last night, heading over to Table View for dinner and the most amazing views of Table Mountain with the city below at sunset. It was the perfect end to my visit to the cape. It was hard to say goodbye, but I know that I’ll be back, after all it is my favorite city in the world.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
I Wasn’t Careful and Got A Putzi Infection…
It was really hard to say goodbye to everyone in Zambia, especially the boys from the orphanage. I wouldn’t have minded staying there to teach, but I needed to move on. I left Zambia and in my usual fashion, left everything I needed to do to the last minute. This included washing my clothes so that I would have something to wear on my long trip down to Cape Town. Due to my procrastination I didn’t iron my clothes. Africa has the delightful putzi fly that likes to lay its eggs on damp clothing. Ironing your clothes kills off the eggs so it is a good idea to iron everything. Since I didn’t iron some of my clothes I got a putzi infection… if the eggs aren’t killed they borough themselves underneath of the skin, where they hatch. Maggots growing underneath your skin aren’t as gross as Hollywood makes them out to be in horror films, but still something I could have done without. You get a nice large red spot with the black worm in the center. Killing them isn’t too hard, you just lance the maggot and put Vaseline on it to suffocate it. The maggot comes out a bit afterwards.
Well this was my going away present from Zambia. I was now on my way all the way across the Zambezi River to spend a few days in Victoria Falls before meeting up with my friends Judy and Richard. I spent three days out at the lion project, feeding and playing with the cubs and going on walks with the larger lions. I would go on walks with the local guides and they taught me how to track animals and how to survive in the bush. I’m not sure when I’ll ever going to use this information, but if animals ever escape the zoo, I might be able to find them. Even though the cubs parents aren’t raising them, they still have their natural instinct. I loved playing with the cubs, allowing them to stalk me. I would put my back to them and they would slowly crawl towards me as if they were hunting. It was amazing to watch this. The big boys are a lot of fun as well, but are a hell of a lot stronger than me. I got scratched a few times and one of the girls decided to bite me. I survived the ordeal though and really enjoyed being with the lions and having the guides give me bush knowledge.
I met Richard and Judy in Victoria Falls two days before we left for Botswana. Victoria Falls and Zimbabwe are an amazing place. The day I arrived there was no electricity, a normal occurrence here, and the next day there was no water. I’m not sure exactly what happened, it is goes something like the government didn’t give the city council any money so the city council didn’t pay the water works so the water works cut off water to the entire town. The water was out for three days and Judy and Richard arrived on day two to the lodge that they were staying at, paying about $300 US a night for a lovely accommodation without any water. I didn’t mind too much, I would just go for a swim in the pool and we got some boar hole water to drink. Unfortunately for Judy and Richard, they had spent the past two weeks in the bush and just wanted a good shower… “hopefully it will be turned back on tomorrow.”
I took Judy and Richard to the lion project in the morning to give them the opportunity to walk with the lions. They really enjoyed the experience and Richard even got the courage to play with the lions, dragging a branch which they would chase and tear to shreds. It was a good morning with the lions and then we left to head back to town and go and see the falls. It started to rain on our way back to town. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was definitely the beginning of the rainy season there. The rain passes over quickly and we walked down to the falls. The Zimbabwe side of the falls is much more impressive visually than the Zambian side. You walk along the opposite face from the falls, through a small rainforest made possible by the mist from the falls. The water had definitely risen since I was previously there and it made for spectacular views of the falls. I even got to see the devil’s armchair and the pool that I dove into to hang over the falls and a good view of the walk that Emma and I did across the top of the falls to Livingstone Island. We walked around, getting all of the views of the falls, and walked through the rainforest where we even saw a water buck (the tracks inside part of the hoof is longer than the outside). I had a wonderful time in Victoria Falls, but it was time to move on.
Judy and Richard picked me up early in the morning and we drove with Richard’s two brothers and their wives over to Botswana to go camp in Chobe National Park for three days. While entering the park and registering, I ran into someone I knew from Livingstone. She had just seen a leopard just a few kilometers from the gate. I was excited because I had never seen one before. We drove to where the leopard was spotted and spent half an hour trying to spot it. Game viewing is a gamble, sometimes you see the animals, sometimes you don’t, and if you are somewhere just a few minutes too early or late you will miss it. Well, we were a few minutes late and missed the leopard. The day wasn’t a complete loss, as we saw a large herd of elephant playing in the river, a lot of hippos grazing (a rare sight during the day), and many more animals. The great thing was that it was the beginning of the rainy season, about a month after the first rains, and all of the animals had just had their young.
