Cape Town to Lambert's Bay addenda

I did not get around to writing about the rest of our time in Cape Town or about the first couple of days of our tour so here is a belated post mostly of annotated photos.

African penguins at Boulders Beach on Cape Point. Two pairs of penguins settled here in 1982 and now there are more than 3000 birds. Many of the up market houses no longer have unrestricted access to the beach.

Another view of the impressive coast near Cape Point.

Cape of Good Hope, but no Flying Dutchman visible.

More wildflowers.

We were just a bit early to see the vineyards in the Stellenbosch area and as it was a very grey day we did not see the Drakenstein(?) mountains surrounding the valley.

Typical Cape Dutch architecture of the Dutch Reformed Church in Franschhoek. French Huguenot refugees established the wine industry in South Africa.

Street scene in Franschhoek a most attractive small town.

More thatched Cape Dutch architecture on a Paarl vineyard.

Nelson Mandela's statue outside Groot Drakenstein Prison in the Winelands This is where he took his first steps as a free man.

One of the exhibits in the District 6 museum. District 6 was a largely coloured area (many Malays) until it was declared a White area in 1966 and the 60,000 residents forced to relocate to a much less desirable area.

Typical Cape Town pub near the District 6 museum

Kirstenbosch - Cape Town's beautiful botanic gardens at the foot of Table Mountain.

Protea in the gardens

Mandela's Gold - a new variety of Strelitzia bred at Kirstenbosch.

Guinea fowl appeal to me.

An owl almost hidden behind a rock in Kirstenbosch.

The fabulous fish restaurant at Muisbosskerm. The mussels were superb.

A pair of gannets 'scissoring' in their colony near Lambert's Bay.

South Africa has no cacti, but the ecological niche is filled by succulents.

The blog will now go into hibernation until we set off again.

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, Sept 27th, 2014

We have reached the end of our trip and are staying in Victoria Falls. Zimbabwe suspended its currency in 2009 and now the principal currency in use is the U.S. dollar. Victoria Falls are up there with Niagara and Iguazu and are easily accessible with a good path and many viewpoints along the opposite side of the narrow gorge into which the Zambezi drops, but there are not very many tourists around.

Our final dinner of the trip was at the Boma restaurant which advertises itself as an authentic African experience and the food includes a wide range of game. The entertainment includes a medicine man who will throw bones to tell your fortune as well as plenty of singing and dancing. Everybody is given a drum and encouraged to join in and it was great fun.

On our last morning we took a helicopter ride over the Falls which was spectacular.

This trip I have not been able to access the Internet very often and so I apologise for the somewhat disjointed nature of my posts. I intend to write one more post covering some of the things I have missed out.

Welcome to Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya - the Smoke that Thunders.

David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary, was the first European to see the Falls in 1855.

Looking along the gorge.

Although it is near the end of the dry season, the volume of water is still impressive.

Soon there will be much more water in this section

The helicopter rides are very well organised - pickup and return from and to the hotel with little queueing at the heliport.

From the air the gorge is clearly visible.

Another aerial view.

The guilty party! I ordered a crocodile wrap in the coffee shop at Victoria Falls. I picked up my knife and fork, but it was gone in a flash. The next thing the monkey came back for dessert and took the sugar bowl.

Around the swimming pool at the Rainbow Hotel, Victoria Falls.

Another view of the hotel.

Chobe National Park, Botswana, Sept 25, 2014

Sept 24

We crossed back into Botswana and are staying at the Toro Lodge right on the river and the individual units would be fine if everything worked. We all had to move 2 or 3 times before everyone found a room which had a working shower, working air conditioner and working fan. 
However the site on the banks of the Chobe river was great.

 Next morning we were up before dawn for an early morning game drive through Chobe National Park. We sped past lots of interesting birds in an almost vain hunt for lions. Our reward was to be caught in an immense "lion jam". Chobe National Park has the largest concentration of elephants in Botswana - about 80,000 and we saw plenty.

That night an elephant which raged through the grounds despite the efforts of the staff to divert it added some excitement. Paying our bar bills in the morning proved fairly problematic. The estimates for mine ranged between 119 ($15) and 35 ($5) Pula. I eventually settled for 61 Pula.

 Dawn as we set off on a game drive in Chobe National Park

First sighting -a giraffe posing by the road.

We had warthogs strolling through the lodge grounds. The meat is very good.

A honey badger tackles a termite mound - the ants are apparently a delicacy for it.

On the prowl for the rest of breakfast

Smoked guinea fowl is a nice entree.

Part of the lion jam! The lions only made fleeting appearances from behind the bushes.

Two impalas lock antlers.

Sable antelope?

Not sure of the collective noun for impala (but I do know it is a dazzle for zebras!)

Cape buffalo

So many elephants, but you can see they

are doing it tough at the end of the dry season.

Hippopotamus and attendant birds.

Two of the many species of wading birds.

 Breakfast on the terrace.
 
 Another view of the lodge showing the Chobi River
 

Caprivi Strip, Namibia, 24th Sept, 2014

23rd Sept

After returning to Sepupa by boat we crossed back into Namibia and drove along the road through the Caprivi strip - a tongue of territory which sticks into Botswana. It was the scene of fighting during the Angolan conflict. During colonial times (around 1880) the British government agreed to cede this strip of what is now Botswana to German Southwest Africa (now Namibia) in exchange for the island of Zanzibar.  This was to allow Namibia some access to the inland rivers (Namibia is a very dry country).

Anyway we stayed at the Rainbow River Lodge which was fine except the staff had no idea how to build stairs.

In the morning we walked to the village where most of the staff lived, escorted by Thomas the barman. He was always immaculately dressed and he proudly showed us the house he had built. They use termite mounds which are crushed and mixed with water and fashioned into 'bricks' and used to fill in between stakes driven into the ground (same technique as 'wattle and daub'). Because of the termite saliva in the mixture it is a waterproof building material. Late in the afternoon we went for a cruise along the river and saw more elephants.

A goat yard outside the village next to our lodge.

My favourite baobab trees. Elephants find them very satisfactory scratching/ rubbing posts.

Another baobab or boab.

It is hard to resist taking yet another elephant photo.

And another!

For a change - a hippo and attending cattle egret. The birds scratch around and disturb insects.

I think this is a sable antelope just relaxing.

One of the homes in the village where most of the lodge staff live. Note the satellite dish.

The outdoor kitchen!

Big sister looking after her siblings.

Children in the village

No roof yet, but the Mercedes is set to go.

Our lodge - Rainbow River Lodge on the Kwando River.

A successful fisherman on the Kwando River.

Sunset along the Quando River.