Cape of Good Hope

Cape Point is the most southwest point of the Cape of Good Hope, and the most southwest point of the continent of Africa. The weather can be miserable here, but we caught a great day.

This is where The Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet.

You can find out more here.

Penguins, Ostriches, and Baboons oh my!

Penguins on the beaches, and ostriches and baboons by the side of the road - and did I mention herons?

 

Dion, Janine & Hannah's Place of Safety

Dion is a close friend of Gus and Jan, and a professional tour guide in South Africa. Dion's wife Janine has created a safe-house for children who have nowhere else to go. We had the opportunity to visit the home of Dion and Janine and see first-hand what goes on with the children they protect and nurture. We will write more later. In the meantime, you can learn more here.

We also dined at The Grillfathers, a local hangout in the Mitchell's Plain area of Cape Town. We had great food. They made our day, and we made theirs. It was probably the first time that white Americans dined here. Dion informed the regulars in Afrikaans language that these were The Americans which brought on howls of laughter since there happens to be a dangerous neighborhood gang in Mitchell's Plain who have named themselves The Americans.

The District Six Museum - Cape Town

The museum documents one of the many horrific acts of Apartheid. We will do a full entry of this visit. In the meantime, check out more here.

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens

Instead of going to Robben Island, we went to Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately, due to a camera memory glitch, I lost most of my pictures from that day. However, we will make a blog entry. In the meantime, check out more here.

Robben Island and Nelson Mandela

We were supposed to take a boat to Robben Island the day after we went to Table Mountain, but it was not to be because of gale force winds. However, I believe it deserves a blog entry. You can find out more here about Robben Island.

Robben Island has been used to house prisoners for centuries since escape is considered impossible without a boat. Nelson Mandela is the most famous prisoner of Robben Island, imprisoned there for the first 18 of 27 years. He would later be democratically elected president of South Africa.

Marco's African Place - Cape Town

This is a future entry. In the meantime, you can check it out here.

Table Mountain

Panoramic view of Table Mountain (Wikipedia)

Panoramic view of Cape Town from Table Mountain (Wikipedia)

The first humans to stand in awe of Table Mountain did so tens of thousands of years ago. The first recorded ascent of Table Mountain by a European was by the Portuguese explorer António de Saldanha in 1503.

On the day we did our ascent, we had the benefit of a clear day and a cable car. The altitude of the mountain is 1,067 meters (about 3,500 feet), and is surrounded by steep cliffs. Here are some of my pictures:

In the distance, Robbin Island can be seen on the left.

Nelson Mandela was imprisoned here for 17 years.

One of the more curious critters on Table Mountain is the Dassie. It has the appearance of a earless rabbit, but in fact it is not a rodent. It is a hoofed mammal, and it is the closest living relative to - the African Elephant!  

Lounging Table Mountain lizard (not to be confused with the Table Mountain Lounge Lizard).

Eric Erica Jessica Barbara

Cape Town, day 1

After clearing South African customs, our next task was to get to the Chartfield Guesthouse at Kalk Bay just outside of Cape Town. The rest of our mostly Cleveland Heights based group would join us later in the day. As discussed earlier, the trip has been organized by South African Journeys, created by Gus and Janet. Janet was born and raised in South Africa, and Gus lived there for many years.

View of Kalk Bay from the Chartfield Guesthouse (web site photo). The Harbour House Restaurant is one of the white buildings on the waterfront in the distance.


That evening, the three of us joined Mary, who lives in Cape Town at the Harbour House Restaurant for a wonderful seafood dinner. In an era long ago, Mary shared a flat with Paula, Jessica's close friend from Port Angeles.

Panoramic view of the dock, ocean, and mountains from Harbour House Restaurant, Kalk Bay.

In the dark after dinner, the wind picked up. Here are the sights and sounds of the restaurant and the sea.

Time Warp

What used to take months now takes 11 hours. For us, the sun set in London and rose the next morning in South Africa.