It was New Years Eve and we headed to set up camp at about four in the afternoon. We arrived at the camp which was right on the Chobe River. I’ve stayed in game parks before, but never camping in a tent, and the camps usually had a fence to keep the large animals out. There was no such thing here, we were still in the wilderness. I was warned about the baboons and to keep the food locked away at night to keep the hyenas out. We set up camp and I pitched my tent, overlooking the Chobe River and the Caprivi Strip of Namibia on the opposite bank, with two fish eagles perched on the tree above me scanning the water for dinner. It was Judy’s turn to cook dinner and I helped her prepare a wonderful outdoor cooked paella. We had dinner and drank for a bit as we watched the sun set as the rain fell in the distance. This was Africa. I was asleep by ten that night, quite a different New Years Eve than I was used to, but I couldn’t ask for a better way to spend it.
The next day was rainy and the animals knew something that we didn’t because they were nowhere to be found. Maybe they were on holiday seeing as it was New Years Day but something was definitely up. Finally after hours of looking and seeing very little, we headed back towards camp. On the way back we found a water hole with about forty hippos, most out of the water. There were many young playing among the grazing elders. We were treated to quite a show. At least we saw something so the whole day wasn’t a loss. We were only a few kilometers from camp and decided to head back. Driving back I spotted something moving among the rocks ahead. It wasn’t a rock it was a lion. We slowly proceeded ahead trying not to scare it off. We followed it to just inside the bush where it decided to lay down and have a rest. It was about a two year old female and she just lay there in the grass looking for something. What ever she was looking for didn’t arrive by the time we took off.
To my distress camp was only about two kilometers from where we spotted the lion. Back at camp we had dinner and drinks by the fire. I found a scorpion crawling around by my feet. Little did I know that this night it wouldn’t be the lion or scorpion that I had to worry about, no it was the rains. It started to rain at about eight, a true down pour that didn’t stop all night. I kept going in and out of sleep that night, being woken by the rain pounding the tent and wind whipping the fly. All I could think was that I was going to be washed down the hillside that I was camped on into the Chobe River. Morning arrived and I survived the 80 mm of rain that fell during the night, somehow remaining somewhat dry.
We started our long trek down to Cape Town that would take four days of driving through Botswana and South Africa. The drive was long and quite uneventful. The only excitement was when a black mamba attacked one of the cars while driving in Botswana. It was amazing to see this three meter snake go after a land rover without any fear. No wonder why Africans were so scared of these snakes. One of the game reserves that we were camping at in South Africa had rhinos in the park. I asked the woman at the gate whether it was a black or a white rhinoceros. “No sir, rhinoceros aren’t black or white, they are gray.” I hope she wasn’t a game ranger. The trip to Cape Town took us through long stretches of straight road through the high veldt. It gave Judy and I time to catch up after four years.
Well this was my going away present from Zambia. I was now on my way all the way across the Zambezi River to spend a few days in Victoria Falls before meeting up with my friends Judy and Richard. I spent three days out at the lion project, feeding and playing with the cubs and going on walks with the larger lions. I would go on walks with the local guides and they taught me how to track animals and how to survive in the bush. I’m not sure when I’ll ever going to use this information, but if animals ever escape the zoo, I might be able to find them. Even though the cubs parents aren’t raising them, they still have their natural instinct. I loved playing with the cubs, allowing them to stalk me. I would put my back to them and they would slowly crawl towards me as if they were hunting. It was amazing to watch this. The big boys are a lot of fun as well, but are a hell of a lot stronger than me. I got scratched a few times and one of the girls decided to bite me. I survived the ordeal though and really enjoyed being with the lions and having the guides give me bush knowledge.
I met Richard and Judy in Victoria Falls two days before we left for Botswana. Victoria Falls and Zimbabwe are an amazing place. The day I arrived there was no electricity, a normal occurrence here, and the next day there was no water. I’m not sure exactly what happened, it is goes something like the government didn’t give the city council any money so the city council didn’t pay the water works so the water works cut off water to the entire town. The water was out for three days and Judy and Richard arrived on day two to the lodge that they were staying at, paying about $300 US a night for a lovely accommodation without any water. I didn’t mind too much, I would just go for a swim in the pool and we got some boar hole water to drink. Unfortunately for Judy and Richard, they had spent the past two weeks in the bush and just wanted a good shower… “hopefully it will be turned back on tomorrow.”
