Our flight from Mauritius was only 4 hours, and then we were in Jo'burg, and then there was Sheryl and Neil. Yay. It felt like coming home. Our first day was spent doing laundry and relaxing and relaxing and relaxing. On Wednesday, Grant arrived so we met him at the airport--another trip to Jo'bug. He had been travelling for 32 hours, including a 12 hour layover in London. He managed to meet up with a friend there so that was a bonus. He slept most of the afternoon and got up to go with the rest of us to a lovely restaurant. The five of us were in our very own room--lovely food, very "fancypants" (a Sheryl word for special.)
A trip to Jo'burg on the Gautrain, (read howtrain) - we, three visitors went there on our own, and took the Red City Tour bus to the Apartheid Museum. What can I say--we viewed it with mixed emotions, from horror to hope. With your ticket you were either black or white and could only use the appropriate entrance. Our bus was an On/Off so we enjoyed a tour through the city which has a vibrant downtown area with lots of South Africans with stalls and lots of buyers. We got off at Constitution Hill and viewed the old prisons and the constitutional court house. Note to self: don't visit old prisons. The court house had some wonderful art and quite dramatic doors with symbols of the 11 official languages and numbers to 27 but I don't know why. A very impressive building which used bricks from the former court house in the construction. Sheryl was in Jo'burg for a meeting and she met us there. It was coffee time!
Tuesday after Cape Town. Sheryl and Neil are off to work and our job is to relax. It is 39 degrees today. They have a pool in the backyard so we splashed around and enjoyed the cool water. Grant did some writing, George sorted through photos and read and I wrote my CT blog and did some reading as well. I have been trying to think of special food for a "Star Wars" dinner as we will go to see the movie tomorrow night. So far no ideas. We do have special Star Wars napkins though. We did find a milk tart with stars made with cinnamon on top.
Now December 23--we three shopped at this huge mall--almost overwhelming. There are four large grocery stores where we hope to find the food we need for our Christmas Eve dinner. Grocery stores in other countries take a lot of energy. We never did find cocktail sauce but found clams, shrimp and a lovely Christmas pudding. And then on to Star Wars. Well, the movie was really fun and even though I couldn't remember too much about the series, I felt engaged and enjoyed the 3D IMAX production. I do remember "The Empire Strikes Back" because George and I went to see it the night before Claire was born.
Christmas eve dinner was a delight. George and I prepared our usual Clam chowder while Sheryl made cocktail sauce which was yummy so we could make the appetizer we wanted. Grant made the sauce for the pudding and Neil was responsible for preparing the Brandy and lighting the pudding which we enjoyed with custard and ice cream and, oh yeah, the house didn't burn down. We cracked our Christmas crackers, wore the crowns and read the jokes (?). Then off to bed because Santa would soon be here. And so he was! Next morning Grant prepared pancakes which were great and then to the presents. What fun!
And on to Pilanesburg and two days of game drives--13 and 1/2 hours. Wow--what a grand place is "Black Rhino" lodge. Upon arrival, we were offered a lovely cocktail of juices and a tour of the common rooms. It all reminded me of a book about Safaris that we read. Everything was perfect. We had three chalets which each contained a bedroom and a bathroom and an outdoor shower. There was a small pool with lounge chairs. We got settled in and then went for high tea and met our Ranger, Johann, and were off in the vehicle for out first drive. Immediately two large elephants appeared--huge and wrinkly, and then rhinos, many Impala, and so it continued. It is hard to explain how magnificent and truly wonderful it is to see these animals in the wild. Over the course of the next two days, we saw the big 5--which means rhinos, African buffalo, lions, elephants and leopard. These are the five who could and would kill a hunter the fastest and so the name. Of course, the wonderful giraffes-what graceful, funny amazing animals, they are. The Impala are a small dainty antelope who are food for lions and leopards. When they run they look like ballerinas--so graceful, kicking their feet as they go. A highlight on the last day, was seeing lions walking across the Serengeti, starting the hunt--an uncommon sight. They were after a large Eland which is also in the antelope family but is quite rare and even our Ranger was excited to see it. Seems like lions are really lazy--sleep 16 hours per day so the hunt would not progress during the heat of the day. The Eland would have to be on guard until around dusk. Elephants were sometimes in groups and this park has many rhino who are often on their own. This why there is a continued concern about rhino poachers. A group called anti-rhino poachers are tasked with keeping poachers from killing rhinos for their horns. According to the Ranger, the incidence of rhino poaching has decreased since this group was formed. Seems they have a rigorous training and then someone is on duty 24/7 to watch over the rhinos. Here is a Grant joke: How do you become an anti-rhino poacher? Answer: marry an uncle-rhino poacher.
