Parts of Africa

On our first night staying with my cousins in Swakopmund they treated us out to a delicious steak house and took pride in having us taste their famous meat. Apparently Namibia is famous for its red meats, and we can understand why. I had the garlic butter steak and Tyson and Rayyan had the 500 gram T-bone. This is the largest steak they sell at the restaurant and when I saw the steak with all the side dishes I almost doubted Tyson could finish his. I was proven very wrong within minutes when a polished bone remained on his plate and he hungrily began eyeing my 200 gram piece.

After dinner my cousin took us to the beach area so we could take a walk down the pier under the moonlight. Tyson and I took a quick stroll, it is undoubtedly a very beautiful town, also one of the priciest in Southern Africa. It is colonized by Germans, so the street signs and shops are often written in German. Many of the enormous and luxurious holiday homes are empty most of the year. The owners just keep them as a place to stay when they come to town.

That night after my baby cousin Taeed went to bed with his mommy, the rest of us sat up until late chatting away. Sunday morning we woke up and had breakfast together. Then we had a Bahai devotional meeting where we met some of the local community. We said prayers together and talked through the morning. As luck would have it, two of the friends were going quadbiking in the sand dunes that afternoon and invited us to join them. This worked out perfectly because he picked us up an hour later after we ate a delicious lunch courtesy of my cousins. There are several companies that offer sand activities in the area, but we heard the one we used is the best. Tyson and I decided to share one larger and more powerful bike because he was scared to go on his own. So with Tyson and myself on one bike and our two new friends ahead of us, we follwed our guide into one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen. We rode up into the sand dunes in one of the biggest and the absolute oldest dessert in the world. The ocean sparkled on our right hand side, and we enjoyed this unique scenery because this is the only place in the world where the dessert meets the ocean in this manner. We marvelled at this phenomenon as we rode up and over huge dunes on our bikes. One of our friends was a bit slower on the bike and wanted to try to double so Tyson and I took the single bikes and the other two shared for a while. During this time, of course, I rode on the quadbike by myself. It was exhilerating and scary when the bike seemed to have a mind of its own in the sand and would veer where ever it wanted to. I almost ran into the very rare bushes more than once, luckily, Tyson managed to catch this on video. We eventually swapped back to sharing a bike and continued on for over an hour. We stopped at a couple points to take photos and help a lady with a possible broken arm in the middle of the dessert. This activity was one of the highlights of our trip.

Afterwards our friends drove us through Long Beach where the beautiful holiday mansions sit pretty until their owners pop by. In fact, Brad and Angelina, Pitt and Jolie spent their time in this area while giving birth to their children. After this we went to Dolphin Bay which is similar to Long Beach and then we stopped at Guano Island. This is a man made island, created to collect bird droppings for harvesting nitrate for gun powder. The story behind this man who created the island is that he noticed when the tide was low, the birds would gather on the rocks and waste all their valuable droppings. So he built this permanent dry spot where the birds now gather. After spending all his money, that of the banks, and that of anyone else who listened to him, he went bankrupt without finishing. Later on he found a man from the US who invested enough to allow him to finish his project and make enough money in the first year to pay off all his debts and not worry about cash again. The Island sits untouched by man most of the year and when the birds migrate, they harvest the guana. Wish I had though of that.

After that we went to Walvis Bay where they have the most efficient port in the world. At other ports in the world, a container, once offloaded, sits in a yard for an average of two months. Here in Walvis Bay, the average is only two weeks. This is their main resource. Unfortunately that day there was a planned power outage to upgrade their systems to diesel, so most places were closed. We stopped at a lagoon, where due to the high winds, a sail boat beat the fastest speed record. There is also a peninsula that blocks off the lagoon that grows further into the ocean an average of seventeen meters per year.

After learning all these fun facts, we met with Rayyan and Lewam to visit their friends in town. The couple we visited, have a grown child and the husband had recently suffered a stroke and was working through a new parkinsons diagnosis. We had a short but sweet visit and head back to Swakopmund. Here Rayyan cooked us to a five star steak dinner with salads, corn on the cob, mashed potatos and more. That night, like the others we sat, snacked, talked and bonded before passing out late at night.