I took Judy and Richard to the lion project in the morning to give them the opportunity to walk with the lions. They really enjoyed the experience and Richard even got the courage to play with the lions, dragging a branch which they would chase and tear to shreds. It was a good morning with the lions and then we left to head back to town and go and see the falls. It started to rain on our way back to town. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was definitely the beginning of the rainy season there. The rain passes over quickly and we walked down to the falls. The Zimbabwe side of the falls is much more impressive visually than the Zambian side. You walk along the opposite face from the falls, through a small rainforest made possible by the mist from the falls. The water had definitely risen since I was previously there and it made for spectacular views of the falls. I even got to see the devil’s armchair and the pool that I dove into to hang over the falls and a good view of the walk that Emma and I did across the top of the falls to Livingstone Island. We walked around, getting all of the views of the falls, and walked through the rainforest where we even saw a water buck (the tracks inside part of the hoof is longer than the outside). I had a wonderful time in Victoria Falls, but it was time to move on.
Judy and Richard picked me up early in the morning and we drove with Richard’s two brothers and their wives over to Botswana to go camp in Chobe National Park for three days. While entering the park and registering, I ran into someone I knew from Livingstone. She had just seen a leopard just a few kilometers from the gate. I was excited because I had never seen one before. We drove to where the leopard was spotted and spent half an hour trying to spot it. Game viewing is a gamble, sometimes you see the animals, sometimes you don’t, and if you are somewhere just a few minutes too early or late you will miss it. Well, we were a few minutes late and missed the leopard. The day wasn’t a complete loss, as we saw a large herd of elephant playing in the river, a lot of hippos grazing (a rare sight during the day), and many more animals. The great thing was that it was the beginning of the rainy season, about a month after the first rains, and all of the animals had just had their young.
It was New Years Eve and we headed to set up camp at about four in the afternoon. We arrived at the camp which was right on the Chobe River. I’ve stayed in game parks before, but never camping in a tent, and the camps usually had a fence to keep the large animals out. There was no such thing here, we were still in the wilderness. I was warned about the baboons and to keep the food locked away at night to keep the hyenas out. We set up camp and I pitched my tent, overlooking the Chobe River and the Caprivi Strip of Namibia on the opposite bank, with two fish eagles perched on the tree above me scanning the water for dinner. It was Judy’s turn to cook dinner and I helped her prepare a wonderful outdoor cooked paella. We had dinner and drank for a bit as we watched the sun set as the rain fell in the distance. This was Africa. I was asleep by ten that night, quite a different New Years Eve than I was used to, but I couldn’t ask for a better way to spend it.
The next day was rainy and the animals knew something that we didn’t because they were nowhere to be found. Maybe they were on holiday seeing as it was New Years Day but something was definitely up. Finally after hours of looking and seeing very little, we headed back towards camp. On the way back we found a water hole with about forty hippos, most out of the water. There were many young playing among the grazing elders. We were treated to quite a show. At least we saw something so the whole day wasn’t a loss. We were only a few kilometers from camp and decided to head back. Driving back I spotted something moving among the rocks ahead. It wasn’t a rock it was a lion. We slowly proceeded ahead trying not to scare it off. We followed it to just inside the bush where it decided to lay down and have a rest. It was about a two year old female and she just lay there in the grass looking for something. What ever she was looking for didn’t arrive by the time we took off.
To my distress camp was only about two kilometers from where we spotted the lion. Back at camp we had dinner and drinks by the fire. I found a scorpion crawling around by my feet. Little did I know that this night it wouldn’t be the lion or scorpion that I had to worry about, no it was the rains. It started to rain at about eight, a true down pour that didn’t stop all night. I kept going in and out of sleep that night, being woken by the rain pounding the tent and wind whipping the fly. All I could think was that I was going to be washed down the hillside that I was camped on into the Chobe River. Morning arrived and I survived the 80 mm of rain that fell during the night, somehow remaining somewhat dry.
We started our long trek down to Cape Town that would take four days of driving through Botswana and South Africa. The drive was long and quite uneventful. The only excitement was when a black mamba attacked one of the cars while driving in Botswana. It was amazing to see this three meter snake go after a land rover without any fear. No wonder why Africans were so scared of these snakes. One of the game reserves that we were camping at in South Africa had rhinos in the park. I asked the woman at the gate whether it was a black or a white rhinoceros. “No sir, rhinoceros aren’t black or white, they are gray.” I hope she wasn’t a game ranger. The trip to Cape Town took us through long stretches of straight road through the high veldt. It gave Judy and I time to catch up after four years.
A Sunny Christmas
My last weekend in Zambia was filled getting ready for Christmas. Most everyone went over to Zimbabwe for the weekend, but I was just there and would be back in a few days so I stayed in Zambia. Most of the people that had been in Zambia remained with me, as it was most of our last weekends in Zambia. We were preparing for Christmas Day, which would be spent at the orphanage with all of the boys and the kids from the community.
