We will be on a plane one week from today to begin our adventure! We fly to Chicago, have lunch with our buddy Doug, then we're on a 13-hour direct flight to Doha, Qatar, where we'll spend four days with our friend Maria, who teaches in Doha.
We spoke with her today and here's some of the activities we're planning: a visit to the Museum of Islamic Art, a visit to one - possibly two - mosques, a visit to a local market, a trip through the desert to the Khor Al Adaid inland sea, maybe a camel ride and maybe some dune-bashing. In a TripAdvisor forum, it is suggested that dune-bashing is not suitable for people with pains and health issues. Hmmmm. Here's a video if you wish to see what we possibly might do regarding dune-bashing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwwJ89YpI88. WOOHOO!
We leave Doha on Saturday and fly to Cape Town with a brief layover in Johannesburg. Then on to other adventures. What we've got planned so far: a tour Tuesday morning with Uthando, a non-profit organization that is a unique model of traveling philanthropy and responsible tourism. We'll learn a lot about South Africa history, the legacy of apartheid, etc. but the core focus of the tour is visiting interesting, innovative and inspiring community development projects where we'll get to interact with the locals driving the projects as well as those benefitting from the projects.
We are participating in a Bo-Kaap Cooking Tour in which we will visit a market in Bo-Kaap to shop then learn the life, food and culture of the Cape Malay's in Bo-Kaap while getting a hands-on, practical lesson on how to cook like a real Cape Malay 'Auntie." We'll learn how to fold Samoosa's and mix Masala for that perfect pot of Cape Malay Curry. Yummy.
On Thursday, we're joining Lucy for her Transcending History Tour. It is site specific so we'll be visiting sites and hearing about slave emancipation in Cape Town, Doman from the Goringhaiqua 1600’s Cape Town and slave wash houses. We expect to hear stories that are not included in the "official" narratives and timelines.
Then on Friday, we're off to Robben Island on a ferry to visit the museum and participate in a tour given by former political prisoners. Of course, Robben Island was where Nelson Mandala was imprisoned after having been given a life sentence in 1964 when he was convicted of plotting to sabotage the South African government. He spent 27 years in prison, and he was released officially from the Victor-Verster Prison in Paarl. We'll see the cell in which he was imprisoned on Robben Island.
That's all we've got booked for Cape Town right now. We definitely will take the aerial cableway to the top of Table Mountain, visit the District 6 museum and Africa's largest contemporary art museum that opened in the fall of 2017.
We leave Cape Town in a vehicle rental on Sept. 3 to go to Simon's Town, situated on the eastern portion of the peninsula and home to the South African Navy. It's actually a suburb of Cape Town. During our three days there, we hope to visit the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve and the penguin colony at Boulders Beach, among other activities.
We're a little concerned about this portion of the trip, as the Cape Times reported today that there was violence at Hout Bay on Friday. I think we're driving through Hout Bay on our way to Simon's Town. Apparently, the Times reported, "angry Hangberg residents clashed with police and torched buildings and a vehicle after two days of searching for a young fisher, presumed lost at sea, following an altercation with authorities on Friday." Hopefully, that will have passed by the time we get there in early September.
Then we're off to Hermanus for a little over three days. We've got a cottage on the shore rented - it's called the Hermanus Whale View. :) We expect to be able to sit on the porch and watch the Southern Right Whales, who will be birthing, and we've heard they come within 11 yards or so of the shore. We'll be doing "beach things," although Simon's Town and Hermanus is near wine country so I suspect we'll do some kind of wine tour while in the area.
We're on our way to Plettenberg Bay from Hermanus. We're staying in the "Bushpig" cabin at Moon Shine on Whiskey Creek, which is set on 14 hectares of unspoiled indigenous forest. The cabin is one of the two original cabins. It is elevated on stilts and surrounded by indigenous forest. I suspect bird watching will be one of the activities there - and maybe monkey watching? :)
We leave our "Bushpig" cabin for Port Elizabeth on Sept. 12 to catch a plan to Durban. We'll stay in Ballito, a suburb of Durban on the coast, where we've got a snorkeling trip planned. Then we drive to Eshowe for a three-day, two-night experience that includes sleeping in a hut in a Zulu village. We're hoping to have lots of interaction.
We return to Durban on Sept. 16 and leave early on Sept. 18 for our 18-day safari adventure that includes time at Victoria Fall, three days at the Selous Riverside Safari Camp (we'll do game viewing and fishing!), a visit to Mount Kilimanjaro, then to the Great Rift Valley escarpment where we'll explore Lake Manyara National Park, Ngorongoro Crater and spend a day in a Masai village and a coffee plantation. Then we're off to the Serengeti for four days of safari.
We'll arrive in Stone Town, Zanzibar, on Oct. 5 and spend four days there exploring the markets and such before we take a shuttle to the eastern side of the island where we'll unwind in our seashore villa in Jambiani for seven days of snorkeling, sunning and maybe a ride in a dhow - which is a traditional sailing vessel primarily used to carry heavy items like fruit, fresh water or merchandise, along the coasts of Eastern Arabia (Arab states of the Persian Gulf), East Africa, Yemen and coastal South Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh). I think some of them now are strictly for tourism. Ha!
It's going to be one helluva awesome trip - so stay tuned!
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