Luckily Tyson and I are unemployed so we could sleep in but poor Rayyan and Lewam got up a few hours later and put in a full days work. Tyson and I took our time to get up, shower, eat breakfast, do laundry, fiddle on the computor and finally we called Lewam for directions to their Persian Carpet shop. She was explaining but then decided that it would be easier to pick us up. So we went to their shop in the center of town. They have not had a grand opening yet and are still setting up but it looks great already. We hung out for a bit and then Lewam closed up and took us to a Crystal Museam accross the street. Inside we learned all about how valuable stones are mined, polished, cut, designed into jewlery and other decor and created. All of the precious stones displayed are ones found in Namibia. Mining is one of the largest industries in Namibia and many of the folk in Swakopmund work in the mines. The area is very rich in Uranium. We also saw the largest crystal in one piece in the world on display. It was gigantic and I have posted some pictures of us standing next to it. We walked around for an hour or so and then went for lunch at a lovely place on the beach. The weather was warm but since it is winter the water was very cold. This did not however, stop people from swimming and hanging out in the sand. At the restaurant I had a burger meal and Tyson ordered a calamari ceasar salad which Lewam treated us to. We had a great time chatting and finally thought to head back to the shop. Lewam stayed to run the place while Tyson and I went for a walk in town. We stopped by several shops including the tourist office which was very busy. The lady behind the counter was an elderly German lady who went on about nothing but was very sweet. We got some information about how to catch a ride back to Windhoek the next day. Our choices were a twelve hour train, a pricier four hour tourist bus or a four hour local mini bus.

The town is very cute and small and everyone seems to know everyone else. The shops are quaint and seem like they have been around for a long time even though they are in great shape. There are no skyscrapers or even apartment buidings which creates a nice atmosphere. We were a bit shocked that many of the stores had metal bars blocking the doors and customers have to ring a bell to gain entrance for security reasons but we never felt unsafe.

Back at the shop, Rayyan arrived with baby Taeed and we all head out to buy some groceries. After that we went to a local pizza shop where Tyson and I split a large Swakop special with salami, ham, feta cheese and mozzarella. It was quite good and we all took turns playing with Taeed who was sleepy and wanted to interact. He is the busiest and cutest eighteen month old ever and we had a great time with him.

Back at the house, the adults sat up and chatted into the night. We sipped tea and ate bisquits and tossed back jelly tots. We laughed a lot and short of passing out on the couches we all went to bed. Again, Tyson and I did not suffer since we are on holidays but my poor cousins lost a lot of sleep during our visit.

In the morning we packed up our things and ate breakfast. We did some computor work and head out with Lewam to the shop to do some printing. Then we went back to the house to load some movies onto our laptop from their hard drive. After this Lewam took us to my Aunt's ginormous holiday home. It is an empty nine bedroom, ten bathroom fully furnished home on the beach. It is set up to be a bed and breakfast, and each room has a private bathroom, most even have jaccuzis in the rooms. There is a sauna, huge dining hall, tons of balconies and decks everywhere with a private brai. From the house, you can walk right onto the beach. My cousins are trying to sort out a bed and breakfast liscence which would be perfect for that place.

While I loaded movies onto our laptop, Lewam drove us to the mini bus station. The mini busses were full of locals and they wait until the van was full to the brim before leaving. So Lewam waited with us and made sure we were well taken care of before saying see you later. It was a very short but very special visit and we enjoyed our time there thoroughly. Tyson and I boarded on different ends of the van, Tyson in the back and me near the front. The driver finally drove off stopping at a petrol station and driving around until about thirty minutes later we arrived back where we began. We were confused but decided to let it go and after two more bodies squeezed in, we were off. It was hot and not the most comfortable but it was a safe ride and after stopping at several rest stations for pees, poops and drinks we finally got dropped off at my cousin's friend's home in Windhoek. Our flight out of Namibia was not until the next morning so we had to leave the day before and spend the night in Windhoek to make it work. My cousins kindly set us up with their lovely friends and we were so lucky to stay with them. We instantly felt at home with the young couple and their two young children in their lovely house. Soon after the husband's parents came by the house for dinner and we quickly worked out that his mother and my granfather are first cousins. It is not unusual for me to find a relation with any Persian Bahai that I meet but it was still very special. I felt an even closer connection to the whole family and we had a great dinner while chatting the whole time. We hung out late into the night discussing every topic possible including how they were the second family to pioneer to Namibia ages ago to teach the Bahai faith. Tyson got a wack load of new music to obssess over and he was able to put it onto our computor which made him happy. We took pictures and finally retired for the night.

The next morning our alarm assaulted us at 4:30am. We got up at 5am and left the house at 5:30am to catch our 7am flight. Our lovely host sacrificed hours of sleep to drive us the 50 kilometers to the airport and even waited with us until we were checked in and all set to go. We were very well taken care of and it was such a pleasure to have met them. After lingering in the gift shops and blowing the last of our money on chocolate we were, of course, the last two people to enter the plane. We slept most of the flight, while obviously waking up in time for the hot breakfast they served. We arrived in Johannesburg for a four hour layover, which we spent wandering, reading, chatting and blogging. On to "real Africa" as we have been told.