The weekend went by and soon it was Christmas Eve. Everyone was quite excited about it being Christmas. It is still strange to spend Christmas in Africa though. Somehow, walking around in shorts and a tee-shirt just doesn’t seem right when you are supposed to be eating chestnuts around a fire. There are no Christmas trees, decorations or lights littering the town; commercialization still hasn’t reached the heart of Africa. We all went out for drinks on Christmas Eve as everyone was in a festive mode and wanted to go and celebrate.
Christmas Day arrived and Santa forgot to visit Zambia. Maybe he just boycotted because there was no chimney, no tree, no cookies and there’s a good chance that the milk is sour. Oh well, Dan saved Christmas by cooking up a wonderful English breakfast. We all got ready and headed off for the orphanage. All of the boys were there, along with a lot of community kids. All of my class was there, so we went off to play some football while everyone was getting ready. There was a lunch of pizza, chips and cookies and presents were handed out to everyone. It was the best Christmas that I have ever spent. I didn’t receive anything but just to be around all the kids and see how happy they were was amazing. Everyone had a huge smile on their face, as I’m sure that this was the first time they had received presents at Christmas. All of the boys wanted to show me what they received and go play. Dan even dressed up as Santa and went around yelling ho, ho, ho. I’m sure the kids loved it, but poor Dan was sweating his ass off in ninety-degree heat wearing that stuffy suit and beard. We packed up in the afternoon and headed back to the house. The plan was to have Christmas dinner all together, but the Simba decided to overdose on malaria tablets, taking the once a week tablets every day for two weeks. He was recovering in bed so Ciara, Dan and I were left to cook dinner. After four hours in the hot kitchen, dinner was served. It actually turned out really well and sat around eating and drinking. Everyone stayed up drinking and talking, but I went to take a nap because the Eagles were playing at two in the morning. It is always a happy Christmas when Philly beats Dallas.
Boxing day I promised all of my kids that we would go and play football. It was my last day in Zambia and I wanted to spend it with the boys. I took a taxi over to the orphanage, passing all of the kids in the community, all wearing and playing with their Christmas presents. I met all of the boys and we walked over to the football fields. I felt like the pied piper leading forty kids thorough the town. We arrived at the field and played a full match. I didn’t score any goals, but it was just good to spend the day with the boys and a good way for me to say goodbye to them all. Once the match was done, I had to leave to go and pack. I said goodbye to everyone and promised them that I would return some day; I just hope that it is soon.
The weekend went by and soon it was Christmas Eve. Everyone was quite excited about it being Christmas. It is still strange to spend Christmas in Africa though. Somehow, walking around in shorts and a tee-shirt just doesn’t seem right when you are supposed to be eating chestnuts around a fire. There are no Christmas trees, decorations or lights littering the town; commercialization still hasn’t reached the heart of Africa. We all went out for drinks on Christmas Eve as everyone was in a festive mode and wanted to go and celebrate.
Christmas Day arrived and Santa forgot to visit Zambia. Maybe he just boycotted because there was no chimney, no tree, no cookies and there’s a good chance that the milk is sour. Oh well, Dan saved Christmas by cooking up a wonderful English breakfast. We all got ready and headed off for the orphanage. All of the boys were there, along with a lot of community kids. All of my class was there, so we went off to play some football while everyone was getting ready. There was a lunch of pizza, chips and cookies and presents were handed out to everyone. It was the best Christmas that I have ever spent. I didn’t receive anything but just to be around all the kids and see how happy they were was amazing. Everyone had a huge smile on their face, as I’m sure that this was the first time they had received presents at Christmas. All of the boys wanted to show me what they received and go play. Dan even dressed up as Santa and went around yelling ho, ho, ho. I’m sure the kids loved it, but poor Dan was sweating his ass off in ninety-degree heat wearing that stuffy suit and beard. We packed up in the afternoon and headed back to the house. The plan was to have Christmas dinner all together, but the Simba decided to overdose on malaria tablets, taking the once a week tablets every day for two weeks. He was recovering in bed so Ciara, Dan and I were left to cook dinner. After four hours in the hot kitchen, dinner was served. It actually turned out really well and sat around eating and drinking. Everyone stayed up drinking and talking, but I went to take a nap because the Eagles were playing at two in the morning. It is always a happy Christmas when Philly beats Dallas.
Boxing day I promised all of my kids that we would go and play football. It was my last day in Zambia and I wanted to spend it with the boys. I took a taxi over to the orphanage, passing all of the kids in the community, all wearing and playing with their Christmas presents. I met all of the boys and we walked over to the football fields. I felt like the pied piper leading forty kids thorough the town. We arrived at the field and played a full match. I didn’t score any goals, but it was just good to spend the day with the boys and a good way for me to say goodbye to them all. Once the match was done, I had to leave to go and pack. I said goodbye to everyone and promised them that I would return some day; I just hope that it is soon.
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