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Here are some additional photos of friends of the Fort Lauderdale Museum event and book signing.

How humbling it can be to think that you have arrived at a well-thought out conclusion and discover that you are so mistaken that you wonder how in the world you did not see the truth.  When I was in Africa, I was under the impression that the end of Apartheid was a wonderful thing for everyone. I could not have been more mistaken.  How foolish I was to believe that the white men and women who ruled South Africa for hundreds of years would give up or leave without bitter sentiment.  I felt betrayed by my tour company because I believe that they conveyed the impression that because Nelson Mandela pursued a policy of no revenge or retribution, that was the way things played out  This could not have been further from the truth.

There were still angry blacks who made life unsafe for whites after Apartheid.  There were many professional and other whites who simply gave up their family homes and migrated elsewhere because it was no longer safe to live in South Africa.  I was so surprised to learn that the “paperwork” that we had been told was necessary for blacks to have on their person, was something that actually made whites feel safe. Yet, the former black prisoner, who toured us at the museum  prison on Robins Island, who had  served a five year incarceration for not having those papers on his person when asked conveyed another impression.  Somewhere between these two concepts the truth must lie.  Certainly, it cannot be reasonable to condemn a man to prison for five years because he does not have identification papers.  On the other hand, why would families leave a country where they grew up, had family and friends and other connections?  The reasons to leave must have been life-threatening.

I can see why a tour company would not want to show the worst aspects of the country that they tour, but this portrayal was completely false.  Although we were told that the beautiful inner city of Johannesburg had been surrendered to the drug addicts and drug traders, it was dismissed lightly…too lightly, I believe.  There was never any mention made of the fact that South Africa has the largest HIV and AIDS population in the world.  In South Africa one thousand people die everyday from AIDS!  This is an astounding statistic that cannot be glossed over.

While we were taken to Soweto to see the library, the houses, and some of the people, it was explained as if the process of integration was a completed one.  Now, I do not believe that the process is finished.

Naturally, I am curious to know just what the status of the integration is today in South Africa.  Like many other African countries, the end of white rule brought about the onset of misery for most of the population.  Unfortunately, when the white government administrators left in masse, they had never trained the blacks who took over.  So unaccustomed to governing, the inheritors have made a mess of it and the country is in deep financial trouble.

The troubling aspect of my visit is that all of the blacks that I met were so amiable, so capable, and made my experience with them made me “color blind.”

So, I really do not know what the truth is and I will pursue it in greater depth when I discuss it with friends, Fleur and Simon Frank who immigrated to the United States from South Africa after the end of Apartheid.

Early one morning when we were not doing a game drive, we had the option to either sleep in or go on a bushwalk. Ardeth, a friend and I chose to get up early and accompany our riffle slinging ranger, Ashley on a bushwalk.  What is a bushwalk? It’s a walk through the veldt where the animals have already passed or could pass when you are walking.  A bushwalk is a learning experience. I never stopped thinking about the riffle and if and when Ashley might have to use it.

Our game tracker sat at the helm on every game drive. The Land Rover was equipped with an elevated seat so that Jack, our tracker had a birds-eye view of what lay in front of us.  What I later learned was that he was not only studying what was ahead and on both sides, he was also studying the ground. What he was looking at was dung.  The English language affords us many words for dung, but “poop” and “shit” are really not as proper as dung.

On our bushwalk I learned to identify dung from elephants, rhinos, hyenas, and giraffes.  Although one might think that all of these, who eat a vegetarian diet, with the exception of the hyena, would have the same dung, they do not.  The processing that takes place in the stomach of the animal creates an individual identity for all animals.

Elephants have the largest and loosest dung.  It is also the softest.  It is probably the most easy to identify.  Rhino dung is similar in size, but it is harder and slightly smaller in diameter. It is also darker.  Even smaller and harder is giraffe and cat (lion, leopard and cheetah) dung .  What is easy to distinguish is hyena dung.  It is white because they devour everything-including the bones of their prey.  It’s the calcium in the bones that turn the dung white.

A few hours in the bush made me that much more aware of the just how much our ranger and tracker know.  Bushwalking is highly recommended because you have a chance to walk where the animals walk and know that they were there before you. It is an exciting aspect of the bushwalk.

Africa is such an extraordinary country.  True, we only saw South Africa and Zimbabwe, but if the rest of Africa is filled with such beauty and people who exude such warmth, it is a continent that easily inspires great affection and admiration.