An amazing amount of food was part of our safari experience. During the drives, we always stopped for a drink and snacks which often included rusks and biltong (like beef jerky but made with some bok or antelope). The Ranger set out a table complete with a cloth so it was special. At the lodge every meal was a buffet with lots of African morsels. On our last night, there was a braai (read BBQ) in a special area. There were drummers and a fire dancer to entertain us. Apart from the concern that one of the running around children might fall into the fire pit, it was a fun evening. The dessert was Malva pudding with custard. Yum!
Sadly, our safari time was done so we packed up and were on our way. We had a stop in Soweto on our way home. This is where blacks in Johannesburg were relocated during apartheid. My expectations were far exceeded--I had envisioned meager shacks and dust but it seems like a thriving city--between 2 and 3 million people. We toured the Nelson Mandala house which contained many tributes and plaques in his honour--some from Canada. This was a busy exhibit. There were also a couple of large towers that used to be power plants. They were painted with bright colours and designs. An entrepreneur put a bridge between them and developed a bungee jumping experience. So we watched many people take the plunge. We also went to the "Cafe Chaf Pozi" which was a surprise (read shock) to some of us. It is a huge barn like structure where the locals go for bbq. It had very loud music and there had been a huge thunder/lightning/rain storm so the staff was mopping the floor. The food was tasty and there was lots of it.
Finally, home and we all went to our rooms and napped and slept. The game drives were at 5:30 and 17:00 so our sleep patterns were confused. What a joy this 2015 Christmas was! Sheryl did some excellent planning and a good time was had by all.
And today, Grant must be on his way back to Ottawa. We visited some Pretoria sights, namely, the Union Buildings and a park which has a huge statue of Mandala, a war memorial and the downtown. There is a square that has a huge statue of Paul Kruger who was president at the time of the Boer War. It has razor wire around it to protect it as there is some unrest because many want to have the statue removed. There is a much controversy about other monuments that honour colonial leaders. We went to the first post office built in Pretoria to get stamps for Grant's postcards which are retro these days. They didn't have any stamps but it was a beautiful building. Right, we experienced another parking incident: Again two people wanted to "help" us park--Parker 1 was helping when Parker 2 realized she missed this opportunity. Some angry words were said and we parked and quietly went our way. Our lunch was in Sandton which is a wealthy suburb of Jo'burg. The Sandton Sun is a lovely hotel--we ate on the veranda--the water jugs had fruit on the bottom! We shopped a bit and then went in search of a comic book shop that Grant wanted to check out. Comic book shops are part of his travel experience. It was a bit of a hole in the wall but he found a couple. He has been looking for comics that are totally African but they are hard to find.
And so to the airport. Saying good-bye is always the hard part of trips. He is off and will arrive in Ottawa to a snow storm.
If I wanted to summarize our last few days of 2015, I would say our routine would be relax, paint, work on photos, play in the pool, read--just be. We also watched "Ghost" an old movie with Patrick Swayse, had lunch with Sheryl and Neil, chatted with Brienne and Claire, followed Grant's trip home. 2015 has flown. I was reading my first blog and thought about the many wonderful experiences that have been part of our first Meanderthal year--today is December 31.
We left 2015 while enjoying Chinese food, a bottle of wine, good company and Star Trek. Managed to keep our eyes open until midnight. Welcome 2016! My days and dates have been confused this week but the weekend is here and so we did some jobs around the house, some errands, had a lovely coffee and relaxed. I am working at doing exercises in the pool so far so good. I am also reading a mystery by Deon Meyer which I am enjoying.
We had a lovely dinner out--eating out here is quite inexpensive. Today we are off to Jo'burg to shop and check out Nelson Mandala Square. George and I spent our days with relaxing high on the list. On Wednesday, we took the Gautrain to Sandton--the station is near where they work, so S & N dropped us off. We had a lovely day of poking around, doing a few errands, having Sheryl's shoes shined, visiting the library which is attached. Getting there took 35 minutes but it took an hour to get back to Pretoria because of some problem with the trains.
Temperature today is 42 degrees C. We are staying close to the fans and ac and taking it easy. The radio told us not to be in the sun between 9:00 and 16:00. We will enjoy playing in the pool when it is shaded by the house. Turned out this was a record breaking day for high temperature. I think this is a good day to go out for dinner. We went to "Bistro Boergeoisie" which served Afrikaner (Boer-hence the name) food and the decor was definitely related.
Our last day here has arrived. I will be sad to say good bye but know that we will see them again probably in May. What a wonderful trip. We will all go to Jo'burg for a movie and maybe a Krispie Kreme doughnut which just opened in Rosebank.
Portugal here we come!
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