The Smoke That Thunders

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Hello friends and neighbors. We are on the last leg of our 5 week travels in Africa. Our organized tour ended in Cape Town, where we stayed with friends and friends of friends. Cape Town reminds us so much of San Francisco, because of the Mediterranean climate, landscape, and trendy life style. Of all South Africa, Cape Town is the most modern, first worldly, cosmopolitan in style.

After about a week of Cape Town, we still had over one week left before our necessary return to the northern hemisphere winter, so we decided to take a trip up to see Victoria Falls, considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world. in order to do this, we flew from Cape Town to Johannesburg (Jo-burg, Janisburg), then to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, on the Zambezi River, the fourth longest river of Africa. We stayed in a stylized African village called the Kingdom, visited the falls (got soaking wet because of the spray), sympathized with the poverty stricken inhabitants of Robert Mugabe’s corrupt form of governance. Young men in the streets would sell their souvenirs (mostly carved wooden animals, some larger than a shoe box), for our hat, our shoes, our shirt. They were so hungry, it was a pity. Nobody we spoke to likes Mugabe, they think he’s crazy and are hoping for his death or a change of government.

Then we took a 1 hour bus ride across the border into Botswana, which compared to Zimbabwe, is like Switzerland. There seemed to be little poverty, the people spoke positively of their government, they were very friendly and happy. There were no beggars nor salesmen in the streets. We walked the back roads of small towns in a carefree manner, speaking to the locals, all of whom seemed intelligent and friendly. Many people had cell phones, homes had satellite dishes and solar paneled heating on their roofs (although living in simple concrete block homes with outside toilets). We stayed beside the Chobe River, which flows into the Zambezi. The landscape was serenely beautiful, it is the rainy season, so it rained about 2 hours each day. The foliage was tropical, monkeys frolicked just outside our hotel room, and would have entered our room if we left the doors open with food inside. Also wandering freely were the ugliest warthogs, seemingly prehistoric, grazing in the grass in the middle of towns. People were not scared of them, just walked around them. A sign in our hotel room said beware of elephants, crocodiles, or hippos, which can wander from the river onto the hotel grounds. One night earlier, a large croc had entered the area just beside the restaurant and threatened a hotel guest until being captured by guards.

Now we are back in Johannesburg, must leave the beauty and summery warmth of this beautiful country. We are flying tomorrow back to London, then to Switzerland where it’s still wintery, but hopefully spring will soon follow.

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Photos

Coming Home
Namibian women walking home after a day’s work. No traffic jams here.

Oh So Beautiful
View of Table Bay from Table Mountain

Let Me Take You Higher
Cable Car up to Table Mountain, Cape Town

Bo-Kaap region of Cape Town
Inhabited for many years by Cape Malays, mostly Moslems.

Just Hanging Around
Evi likes to live dangerously, on Table Mountain.

Cape Town Waterfront
The city of Cape Town is growing quickly, modernizing at a rapid pace.

Wine Country Beauty
About one hour from Cape Town, outside Paarl

Take Me Home, Country Roads
Near Spier Winery, outside Stellenbosch

Oom Samie Se Winkel, Uncle Sammy’s Shop
Located in Stellenbosch. One of those old fashioned shops that sell everything!

Welcome to Zimbabwe
Going backwards due to poor leadership

Welcome to Victoria Falls Airport
This airport is small like a bus station. It took just as long to fly from Jo-burg to Vic falls (1 1/2 hours), as it did standing in line within the airport to purchase an entry visa ($45 per person), as numerous forms must be filled out in triplicate, and even serial numbers of currency must be written down.

The Kingdom Hotel in Zimbabwe
Entry into hotel

The Kingdom Hotel lobby
We stayed in this hotel, designed after the 1000 year old great Zimbabwe ruins, built of huge granite slabs. The word Zimbabwe means house of stone in the Shona language.

Statue of Livingstone
Nearby the Victoria Falls stands a stature of British explorer David Livingstone, who in 1855 became the first European to sight the falls, and named them in honor of Queen Victoria.

The Smoke That Thunders (Victoria Falls)
The Zambezi River is one mile wide, falls 100 meters, then follows a narrow channel for the next 40 miles.

At the Falls
Without a raincoat you get drenched because of the spray which extends for hundreds of meters.

Drink Me
We drank Fanta and stayed very Bamboocha

Botswana Kids Hamming It Up
I asked to take their photo, they posed like this. Notice warthog in background looking for food (hopefully he’s vegetarian).

Digital Cameras at the Ready
Tourists sighting animals

Animals Sighting Tourists
Serene beauty, quiet, and huge animals. What's not to like?

Elephant Swims across the Chobe River
From Botswana to Namibia without a passport

Walk Back In Time
We crossed the river by boat, walked one mile on this dirt path to the small Namibian fishing village of Impalila

Greeting the Kids of the Village
They were confused by “give me five." How do you say that in Namibian?

So Simple and Unspoiled
Cute kids in the village. No electricity. They probably never watched "American Idol"

In the Kitchen
Inside a small hut. This village only recently received running water. Before that they had to draw all water from the nearby river, but after 5 kids were killed by crocodiles at river edge, the owner of a nearby lodge installed pipes and running water.

Comments

[ablondon]

ZIMBABWE!!!!
Amazing photos. I have the same picture of the "Welcome to Zimbabwe Sign." Looks like Vic Falls was a bit more full when you were there. Hope our'e having fun Adam