It is easy to understand how Africa, especially, South Africa gets into ones blood.  We heard numerous stories of South Africans who roamed the earth, but felt compelled to return to South Africa after the wanderlust had been satisfied.

The climate in Cape Town is ideal-almost paradisiacal.   The climate further north gets hotter and hotter, but the climate also enables the continuing cycle of animal life that is one of the treasures of this land.

When I think of safari, I will always remember the thrill of seeing the rare cheetah lying on a mound of rust colored dirt, panting because she was probably recovering from an exhausting run.  From her mouth drops of blood ran.  We could only imagine what her history of survival had been that day.

I learned why the cheetah’s own hunting habits are contributing to its attrition.  Cheetahs will not eat any game that they did not chase down to kill.  They also will not eat any dead game.  Frequently after they have expended sufficient energy to catch their prey, they have no stamina left to protect it from scavengers, like hyenas, who will steal it right out from under their paws.  Their only recourse is to be able to climb up a tree, with their kill, and thereby face little competition.

Full-grown lions eluded us.  So, we became even more interested in finding one lion or a pride of lions, although we were told that they were becoming rarer.  Recently, they have been placed on the endangered species list.  There are only three thousand lions in all of Kruger National Park and Kruger encompasses parts of three countries.  The primary reason for their decreasing numbers is the incursion of man into their territories.  Hence, the reduced game for them is severely reduced.  Because the adult lions feed first, the young starve to death.

We satisfied our desire to see lions by signing up for a lion walk that is an activity created by ALERT.  It is a non profit organization dedicated to bringing back the number of lions in the wild.  The young cubs who are about five to six months old are the lions that can be walked with paying tourists for about forty-five minutes.

Numerous photos are taken as you walk along side of the lion with a small stick.  There is an instructional talk before to explain what your behavior with the lions should be.  Even at this early age, they are wild and respect must be given to their instincts.  You are told never to look a lion in the eyes.  You can keep the lion from encroaching too closely to you by gently nudging him with the stick, on his side only-never directly in front of him.  You are allowed to pet him when you have your photo take, but you are not allowed to touch him on his head or his rear quarters.  By the way, even though they are only five or six months old, their fur is quite rough.

There is a little gift shop and anything you purchase makes you feel especially good because the profits support the lion program. The lion walk program is located in Zimbabwe.  There is a sharp contrast between the poverty in Zimbabwe and South Africa.  That is not to say that there is no poverty in South Africa, but there are so many more positive opportunities in South Africa.

The poverty that we expected to see in Soweto was not as nearly widespread as we anticipated.  Soweto has many miles of homes that are lower middle-class and middle-class.  These categories would not be comparable to western European or American cities of lower middle or middle class category.

During the apartheid, (defined as separation) hundreds of thousands of blacks were removed from District Six in Cape Town.  When explained, the atrocities of apartheid left me so emotionally affected.  It was difficult to process the political power that could remove so many people from one area of Cape Town to a remote area thirty kilometers away-just because they were black.

The prisons and conditions that prisoners endured for arbitrary rules that the government imposed on the blacks, made me wonder how the rest of the world stood by and allowed these horrific conditions to exist for so long.  Yes, there were embargos that finally broke the back of the once powerful and evil government, but decades passed before change was affected.  What astonished me was the lack of anger, rage or desire for revenge that is part of the people today who were so egregiously treated for so long.

One of the primary reasons the people we met said they laid down their anger was the leadership of Nelson Mandela.  Before I came to South Africa, I knew very little about this revered leader. This intelligent President of South Africa, like Moses, took his people from enslavement to a promised land where they were no longer persecuted because they were black and endured restrictions as to where they could live. His pervasive philosophy was that the people could not move on until they let go of their anger.  The manner that they accomplished this was by allowing the perpetrators to confess everything they had done during apartheid.  If they omitted anything, they went to prison.  If they told all, they went free.  They lived by the principle that the truth shall set you free.  Still, it was a most generous act, inspired by Mandela, to lead the people of South Africa in a positive direction.  He believed that revenge and retribution would have plunged South Africa into chaos.

Strangely, many blacks, who were forcibly moved to Soweto had no desire to move back to Cape Town, after the apartheid ceased.  They were there too long and had carved out a life that is regarded as home.

