Cape Town

June 24th:  Early morning flight from Joburg to Cape Town - one of the most beautiful cities in Africa, even when under the cover of winter clouds.

Camps Bay, Capetown

June 25th:  Wine tasting in the beautiful countryside surrounding Cape Town.  And what a treat to spend a few days with Dipak's friend Wendy Oldfield, an accomplished musician and former mega pop star in South Africa.  http://www.wendyoldfield.co.za/

In addition to being an incredible singer, song writer, and producer, she's a very fast hiker who gave us new ways to drink coffee (double espresso in a large cup with hot milk on the side to control intake), new terms like "clever monkey", and a few others not to be repeated here.

Spier Wine Farm, Stellenbosch

Wendy, Dipak and Jana

Fresh

June 26th:  Morning walk up Table Mountain overlooking Camps Bay in Cape Town.

Afternoon meeting with Alex Perry, Africa Bureau Chief for Time Magazine.  http://world.time.com/author/alexjperry/

If you're interested in Africa, you need to read his stuff.  A classic war correspondent who was embedded with the Northern Alliance in the very early days in Afghanistan, with the invasion into Iraq and other fascinating posts around the world, he's now a leading journalist on Africa.  The most troubled spots on the continent are his domain.

After four hours of getting a free education on the complexities of Africa and as many beers, I was done for the day, but having been greatly enriched by the discussion.  (Yes, I was drunk and needed to go to bed).

June 27th:  Hot yoga is always a great way to start the day, especially when far from home.  The rest of the day was spent with Dipak at the wheel as we toured the most beautiful stretch of road I've ever been on.  And thankfully the weather cooperated (finally) so we were able to enjoy the full splendor of Cape Town's natural beauty, in addition to the massive fish and chips and more along the seashore.

Hout Bay

Always fashionable

Always doing business

June 21st:  Arrived in Joburg and was collected by friends Jana and Dipak.  We immediately drove to Kruger National Park.  Within minutes of entering the park we saw impalas and giraffe.

The evening of the 21st we boarded a safari vehicle and headed off for a sunset tour in search of wildlife.  By all accounts, we saw an unprecedented number of animals including black rhinos, white rhinos, water buffalo, and an entire herd of elephants.

Jana in bush hat that probably cost more than I make in a week.

The highlight of our first tour was sitting in the jeep in the middle of the herd with all of the lights of the vehicle off and in complete silence.  In a moonless sky and in the pitch black, we were surrounded by massive elephants and the only noises were those of the herd munching leaves and branches all around us.  We couldn't help but appreciate the fact that we were guests in their domain.

June 22nd:  With our two guides, we went on a walking safari deep into the bush.  Over six hours we climbed and clamored through rough terrain in silence as we sought out animals in the wild.

Gun wielding guides.  Prada wearing Jana in the bush.

We saw white rhinos, hyenas, warthogs, and an absolutely massive bull elephant.  The unprecedented sighting was a lioness completely asleep in the grass who, only 20 feet from us, never woke up or was alerted to our presence.  The guides, guns drawn, let us snap a few pictures before hustling us out of the area in silence.  A safe distance from the lioness, one of them remarked: "you'll never see that again.  That was awesome."

I guess when you are the Queen of the Bush you can afford to have a deep sleep in the middle of the day without fear of any predator.

Sleeping lioness (middle of the photo)

Bull elephant in the bush.  Objects in photo are much, much larger than they appear.

Elephant herd on the move.

Visitor who kept knocking on the glass.

White rhinos

Sunrise in the bush.

Vulture waiting for something (or someone) to die.

Black Rhinos

Another evening tour by jeep allowed us to spot a leopard, water buck, and, as usual, lots of impalas.  The impalas, which have markings on their hind quarters that look like an "M" are referred to by the guides as "McDonald's" because they are ubiquitous fast food for predators.

Hyena - didn't care we were there.

June 23rd:  More exploring led us to a hippo, more giraffe, rhinos, and elephants.  We had to leave Jana behind because a bat had gotten into our bungalow that night and she refused to leave her room.

Back to Joburg to stay at Dipak's incredible house in the hills over looking the sprawling city.

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King of the Bush, Dipak.

Explaining the intricacies of elephant poop.

Porcupine quill that missed.

Huge mud pit that serves as bush animal spa.