Blogs from Eastern Cape, South Africa, Africa - page 6

‘Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity” – Louis Pasteur Louis Pasteur, a Frenchman, was born in 1822. He was a biologist, microbiologist and chemist renowned for his discoveries of vaccination and pasteurisation. His work and discoveries saved the lives of countless millions at the time and continue to do so to this day. What would he deduce of the Covid-19 pandemic in these modern times? Fortunately for mankind, we have a brace of brilliant people of the calibre of Pasteur working frantically to discover a vaccine and cure for this modern-day virus. Unfortunately, the indications are that a vaccine will not be developed before 2021 due to the extensive trials which precede the development and approval of any new vaccine. There is ... read more

Friday morning, August 23rd, the sun is shining, let’s go up Table Mountain! First, we went food shopping for Shabbat. Goldie’s Deli has lots of yummy options making sure we’d be full and satisfied all Shabbat. Then we headed for Table Mountain. The debate was whether to climb or take the cable car. It was 2 in the car, 6 climbing. Until we got there, and then the decision was we’ll all take the car. I for one, was quite happy with that decision once I was in the cable car looking down on the poor people hugging up the mountain. The view was gorgeous, the neighboring mountains, the blue Atlantic, and the different sections of Capetown. The Strauss family leaped on the rocks edging the mountain, searched for insects and lizards, and took fun filled ... read more

We had both had a good night’s sleep even though the bed was almost as firm as each of the preceding nights we have had since arriving in South Africa just over a week ago. At around 6am all of a sudden the mobile started ringing and at that hour you think the worse from home. Well it didn’t turn out to be anything bad, well at least for us. Rather it was a woman phoning to say she had found our dog wandering past her property and were we aware the dog was missing. After Gretchen took a moment or two to take in what the caller had said she realised that her mobile number is still on the collar of the dog that belongs to our daughter. Gretchen explained we were in South Africa ... read more

Day 6 This morning we joined our fellow travellers for the start of our Explore trip. There are 4 others plus our guide. Celeste - Canadian ; Keri - Canadian ; Danny - American/Californian ; Nick - English/Cheltenham. Vern, our guide, is probably around 30, Afrikaans, 6 years UK army, then various jobs in other countries including Canada, been guiding for 3 years. He believes in hunting, a necessary, ecological control measure. And believes the way to kill more animals is to become vegan - as the farmers growing 'vegan' crops such as soya and lentils have to shoot hundreds of animals that want to try to eat the crops. But, he is very good at his job. Except that he drives waaay too fast! Transport is an 8 passenger van with drop down side windows ... read more

Goedemorgen! Weer even een update over de laatste week. Ik was al bijna even vergeten dat ik hier eigenlijk kom om mijn minor te volgen. Aangezien we rond de 4 uur les per week hebben, vergeet je dit nog wel eens. Maar goed, school is begonnen, en we moeten af en toe hier wat voor doen. Verder had ik samen met een vriend besloten, dat als we hier toch zijn, we beter voor de hele African experience kunnen gaan. Dus, we gingen naar de kapper. Een halve meter haar lichter, vertrok ik hier weer. In het weekend zijn we vertrokken naar Addo. Addo elephant park is het 3e grootse beschermde park in zuid-afrika. We zijn zaterdag ochtend vertrokken naar onze airbnb, wat een 45 min rijden was van het park. 'S middags hebben we een boottochtje ... read more