On the day that we went to Soweto, we also saw the Hector Pieterson Museum and Youth Center, which is dedicated to the memory of a twelve year old boy who was shot to death on a day of massacre in the streets of Soweto.  He did not seek to become a martyr, but was chosen to become a symbol of the injustice of apartheid.  The museum has numerous photos that chronicle the movement to end apartheid.

We visited a library where I contributed one of my books, Bogie Sees Paris.   I had an intense joy donating my book.  In fact, I would like to send more books, by others, to this small library.  A very generous man, Louie took it upon himself to try and improve the lives of some of the children of Soweto.  Soweto, by the way, is frequently defined as a contraction of the words “So, where to?”  Louie was our guide in Soweto.  He lives there and made a generous contribution to the community by helping the children.  He found a very old vacant building and with the help of other volunteers, primarily young people, the building was cleaned up and painted.  A library and community center for young people of Soweto was created.  Louie has demonstrated, in a most profound manner,  how much one person can do that has had such a dramatic effect on a community of young people.

To finance the continued operation of the building, the young people have created a singing and dancing performance, with costumes.  Unemployment is high and the young people earn something from the tour groups who watch their performances. All tourists are encouraged to donate books to the library.

The middle of Johannesburg, the center of the city, has been surrendered to the drug pushers. The outskirts have many districts of very wealthy homes.  In fact, Nelson Mandela lives in one of the outlying affluent Jewish residential districts. I did not expect to be impressed with Johannesburg and I was.  I thought that the safaris would be the most exciting aspect of the tour.  That is not to say that the safaris were not thrilling.  They were!

example, one day our ranger and tracker came upon a female rhino ready to mate.  A male rhino was in hot pursuit.  As he followed her from the grasslands to the watering hole, it was fascinating to watch her reject him.  (Although, we were silently cheering for him to win her over)  Our ranger explained that she was saving herself for a bigger and stronger rhino in the area.  It was she who decided who would father her offspring and an enthusiastic bachelor was not going to change her mind or her desire to find the best possible mate.

Zebras were sited once and seen so quickly that my photo is nothing special.  We did see  so many of the antelope family, like impala, diker and springboks-those so high on the food chain. Nature made them fast and responsive to their environment with highly sensitive instincts.  Fear governs their primary movement.  The dominant males’ job is to protect his harem herd and the reward he receives is the access to any and all of them.  What a thankless job!  Ha!

Probably the animal we viewed with the most anthropomorphic qualities is the elephant because of the maternal care that mothers give their  young.  The power of the elephant is apparent as we watched an elephant strip a tree and bring it down so that he could devour the leaves on the tree.

The giraffes that I saw were so remarkable because of their graceful gait across the veldt.  They are high on the food chain because they can be intentionally chased over terrain that is uneven so that they lose their footing and stumble.  Our ranger also pointed out that their markings are quite different.  No two are alike, kind of like our own finger prints.

On the day that we cruised the Zambezi River, in Zimbabwe, we had a chance to feel the cool breezes that were most welcome after a very hot afternoon.  The most exciting part of the trip was seeing  several hippos.  We saw a mother and her baby.  Hippos in the Zambezi do not reveal very much of themselves during the day because it is hot and their skin is extremely sensitive.  Therefore, they spend most of the day in the water and feed at night when the sun goes down.  They walk or float in the water, but they do not swim.  They can only stay under the water for six minutes before it is necessary to surface for air.  I also saw a small crocodile.  It was nothing to get excited about.

The visit to the elephant camp was more personal because I actually fed elephants several times.  Demonstrations showed how to feed an elephant by throwing the food into the mouth or allowing him to suck the food out of my hand, with his trunk.  These elephants do this daily.  They were quite habituated.  (Accustomed to people)  The remains of the food that fell to the ground were retrieved soon after by a large troop of baboons.  Baboons are seen frequently.  They are scavengers and are frequently sited on the side of the road, on the grounds of the hotels and just about anywhere.  They travel in troops, like the monkeys.

On the day that we saw Victoria Falls, we were given a choice to either walk a short distance from where the bus dropped us off or walk one and one half miles to view the falls from many different angles.  We chose the long walk and it was worth the effort.  There were so many photo opportunities that I began to wonder whether the battery in my camera would punk out before I saw all of the falls.

