Voyager Africa: November 2017

We arrived in Kenton-on-Sea, South Africa, on October 16, so happy to be back in South Africa (we visited here with our son, Derek, in 2004) and so happy to be reunited with our longtime friend, Sally. Sally was an exchange student in David’s High School in 1969-70 and what started with a mutual love of Jimmy Hendricks has now evolved into a 48 year friendship. Sally is a retired teacher of English Literature and a life-long resident of South Africa-----and a lot of fun to be with! She agreed to travel with us for about a month and she organized this trip through much of the country. And what a trip it has been----so beautiful, so meaningful, so thought-provoking-----with great birds and flora and fauna and history and present day understandings/questions all thrown into the mix.

Malachite Sunbird on watsonia flower on Sani Pass

On top of Sani Pass entering Lesotho with Sally

We left from Kenton and headed to the Drakensberg Mountains. We stayed in this region for several days and went up in Lesotho by way of the Sani Pass. This is an all –day adventure up a steep and precarious dirt road that leads to a magical land up over the pass. We then headed toward the Indian Ocean coast to St. Lucia and Cape Vital. The area lies along the Indian Ocean wetlands and it is one of South Africa’s best birding sites. We stayed in a cabin right next to the ocean for several days. Highlights included many species of antelope, seeing endangered Samanga monkeys, and seeing the Purple Turaco and a Red-chested Cuckoo---a bird Sally has heard calling all her life but never seen until now.

From here it was on to Kruger National Park, one of the great treasures for wildlife and preservation in the world. There were so many highlights here, but our three-day hike into the unfenced bush of Nayalaland and seeing the Big Five (Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo, Lion, and Leopard) were two of the best. Our guide for the walk, Ndou, was featured in a recent Country Life magazine article. We bought the magazine before the trip to study up for the trip, not knowing it featured the person who would become our guide----and it turned out that Ndou did not know the article had been written. Midway through the hiking trip we all finally put this together and we ended the trip by gladly giving Ndou the magazine. He was thrilled to see the article and to share this with his family.

From Kruger we left the park and headed north to the Limpopo River, staying on a guest farm. We were able to stand by the Limpopo and look across to Zimbabwe and Botswana. We had terrific discussions with the host, Riley, about preservation of open space in relationship to farming----these followed similar discussions in Kruger with Ndou. A highlight was visiting the Mapungubwe, a site of a native culture dating from about 800-1290 AD. It reminded Karen and me so much of the Chaco Canyon culture in America. From here we headed south to Johannesburg to visit with Sally’s daughter, Nicky, and her family and visit with Sally’s sister, Maryanne and husband, Brian. Maryanne and Brian took us out to their house along the nearby Vaal River. It was a real treat to meet more of Sally’s family and spend time together. From here we headed south toward Kenton with a stop on a Karoo Farm and guesthouse. We spotted our second owl here, a Barn Owl. Finally we made our way back to Kenton----and to sad good-byes with Sally.

Karen and I then headed to Cape Town where we have been for the past 5 days. We visited the Cape Point Park (the southeastern most point of Africa), Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, the spectacular new Zeitz Modern Art Museum, and went out on a pelagic birding boat trip that was incredible. We head to Namibia and Etosha National Park next before heading back to Uganda in a week.