South Africa – May 2015

I’ve spent the last two days getting to Cape Town and enjoying the area around this city of nearly 5 million people. The ride from Hermanus here was especially pretty, with the mountains on one side, and the ocean on the other.  The highlights? A botanical garden featuring fynbos.  Though it’s late fall here, you … Continue reading »

I connected some dots today in my tour from Knysna to Hermanus. The first was with Portugal.  While it is sometimes difficult to remember, Portugal was a world power over 500 years ago.  In fact, it was a Portuguese explorer, Bartholemew Diaz who was the first European to discover the Cape of Good Hope, and … Continue reading »

If scenery is really what the Chinese say it is–the combination of mountains and water–then what I saw today was scenery.  My guide and I went up the coast toward Port Elizabeth to Tsitsikama National Park, which fronts on the Indian Ocean. It’s a natural forest, albeit restored (logging was closed down about 50 years … Continue reading »

My computer is on the fritz so I’m using one at the hotel where I am staying–the aptly named Turbine Hotel. It’s aptly named because it is a converted power station; in fact, if I glance up from my computer, I gaze at the speed reducer the renovators left in place. If I look to … Continue reading »

I am sitting looking up at the Black Mountains, around 300 miles east of Cape Town, the end result of a long day of driving on what is called the “Garden Route.” That’s kind of a misnomer, so far anyway, since I’ve not seen any “Gardens.” Instead, it’s been through rugged country that is greener … Continue reading »

From Cape Town The last six hours of safari certainly proved two things to me: First, the big cats don’t always win. We went looking for giraffes last night, and wound up skunked on that score, but we encountered a hungry leopard instead. And skitterish impala. The impala, and there were lots of them, were … Continue reading »

Sabi Sabi I’m happy to say that in the last 24 hours, I’ve made substantial progress toward finishing the requirements for “Nature Merit Badge.” On the two game drives (following habits of the big game, mostly, we join our ranger and tracker at 6 am for a three hour jaunt, and again at 4 pm … Continue reading »

My former student, JR Glen, now a famous Chicago attorney, used to say, “This is like Scout camp,” when we travelled extensively in China, Burma, and Europe. But I have to correct that somewhat erroneous view now that I am in the Republic of South Africa, almost 8900 miles from Bloomington, in a game reserve near … Continue reading »