Victoria Falls, on the day that I saw it in mid-October had dry areas where there were falls at other times of the year. When the falls are most abundant, the spray is everywhere on the walk and the rocky path can be slippery.  The day that I viewed the falls, it was warm and dry.  Probably I will never see falls like Victoria Falls again in my life.  There are many names of different sections of the falls.  You cannot help but be impressed with the grandeur of the falls.  On the path to  Victoria Falls I saw monkeys with very young babies attached to the mother.  They too are habituated and I was able to take many photos up close.

Probably the first animal I saw when arriving in Cape Town was the wart hog.  They are exceptional “lawn mowers.” They too are quite habituated although they can be very aggressive if provoked.  Left alone, they just eat the grass and don’t bother the humans.

Nature continued to grab my attention everywhere that I saw dead trees.  Initially one might be saddened to see a tree that dies because elephants have striped off the bark or ravaged the branches, but I was captivated by the silhouettes of the sculptural remains of dead trees.  I took many pictures.  I saw many more trees that I wanted to photograph, but I couldn’t ask our ranger or driver to stop each time.  The stark, sculptural beauty of the dead trees against the clear sky at sunset is a memory that is Africa to me.  It is the evidence of the life cycle, the death of one thing or animal that makes it possible for another to live.  Africa is cruel, but it is also sublimely beautiful.

GENERAL INFORMATION:

Name of our tour:  Tauck South Africa 25

Tour Guide:  Joemy Wilson (excellent) (yes, that really is her name)
Hotel in Cape Town:  The Cape Grace Hotel.
This hotel is excellent and deserves the reputation of being one of the best hotels in the world.  The service is outstanding.

Their restaurants are also excellent.

Hotel in Franschhoek, South Africa:  Le Quartier Francais

Gourmet restaurant:  The Tasting Room

Both the hotel and the restaurant are excellent.

The demonstration at the Belgian chocolate factory, Huguenot Fine Chocolates, is not to be missed.  It’s every chocoholic’s dream.  While you are watching the demonstration, you are invited to eat as much chocolate as you like from four bowls; there is dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate and cocoa butter. While you are in the demonstration room, all the chocolate that you eat is free.

Franschhoek is famous for its vineyards.  The climate produces fine grapes.  There are numerous vineyards that offer tasting.  We went to two.  The town is charming and well-worth a visit.

Stellenbosch:  Also a vineyard town where the tour spent a day and an evening.  The hotel, the Lanzerac was a disappointment, as was the wine that we tasted at their tasting room. They should remove this stop from the tour. Stellenbosch is very near Franschhoek.

Hotel in Sabi Sabi:  The Bush Lodge

This is an African Safari dream accommodation.  The suites are very large and very beautiful in an African motif.  The food was innovative and the hotel arrangement is full board.  Bush Lodge is very expensive.  It was included on the tour.  If paid independently, it is approximately $1,000 per day, per person.  This covers the room, complete with turn down service where mosquito netting is erected over the bed, three meals per day,  a driver (ranger) and a tracker to take you on a morning and late afternoon safari in a Land Rover that can hold eight people.  Our vehicle never had more than five people plus the ranger and the tracker, who sat up front on an elevated seat which enabled him to spot the animals.  The evening meals are like a scene out of a movie.  Tables are set up outside with many candles and a generous buffet.  You dine with your guide and the conversation is as stimulating as the environment.

Our ranger’s name was Ashley.  We all were very impressed with her qualifications.  Besides being familiar with the extensive roads inside the enormous Sabi Sabi district of Kruger National Park, she knew about the habits of animals in the greatest details. She also had great instincts to know just how close we could be to the animals that were seen.  On return one evening she surprised us with her knowledge of the galaxies of stars and could describe where they were located.  Her overall knowledge was vast and went way beyond her 28 years.

There is a superb system of communication among the rangers.  When one tracker has found an animal, they radio the other rangers and designate the location.  Each morning all the rangers at Bush Lodge meet and discuss which animals of the big 5 (The African elephant, the lion, the Black rhinoceros, the leopard and the Cape buffalo) that we have not yet seen.  We became very blasé about seeing impalas, as beautiful as they are.  We did see Cape buffalo as we left Sabi Sabi, although we were not in the safari rover. We never saw a lion in the wild or a leopard, but we did see an even rarer Cheetah.

Hotel in Zimbabwe:  The Victoria Falls Hotel

This is the best hotel in the Victoria Falls area.  It is a very old hotel with beautiful, extensive grounds with great views.  The rooms are another story.  They are small, very dark and dated.  The food is better than adequate.  It is conveniently located a short distance from Victoria Falls.