We were also the last two people on our connecting four hour flight to Entebbe airport in Uganda. When we got on the airplane, the pungent smell of body odor was unmistakable. Smells are not usually something that I mention in the blog, but as we got closer to our seats, I was in pain. I am not prissy by any means, but I had to get Tyson to inquire into switching seats. Just before I passed out, we got moved out of the odorous area to new seats. They served a big lunch and put on movies during the flight so we were happy. We also watched one of the most stunning sunsets on the planet ever in history. We have it on camera to prove it.

After paying $100 USD for visas at the airport, we were greeted by an American guy calling out Tyson's name. We followed the voice and met the American volunteer and our new host for the next few days. He goes by "Lucky" and he is a local guy who offered us a place while we are in town through couchsurfing. We followed Lucky, his other local friend (our driver) and the American guy out to their vehicle. The drive to their tiny village in te boonies was more like a roller coaster ride than anything else. We all chatted in the car while rap music boomed through the speakers and we sped through the streets like we were running for our lives. As I looked out the window at the thousands of people out on the dirt streets with no electricity, just small candles, I realized we were back in the third world, and I was happy. We stared out the window at the apparent poverty, at the tiny shacks, litter, overpopulation, thoroughly crazy drivers and flooding from the rain. We stopped to bribe a cop to let us past the traffic and carried on. It took us forty minutes to drive what should have taken several hours but we arrived in one piece which is a bonus.

We arrived to a village that one may see in the movies. This is what some may visualize when thinking of "Africa". Up until this point we had been staying at beautiful luxury homes in the wealthy uptown areas. This was our first taste of the rest of the continent. We were greeted by several men and one woman who work with Lucky on his campaign to help out his community. They are all volunteers who lobby the government and help the locals in any ways that they can. This is what we are here to help with as well. After meeting the rest of the team, they all left us alone in the tiny house by ourselves. It had two rooms, one living area and one bedroom with a mosquito net. As they left they told us a secret password and told us not to open the door for anyone. Our instructions were loud and clear, they said that even if the person on the other side of the door was being killed or dying, we should let them die. We were not to open the door until they would be back at 10am with the secret password. Of course there was no toilet in the shack so we were given a small yogurt container to urinate in through the night. So yes, Tyson and I peed in a bucket in the middle of the room until morning when we could dump it out outside.

We secured the doors as best as we could, as stayed quiet for the rest of the time. Several minutes after everyone left, someone knocked on the door and called out. We held our breath and ignored them. We gathered everything that could potentially be used to protect us against bad guys and hid them around the room. We put down the mosquito net, prayed and then watched some of our new movies on the computor. I have to admit that I woke up more than once in the night thinking I heard something suspicious but I was quickly assured by a sleepy husband that everything was ok.

The next morning I was relieved that we were both still alive and intact. We both used the bucket in the living room to urinate and waited patiently for our host to show up. He did so around 10:30 am after we had eaten our breakfast of chocolate, bread, and cheese. We left all our belongings in the house, unsure if we'd ever see them again. We walked out into the village of Kazo during the day light and saw in front of us what many people may believe Africa to look like. The roads were extremely uneven, unpaved and covered in reddish dust. We saw the outdoor shared bathrooms which were the poorest we had ever seen. They were nothing more than a small space with a tiny slit dug into the ground. There were people everywhere in torn and dirty clothing. Children were running were running around in the nude or poorly dressed and they rarely had footwear on. The homes were less than shacks and in very poor condition. They looked like they could be blown over with the next gust of wind. Of course the area was also extremely dirty with litter everywhere and a strong odour of rotting food and dirt. Every single pair of eyes were on us as we walked through the village that had barely seen another white face. Some kids said hi, and how are you, some just stared, some laughed and others ran up to us in greeting. We walked to the place that our host was staying on the other side of the village. There were a few children there with several other adults that work with his foundation. Our host, along with six or so other locals have started an organization to help out their community. They assist children with food, money and medical treatment, they fight for free education for students, they look after the elderly and so on. Of course they are short of funds and other resources so this is always a challenge. The poverty in the area was in plain sight for us to gawk at. There was no hiding the under nourished children, the lack of resources, the unhygenic environment and the pain.

