Dancing in Africa

  Tuesday brought another   5 am  wake-up call from Max. Sue’s shower was working last night, but not Julie’s. It was a hot sweaty night nonetheless, and the cool morning was welcome.  It’s quite chilly at morning pick-up from our tents at 5:30am. Probably in the upper 50s but when we get cruising along in the open air jeep at 6am, Julie wishes she had on more than her 3 layers & long pants. Sue & Nick tough it out in shorts and a long sleeve over their tshirts - must be that hardy Wisconsin blood.   By 7:00 or so Julie’s unzipping her sweatshirt, by 7:30 it’s off, by 8 she’s unzipping her windbreaker and by 8:30 everyone is in tshirts. By 9 Julie is commenting on the heat & by 9:30 she’s really wishing she had on shorts! We are typically back at camp before 10:30 for a slight break before lunch.  Daytime temps climb to near 100 so activity pretty much stops noon - 4pm when high tea is served &    “cooling” begins. Fortunately so f...

At  5 am , we heard Max’s booming “Good Morning” and had 30 minutes to get ready for our first morning game drive.  At 5:30  it is still dark, so Max walked us to the deck area for breakfast. There were some cold items on a buffet and eggs to order. The coffee was welcome.  By 6 it had lightened up and we saw 2 elephants visiting the pool near the deck. We boarded the Jeep with Max driving and Ona riding shotgun. Sue sat behind Max, Julie behind Ona and Nick in the third row behind Sue. It was quite cold, and Max had blankets on the seats. We had been warned to dress in layers which we did.  We set off down the sandy road between rows of Mopane shrubs and trees. Their leaves are divided into a butterfly shape, and tons of branches protrude into the road and scrape the canvas top of the jeep. Max frequently sticks his hand out to catch them, says “Branches” and Sue ducks. At one point  on Tuesday morning , Max stopped the jeep, grabbed a machete from behind ...

  Sue awoke and heard a noise outside the tent. It was two lechwe grazing very nearby. We also saw some beautiful storks fishing in the water. After coffee and breakfast, we said goodbye to Abu and the friendly staff at Pelo and took the motorboat and then the bumpy jeep ride to the airport. We had to wait quite awhile for our flight to arrive. The temperature was in the high 90s but there was a bit of a breeze. The plane seemed to be the same size as we took in, but our pilot was different. It was a young woman who did not seem as competent as Mike. It was a bumpy ride, and before long, Sue was feeling queasy. We flew about 20 minutes, landed to take more passengers and then took off again. The whole journey was a hot, noisy affair and maneuvering down the narrow aisle to disembark was no fun. We retrieved our luggage and looked in vain for our transport. Ona had to ask someone else to check for us. After a few tense (and unbearably stifling) minutes, Sy showed up and said there w...

  Saturday  After a siesta, we had “high tea” featuring stuffed mushroom caps, lemon meringue tarts and iced tea or coffee. Then we got ready to board mokoros - dugout flat bottomed boats that are propelled by polers. Sue was really sweating entering and exiting the boat, but with some helpful hands, she settled in back with Julie in front. Mkebi was our adept poler, standing in back and pushing us along. Unlike what was advertised, it was not like a Venetian gondola. Ona propelled his own mokoro - forging out ahead watching for hippos. Nick rode with poler MJ. We circumnavigated the island on which the camp is based, and with the lack of motor noise, we were able to get closer to the wildlife. We saw many birds, small fish and grazing lechwe. At one point, Mkebe captured a small frog for us to admire. When he tried to release it, it hopped around the boat and settled near Julie’s elbow. She couldn’t see it, and Sue’s new worry was that it would startle Julie and she would capsiz...

 From Dancing Lady 2 (DL1 is a slow typist!) Saturday arrived bright and early. We had   a 6 am   wake up knock from Ona. We were due at breakfast   at 6:30 . No easy feat after a rather restless night listening to animals. Ona had explained that the Hippos move from the water to land at night to graze. They are not quiet about this. Given the way sound carries at water’s edge, the effect is like the hippos are inside the tent. Yikes. Additionally, frogs and birds are very boisterous at night. They finally quit   around 3 am .   Breakfast was eggs to order plus toast, fruit, muffins, sausage and bacon. The coffee was delicious. We boarded a motorized boat with Chapman at the controls. Ona sat up front with us. We had gone about 5 minutes and spotted some lechwe. Nick grabbed the camera and realized he had left the battery on the charger. Back to camp we went. Nick then got to board the boat again. While he was gone, Sue and Julie spotted some monkeys frolic...

 As reported by Dancing Lady 2 with the occasional 2cents from Dancing Lady 1 Friday we rose early and had one last breakfast at the hotel. Samo picked us up   at 7:30   for   a 10:30 am   flight to Maun, Botswana. Samo helped us with the check-in process. This time Sue didn’t cry when her roller board was checked, unlike at the evil United Airlines gate in Chicago. Unfortunately we did not anticipate checking the bag - they are small carryon size which we were told were required for the bush flights - so had our 8 ounce bottle of souvenir olive oil in the bag we ended up carrying on. That was confiscated by Security and discarded.   The flight to Maun was about 2 hours 15 minutes. It featured free beer, wine &soft drinks and a nice lunch. We had to show our vax cards when we checked in for our flight and again when we landed. We then had to fill out the customs form - which would have been easier on the plane. Then our luggage was searched and we had t...

Started Thursday with the daily included breakfast at our hotel. It was a lavish spread of cold foods, juices, fruits & pastries. At no extra charge you could order hot foods such as eggs Benedict, Turkish eggs, omelets, and avocado toast. The avocados are locally grown and amazingly delicious.  Met Samo  about 9am and drove along Hiway 2 SW to Stellenbosch for an olive oil tasting at Morgenster Estate. It was a cool but sunny morning. There were both black & green olives & tapenades and 5 “vintages” of oil with delicious bread & crackers followed by ice cream drizzled with the lemon infused (lemons grown on the Estate) in beautiful surroundings. The original olive tree cuttings were brought from Italy, and now the oils win world-wide awards. Sue purchased the Lemon infused to give to our guide Samo (his favorite) and the Extra Virgin for herself. (That was sadly confiscated at the airport as we headed to Maun) As we drove, Samo told many stories about his fami...