Our first African sunrise 7-April, 2018

London

You know that you have arrived in England when a little Queen is waving to you from the neighbor's window.

The three of us are staying in a two bedroom flat in Putney, a three minute walk to our our niece Emily, her husband James, and the newest addition to the family, five month old baby Mae!

Our stay in London was mostly spent visiting Emily, James and Mae, and also our former German exchange student. Grischa stayed with us for several months back in 1996. How now lives in London with his wife Ayla and their three kids. It was great getting together with these wonderful people.

Jessica holding Mae, Emily, Grischa, Ayla in front, and their three kids.

Grischa and his son Batu







We did get to the British Museum. We spent most of our time exploring the African exhibit since we are heading that way soon.

Jessica partakes in her Afternoon Tea at the British Museum

Uneventful Travel

I never cease to be amazed that we can board a plane and travel from one continent to another in a matter of hours. My grandparents could remember a time before air travel. Now we can routinely travel nearly the speed of sound. 

Five hours after we left the east coast, we were approaching Ireland.

This is what the sky looked like at 41,000 feet on the dawn of a new day.

Advancing Toward London

We departed from Cleveland today, now at Dulles Airport outside of Washington, D.C. with a six hour layover. Then we got lucky. We managed to sweet-talk our way into the United Global First Class Lounge even though we are not technically flying first class. 

Works for me. If you have to spend many hours in an airport, this is the way to do it.

Why visit South Africa?

For all three of us (Eric, Jessica & and Jessica’s sister Erica) this will be our first visit to Africa.  Why South Africa?

For years we have heard about the incomparable beauty of South Africa. Our family friend Paula grew up in South Africa and spoke often of her love of the country of her birth. We met Paula’s father Derek, who had an apple farm outside of Cape Town, and we met other members of Paula’s family.  We learned how to make Paula’s family recipe for bobotie, the national dish of South Africa.

We read books about South Africa—Disgraced by JM Coetzee, Born A Crime by Trevor Noah, Collected Short Stories of Nadine Gordimer, My Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela, and The Covenant by James Michener.

South Africa has a unique history and culture. What we thought would never happen in our lifetimes — the end of apartheid — happened.  Like the rest of the world, we watched in amazement as Nelson Mandela, imprisoned for 27 years, 18 years on Robben Island, triumphed to become the first president of a post-apartheid South Africa in 1994 — this revolution occurring without bloodshed or a protracted civil war.  South Africa is a walking illustration of the power of a nonviolent movement.

All of these exposures to South African life cultivated our interest in this country. Still, a visit to South Africa would have remained on the back burner but for a small article in the HeightsObserver about group trips to South Africa organized by Cleveland Heights neighbors Jan and Gus Kious. This community-minded, civically active couple offered reasonably priced, 21-day small group trips to Jan’s home country twice a year with their mom and pop operation, South African Journeys.  Jan and Gus love South Africa and want to share this country with others. We signed up for the April trip.

 And so, the adventure begins, and the three of us partner again

 . . .

Jessica

Another 21 Months Later. Europe and South Africa 2018

Our travel blog lives! On the eve of Easter and April fools day, Eric, Jessica and Erica are again departing the USA for a great adventure. Jessica and I will be going to London for five nights to visit our wonderful five month old grand niece, the daughter of our niece Emily who is the daughter of Jessica's brother Corky and his wife Judi. Jessica's sister Erica will be traveling from Oakland CA to London to join us. Together, we will see the sights and visit with our former exchange student Grischa, his wife Ayla and their three children.

The three of us will then fly to Cape Town, South Africa and spend the next 20 days traveling around South Africa with the Kious family. Janet is a native of South Africa, and loves her country. Jessica and I will then fly from Johannesburg to Amsterdam where we will spend four nights before returning to the states at the end of April. Our travel maps out something like this.

Depending on access to good internet connections and having too much time on hand, I will do my level best to keep anyone who wishes to follow our travels up to date. Stay tuned!