We went for a walk to the local market where the sellers allowed us to take some photos of them and their families. They seemed very excited to have visitors and even though some spoke broken English, they managed to smile big enough to make us feel welcome. We ate a delicious pinapple and walked accross the dirt field where everyone was hanging out. We walked through a long dirty alley covered in mud and garbage to a tiny room where three children were sitting on the concrete floor in dressed in rags. A very elderly lady greeted us kindly in her local tongue, she looked very frail and weak. Our host explained that this is one of the families that they support. This elderly lady looks after five of the local orphaned children. In her old age, she cannot do much for them so they rarely eat and when they do it is because the eldest boy (perhaps five years old) walks to the market after closing and pick up the rotton vegetables that have been thrown out. They boil and mash everything they can find, if anything, and this will be their meal for the day. None of the children go to school because they cannnot afford the school fees of 30,000 shillings ($12) per semester, per child. The children all drink water they find which has caused them illnesses. We interviewed the family on camera and took many photos. Their home could not be comfortable for one person, let alone six. They all sleep on a small single bed and the rest of the area is covered in garbage. It is extremely filthy, with no electricity or sanitary precautions. There is no electricity and no running water. All of these children, in addition to millions of others in Africa, have lost their parents to HIV AIDS which is on a rampage killing the people of the continent.

"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"

Namibia

After our bacon and banana pizzas (it was delicious), we tried walnut whips for dessert. They are imported from the United Kindom and they are a thick, hollow chocolate triangles filled with cream and topped with a walnut. We watched movies in the family room all together that evening.

The next morning we gathered our things together and prepared to leave for Cape Town. Crawford came around to say bye and Joyce had made us a lovely package of food to take on the train. It was full of sandwhiches, candy, chips and drinks. It was a life saver because we could not leave the train to buy food during our thirty hour trip. We stopped by the bus stand to pay for our tickets from Cape Town to Namibia via Intercape bus company, said our good byes, and then got on the train. It was an older train painted purple and baby blue from the 80's. When we got on the economy class car, it was all plastic seats with thin cushioning. We chose two seats at random and it turned out to be on a car that was full of dozens of toddlers. Each woman had a baby and a couple of toddlers in tow. The males on our car were already stumbling and slurring but didn't seem to see the harm in another beer. Of course the car behind us was selling cheap beer and other alcoholic beverages so there was no problem of access. We watched as two men got into an argument but were too drunk to fight. They swung fists in the air but could not quite reach one another. The kids started off cute and clean but it was not long before they were running around crying, screaming, fighting and covered in sticky substances. The car had garbage and pieces of food all over the floor in no time. There were cleaners who swept regularly but it was a futile effort to keep the place clean. There was also a large amount of secuirty guards and police officers patrolling up and down the aisles but they just high fived the drunk, flirted with the ladies and played with the kids. This went on all day, through the night and the next day. We found it amusing at first, then annoying, then we got used to it and it did not bother us too much (except the screeching kids).

The scenery was mostly desert but once in a while we would pass beautiful mountains and huge townships covered in one room homes built up with scraps of aluminum and sheet metal and covered with ripped tarps. On the edge of the villiages we saw piles of garbage and stray animals looking for food.

In the evening, the train stopped for half an hour and then continued to stop once in a while for several minutes at a time. Tyson moved over to his own seats so we each had some extra space to sleep that night. We had sent our blankets home with my mom in Oman so we used towels to keep warm but it was quite cold through the night. Other people had full, thick winter blankets and pillows with them. At around 7:30am the staff told us that we were six hours delayed and we would be getting to Cape Town around 9:30pm. Around 2pm, however, they told us that that we were getting put on busses for the last part of the trip. We were very surprised and impressed on their organization. Hundreds of people were moved off the train and put on very nice busses that got us back to Cape Town by 5:30pm which was only two hours late. The bus was great, the driver had Bob Marley on full blast the entire time. Bob has definitely popped his head up at some point in every country and his music will always remind us of our trip.

Something we did notice about the train was that (without exception) Tyson and I were the only non-black people on the car and when we walked past the first class cabins, every human was white. Although we were already aware that poverty is more rampant among the black people, this was a clear example of the effects of the history of the country still greatly contributing to the life of the people.

When we got to the bus station in Cape Town, we stopped at the Intercape desk because during the train ride we realized that we had never gotten our change back from buying the tickets in Johannesburg. We did not expect to get the money returned but we thought to try. To our surprise the kind lady at the desk made a complaint and the next day we got an email that the till was over by exactly the amount of money we had lost so they repaid us the cash. It was very professional service. After settling this business, we contacted Michelle who is Tyson's uncle's wife's sister. She has two children, one sixteen year old son and an eleven year old daughter. We misunderstood the meeting spot and waited in the wrong spot for a while before borrowing a phone and calling again. We finally met up and she took us to her gorgeous home in Seapoint. The location is perfect because it is minutes to the city but also near the beach in a quiet area.

As anyone who has been to Cape Town or has been the pictures can attest, this is one of the most beautiful cities on the planet. It is breathtaking no matter which way you look. From the moment we arrived and looked up to all the mountains in the blue sky and then turned our heads to the beaches and the ocean we were in love with the place. The city is very clean, the homes are modern and lovely and the people are kind.

