Blogs from Africa - page 25

After breakfast at the hotel, we made sure our suitcases were securely packed and walked from the hotel to our gate for our flight to Cape Town. Security at Johannesburg was quick with fewer requirements than ours in the U.S. We made the approximately 2 hour flight with no hitches and Ben, our guide, was waiting for us at the airport. Having lost the morning for seeing the city, we started on our adventure straight from the airport. Our first stop was the oldest building in Cape Town, the Castle of Good Hope. This fortress was built in the 17th Century by the Dutch East India Company to replenish supplies of the Dutch ships. It is built in the shape of a 5 pointed star similar to forts in the U.S. When built the castle was ... read more

There are great lessons to be learned from this backpacker lifestyle. I’m older now, with kids and responsibilities. I travel with 2 carry-ons and 2 checked bags now, rather than the solitary backpack I began with. But, I still travel like a backpacker. I’m not one of those tourists who come for Mai Tais on the beach and a few souvenirs. I don’t spend much money when I travel. I don’t stay in fancy hotels. You see a lot of middle-class Americans living it up in developing countries where their dollars go further, playing at the life of a celebrity or aristocrat for a day. I don’t do that kind of thing. I still like to see how they local people live. I still like to walk barefoot sometimes, to eat with my hands, to take ... read more

Literally. No metaphor here. We visited Zanzibar before, and now have visited Zanzibar again. Here are some highlights of the trip. - We stayed at the Dhow Palace Hotel (got a great deal by calling direct even when the booking sites said it was all full). This was literally the palace of a man who built it in the mid-1600s. His family kept it for about 200 years before it was taken over by his clan. Now it is a private hotel. Very cool place with lots of quirks, secrets, and fun antiques on display. - We found a great community shop run by this Rastaman. It's all local arts and crafts for sale to tourists like us. Some special stuff in here. I got the boys new shirts and gifted the owner with a portrait ... read more

According to some things that I have read, Zanzibar has been continuously occupied by human beings for some 30,000 years. According to some other things I’ve read, the earth was created less than 8,000 years ago. I wasn't there for either, I just read about it. Either way, people have been living on Zanzibar island for a very long time. The name Zanzibar comes from the Arabic words for, “land of the blacks”. They named it for the African people they found living there, whom they called the, “Zanj”. The Arabs mixed with the locals, forming the Swahili peoples, who built thriving trading cities over the past 1500 years or so. Inviting the Persians, Indians, Chinese, Indonesians, and others to join the trade in ivory, precious metals, and enslaved humans from the mainland, they built up ... read more

After a little later than usual breakfast, we climbed aboard 2 vans and made the 3 hour drive to Welgevonden Game Preserve. We stopped along the way for a little shopping before reaching our final destination. Our goal for the day was to find as many of the Big 5 African animals, Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino, and Buffalo. We signed in and headed out on our adventure. We were riding with our guide, Fin, along with Shea, Justin, and Nick. We had a fun group as we searched the area. We quickly encountered Warthogs, Wildebeests, and the sought after Rhino. We continued along and found 3 Rhinos grazing close to the road for nice photos. Zebra dotted the landscape and we soon came upon an elephant cooling herself with muddy water. She systematically tossed water over ... read more