We saw the family and met the family dog, Ponsar, that night. We ate dinner of chicken curry with rice, squash and corn followed by angel food cake for dessert before happily falling asleep on the comfy bed. The next morning we, of course, woke up later than planned. We met the maid, Rea who has worked with the family for 17 years. We walked down the street and along Beach road while enjoying the perfect weather. We were very lucky with the weather during our three days in the city, it is coming into winter here and so it is meant to be rainy. Beach road is, of course, along the water, it is kept very clean and there is grass and flowers all the way along. People seem very active here because we saw many folk out with dogs, running and biking along. The homes in this area are huge and luxurious. They are on a hill with a view of the ocean, many seem to have at least one pool and some even had inclinators from the garage up to their homes. We walked all the way to the waterfront which is much like the one we have in Vancouver. They have a huge ferris wheel and carousel in the center, many specialty shops selling crafts and souveniers and an indoor mall. They have many attractions in the area such as monuments, a huge lego art piece and a clocktower. They offer many harbor cruises and the area was full of tourists. Cape Town is one of the top ten most visited cities in the world and in our brief time there we can understand why.

Also in the waterfront, there is the gateway to Robben Island. The boat we wanted to take was full but we managed to get tickets for the next departure. The price of the tickets were steep but that did not stop tourists from selling out every single boat everyday. We paid 230 Rand each ($30 CAD) which included the tour and museam. We met an Irish couple who had missed their boat and had to pay a penalty to catch the next one. They were quite upset but still talked to us for a little while about their travels. We spent about two hours in the exhibition that they had prepared about the history of Cape Town. When the Dutch came to South Africa there was a lot of fighting over power with the black people and rascism played a big part in the trajedy of the area. Apartheid, as I understand, was the white people taking power and seperating the people into designated areas according to their background. So the Muslims, Jews, Christians, Blacks, Coloureds and Whites were assigned an area to live in and had to move out of the homes they knew and loved. Also the black people's rights were taken away, things such as education were no longer permitted. There were seperate benches, entrances and areas for white people that black people were not permitted to use. This, of course, caused resistance and many innocent people died. People involved in politics and who spoke against the government were arrested and imprisoned on Robben Island. The white political prisoners however, were not kept on the island, but rather in a prison on the mainland. Former president, Nelson Mandela, spent 18 of his 27 years in prison, on the island.

Throughout the last 400 years, Robben Island has also been used to contain people suffering from leperosy. They believed this disease was contagious, so people were locked up here. Men were seperated from women but somehow they managed to find each other because forty one childern were born on the island. These children however were taken from their mothers and never seen again. The island also housed mentally ill people at some point in its history.

We took a ferry for thirty minutes to the island where we caught a bus with a tour guide to take us around. All the guides and staff working on Robben island are former prisoners. We were very fortunate that we happened to get the same guide who usually guides VIPs who visit the island. He has hosted people like Barack Obama, Oprah and Hilary Clinton to name a few. He was very funny and incorporated everyone and their home countries in his explanation of how we all play a part in the history of the island. We were taken to the grave site of the lepers, we saw the limestone quarry where the prisoners were made to work all day, we saw the cannons (bought for the war), we were shown the churches and mosques used for the guards, lastly we were shown around the prison by another former prisoner. He showed us the cells including the one that was once occupied by Nelson Mandella. We also took some lovely photos by the water with a view of Cape Town.

After the ferry ride back to the waterfront we saw some seals resting and laying in the sun. We walked along the canals to the city. This was when (within minutes) a fog rolled in and we could no longer see anything. The day was perfectly clear and then suddenly the mist and fog prevented us from seeing fifteen feet in front of us. The weather here is famous for changing radically and without warning. We witnessed this several times throughout the next few days. We walked back to the house and had tuna lasagnea with vegetables for dinner and more cake for dessert.

The next morning, after breakfast, Michelle rushed home from work during a break to drive us to the bottom of table mountain. This, along with Robben Island, are arguably the most famous activities in Cape Town. We had researched quite a bit into climbing the mountain and found that the information center, the tourist office, our host and several websites advise people against climbing the mountain without a guide. The mountain is 1086 meters high and very steep, so we climbed it. We were greeted at the bottom by a white rastaman who asked for a tip and we were on our way. We saw many other people climbing the mountain and while it was not the easiest hike we have ever done, it definitely was not the most difficult. It took about an hour and a half at a relaxed pace but the sign at the bottom says it should take at least three hours. There were steep areas but Tyson and I are both completely confused as to why people would carry on the way thry do about it. If you are in good health and feel comfortable hiking, it is doable and SO WORTH IT. The view on the way up is absolutely priceless and the people who take the cable car actually miss a lot. We have hundreds of photos but they do not do justice to the panoramic wonder that we saw. There were times along the way that we could not help but to sit and stare at the views of the mountains on either side and the cape below.

At the top of Table Mountain there is a restaurant and a few stores. We did some hiking on top as well. We did two 45 minute hikes, two fifteen minute ones and one 30 minute one which included climbing to the highest point of the mountain. We saw some wildlife, had a snack and climbed back down. This was more challenging than climbing up because of the steep drops and our already fatigued legs. We then walked all the way along the beaches back to the house. We saw the sunset on the way which was divine. It is difficult to explain the beauty of the sunset along the beaches through the trees reflecting on the mountains, and even the photos do not justify it, but it is a work of God that we are so lucky to have seen. Back at the house,we ate a delcious local type of food for dinner. It was fried rice with minced beef covered in an egg and cream sauce. We also had milk pie for dessert.

I have to admit that we were limping around the night before and in the morning after the hike (Tyson was plenty worse than me). However we still decided that we did not want to miss Lion's Head hike. When we woke up in the morning the clouds were in and it would not have been safe to go ahead due to decreased visibility, so we went back to sleep. Around 9:30am we got up and decided that it had cleared up enough to go ahead. Michelle, again, left work on a break to drop us at the bottom of the hike. It cleared up wonderfully and we climbed the shorter but very steep mountain. This hike involved climbing ladders, chains, steps, handlebars and other tools. It was a very fun and challenging hike that I would compare to the Chief hike in Squamish back home. The views here were slightly different than those from Table mountian although equally beautiful and breathtaking. We took many breaks and sat at the top for several hours talking and enjoying the view. It was a wonderful time. We climbed back down and head into the city on foot. We walked through the clean, friendly and attractive downtown Cape Town. We walked through greensquare market where African souveniers and crafts are sold. We stopped at the bank and the train station beforing wandering around a bit. We were approached by a handful of beggars including one young girl with a baby and her grandmother and a few young men. There is still a lot of poverty here, that seems to be consistent everywhere we go.

We jumped on a public bus to get to Hout bay which was the only place we went that was far enough for us to take transit. The cost for one person, one way on the bus was 18 Rand ($2.50 CAD) which is very expensive compared to the income here. The cost of living is as high, if not higher, than Vancouver. Second to Sydney (where the bus cost $6 one way) , Cape Town has been the most expensive city we have been to. Hout Bay was a thirty minute drive away and had a decent beach with a harbour that smelled like fish. We walked around the area for a while and indulged in the famous fish and chips at Fish on the Rocks which were also quite expensive but worth it because they were the best we have ever had. They served the meal in newspaper and supplied vinigar, salt, tomato sauce and chili sauce. We managed to catch the last bus of the night back to Seapoint. We stopped at Checkers grocery store to stock up on food for the thirty hour trip to Nambia the next day. Back at the house we ate dinner of rice, squash and teriyaki chicken before packing up our things and passing out.

The next morning our legs were quite pissed at us as evidenced by our inability to walk without looking like invalids. So we limped and cried and carried on. We said goodbye and got dropped off at the bus station in the morning where we caught our bus (that did not look like the advertised pictures). This was quite a different trip than the train because it was a tourist filled bus. It was quiet with only one child who muttered to himself the whole time. The televisions only played Christian music and movies but luckily they broke twenty minutes into the journey and they were shut off. There were regular stops to purchase food or drinks. The view on the way was mountains and desert until we reached the border of Namibia around 8:00pm.

At around 7:30pm we stopped at the border and everyone got off the bus to go through the paper work. Customs officers did random checks of the baggage and we got back on the bus to drive into Nambia. This was a fairly smooth yet tedious and time consuming process. We are running out of pages in our passports with several countries still to come. This is a bit concerning so we had to try to convince the officers to stamp over previous stamps. The guy I had agreed, but the lady Tyson had did not. An hour and a half later we were on our way again.

In the morning the driver woke us up but as I have a major problem, I was not woken by the announcement and stayed sleeping for forty minutes on an empty bus. Finally the cleaner woke us up. Luckily our next bus from Windhoek to Swakupmond was not until 9:00am so we had not missed our connection. We hung out at the Intercape office for the remainder of the wait and worked on our hygiene a bit.

My cousin picked us up at the Swakopmund bus station and  we went to see their lovely house and and family. He lives with his wife and their one and a half year old son who is the cutest child. We all went out to the beach to walk around. We saw a large craft market and walked along the pier. There were many tourists around and the local population is largely of black, white and German descent. The ocean was very cold but people were still swimming and enjoying the ocean. We also went to the sand dunes which are alongside the ocean, this is the only place in the world where one can see such a miracle. There were huge mountains of sand about fou rstories high, this is the oldest desert in the world. We climbed up the dunes and then ran down at full speed. It was great fun. We also saw people sandboarding and sledding down the mountain. We will look into this activity in the next few days. After picking up some groceries, we had a delicious meal at Spur's of huge steaks and side dishes. We came home for tea and desserts and more chit chat before having a lovely sleep.


"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"

Kruger National Park

Today we had to start our day off with some administrative things that we have been putting off including getting in touch with the bus company and the airlines. It's not interesting so I'll skip the details. Basically we had been spending the last few days researching the tickets and we finally decided on our dates and made the big purchases. Transportation in Africa, even the budget type, is quite expensive and is adding up. This plus the cost of visas for most countries is a bit crippling. We went to one of the more posh malls in Stanton which also has Nelson Mandella Square right in the middle of it. Its a large open area with fountains, restaurants and a giant statue of Nelson Mandella. He is a hero to the people of South Africa and well loved by them. His role in the abolishment of racial segregation was key for his success. He was a freedom fighter who stood up against the appartheid the Africans had set up. We spent the rest of the evening with our hosts eating dinner and watching movies. This is a nice relaxing way to end each day and learn more about each other.

The next morning Crawford (our host's son) took us out once again. It was very nice of him to take the time to do so on his day off and we had a great time. We drove over an hour out of town to a place called Maropeng, The Cradle of Humanity. This is the place where human skulls were found that are the oldest ever found on earth. They date back over two million years. This was a time when the earth was one continent called Pandora, it was only later in the years that the earth's land has come to be the way it is now. This is where the human race first started as believed by most scientists and experts around the world. It is a Unesco World Heritage site. There is a huge interactive museum and gallery giving all sorts of information on human evolvution, evolution of the earth and the history of the African people. The surrounding area is all protected land and all over the continent there are other sites like this where ancient human skeletons have been found but the ones found here are the oldest. There was a boat ride and tour involved and we spent several hours there.

After the museum we went to grab some famous chicken pies from a nearby restaurant. On the way, we got pulled over by some cops who wanted to search the vehicle. Apparently sometimes the cops need a little extra cash and they will pull someone over and try to find anything they can to try and get a bribe. This is true in many of the countries we have visited where the police offices do not make much money and they try to supplement their income. It surely happens in Canada as well, but it is more discreet there. Upon finding nothing, they waved us on our way. We thoroughly enjoyed the chicken pies and swung by Crawford's friends house for a quick visit. We were greeted by two of the cutest dogs ever. One was a bulldog and the other was a type of bull mastif. We talked with his friends and played with the dogs for a short time then headed home.

Before supper our hosts had to deliver their birds to their daughter's home who would be looking after them while we were away. We tagged along and had a nice visit before returning home for dinner. Then next morning we were off early (5:30am) to Kruger National Park so we packed our things and went to bed.

The drive to the park was around six hours with a couple of stops for fuel and breakfast. We had breakfast at a very cute restaurant where Tyson had an American style meal full of meats and I had spinach and feta pancakes. Our first day in the park was wonderful, our expectations were blown away. In a park bigger than Scotland, Wales and Israel, we were expecting the animals to be hiding in the non developed areas. Before we even entered the official park , however, we saw crocodiles and hippos near a small pond. Once we entered we were told the rules of sharing the animals with everyone in the vehicle. Everyone must stare out their window on their side of the car, if you spot something you must yell STOP. This is the only word that the driver will stop for. I learned this the hard way when I yelled "ZEBRA" and no one got to see it because we continued on. With our eyes glued on the terrain we spotted loads of animals. Impalas are very common and after seeing fifty or so of them we stopped stopping and just saw them in passing. We saw many African elephants in families with babies crossing the street, playing and eating.We saw rhinos hiding in the bushes, zebras near the roads a few times, many warthogs eating grass, many wildebeasts in groups, a few kudu, and many different types of birds including the famous hornbill (as seen on the Lion King). All of this was just on our first day on our way to the first camp called Skakuza which is the biggest campsite.

It is nothing like seeing animals at a zoo, we are watching wild animals in their own habitat, living in harmony and completing the circle of life. They only kill what they need to eat, they stay on their own land, create offspring and try to survive. It is amazing to look out of the window and see these creatures out in the open and not constricted to small cages. Embarasingly enough, most of my knowledge about the animals came from the Lion King. For example, I recognized the hornbill because of "Zazu", I knew that hyenas eat meat because they chased Simba when they were hungry, I knew of warthogs because of Pumba (and I was saddened that I couldn't find Timone anywhere) and so on.

We settled in to our gigantic two bedroom accomadation which was actually a chalet that sleeps six and went for a walk around the area. The four of us sat by the river and ate a variety of flavors of frozen yogurt with our binoculars out just in case. We saw more elephants, geese, fish, bats, birds and baboons near to our chalet. There were two wild bores feeding in the grass just outside our place. Tyson and I got close enough to get a picture with them and quickly left them alone when they glared at us. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing, snacking, reading books and chatting. We had a huge braii of steaks, sweet corn, potatoes, sausages and coleslaw. After dinner we walked around and spotted a few exotic looking bugs and geckos and watched the stars through an Iphone application that identifies the constellations and satellites. You just point the phone at the sky and it connects the stars and labels them. We even saw Mars and Saturn.

All in all the first day was an amazing experience. We are so lucky to have our hosts with us who have been to the park twice a year for dozens of years and have the experience of how to work the visit best. Without them, we could not have made the trip here because it is far from Johannesburg and you have to drive through the park. We are again so very grateful for so much that they have done for us!!

On the second day we set the alarm for 6:30 am and planned to wake up early to catch all the animals at the lake. At 8:00am we heard our host's voice waking us up. We now realize we truly have a problem with mornings and we need help. We had a huge fried breakfast with eggs, tomatos, sausages, bacon and coffee, we went for a walk around the property and head out in the car for day two. We drove over one hundred kilometers stoppng for lunch at an accomadation half way to where we were staying for the night called Olifants. We ate chicken pies and chips and gravy while watching monkeys fighting and playing in the trees. As far as game today we were fortunate. We saw dozens and dozens of elephants throughout the day. Most were in families of ten or more and they were much larger and darker skinned than the ones we saw yesterday. I was videotaping one when it started towards the car which freaked me out slightly. We saw a black rhinoscerous and a white rhinoscerous which is very rare and endangered in Africa. Of course we saw hundreds of impala eating and running in herds. We saw many giraffes today which was new for us. They are amazing creatures that reach their heads high above the trees and stare at the car as we stop to take a look and snap some photos. We saw many warthogs, buffalo, hippos in the water swimming, water bucks, a variety of birds, a snake, herring, ostriches, wildabeasts, mongoose, mere cats, hornbills, ground hornbills, fish eagle, saddle bill stork, glossy starling, black widows, baboons, vultures, cape vultures, bats, sacred ibis, oxpecker, vervet monkeys, lizards, geckos, huge cockroaches, squirrels, kudus, buffalos and zebras. We have photos to prove all of this if anyone doubts us.

We got to our private bungalow with a gorgeous lake view around four pm. We settled and went to the viewpoint to see more impalas and hippos near the water. We relaxed for a bit in our own place before joining Alesdair and Joyce in their suite two doors down. They cooked a delicious braii with chicken, sausages, sweet corn, potatos and green salad which we enjoyed greatly with non alcoholic wine. We even roasted marshmellows afterwards. It was a great evening all together and we despite our record, Tyson and I still set the alarm for the next morning at 6:30am.

Of course the alarm did nothing to wake us up. In fact Alisdair came by our place and woke us up around 7:30am when we got up to see some hippos out of our deck for a few minutes and then we fell back asleep. We got woken up again at 8:30 am when we finally got out of bed. We had cereal and fruit and braii for breakfast before walking to the viewpoint in the camp. On our third day we made the drive to Lower Sabie accomadations about 150 kilometers away. On the drive we started seeing the same animals that we had been seeing for the last two days but in different situations. We saw the animals bathing, eating, fighting, running and so on. We saw them closer up than previous times. We also saw many more types of beautiful birds. Our third accomadation was beautiful in the southern part of the park. It had a large pool and since the weather was floating around 40 degrees, we went for a swim right away. We saw many rare birds flying around the trees above us and it was quite a peaceful time. Later that evening we went to the lookout and saw some hippos and crocodiles with a torch. We missed the "sundowners" by the lake because we both passed out for two hours. This is an African term that is used to describe drinks around the time of sunset.

In the morning we had a big fried breakfast with eggs, potatos, tomatos, bacon and coffee. Then we packed up and hit the road with a brief stopover at the viewpoint. We watched hard for lions, leaopards and cheetahs which are very commonly seen in the park but alas we only saw a rock shaped like a lion, but we were happy. We saw all the other animals we were looking forward to seeing and this was an unforgettable trip. We stopped for lunch on the way home and had chicken wraps. We napped, sang and read all the way back to Northcliff where Alisdair and Joyce live. Then we attacked the computor to catch up on the few days worth of emails from when we were away. That night we pigged out on pizza and enjoyed our last sleep in Johannesburg. It's been wonderful!!!

"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"