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Ok, I realise many of you were left in suspense by my last post and there has likely been much groaning and grinding of teeth in the seemingly eternal delay. Right.
Well, suffice to say that Chobe, Vic Falls and Zambia were great. Maybe during a quieter time, I'll pen some of my thoughts on the matter. But now, that's old news, and I'm in Cape Town, South Africa thanks to the very good and kind hospitality of Julie Hagen. We drove down on Monday and Tuesday, a mere 1400km and since then I've been officially 'on vacation'. Yes, I'm slowly ticking off as many tourist targets as possible. On Wednesday, it was the V&A waterfront, Thursday Cape Point and Boulders Beach (PENGUINS!), and yesterday the city centre, museums, knife wielding mugger, and Table Mountain. Today we went out to Hermanus in search of whales, but unfortunately they weren't near the coast and it was too windy to go out on a boat. Ah well!
But, I don't think that this list format is doing anyone any favours, particularly the sights themselves. So I'll give a brief rundown of each-
Victoria and Alfred waterfront - good weather helped here, and I even saw a seal. The two oceans aquarium was good as well. There is also a regular ferry out to Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned, but the prison is undergoing refurbishment at the moment (odd, I know...), so I gave that a miss.
Boulders Beach - home to the Cape penguins, formerly known as Jackass penguins beacause of their braying, though I think that was rather mean. They were really nice, if a bit smelly.
Cape Point - apparently the point where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet, though there is some debate about that. Some great views as you walk down it and see less and less land and more and more and more sea far below you. Slightly less popular but maybe more interesting was the cape of good hope, the most south-westerly point of Africa. I had to wait in line behind a load of Japanese tourists, but I got a cool photo of that (thanks Julie!). Oh, and as if all that wasn't memorable enough, a baboon leapt into the car, ripped open a bag to get at the bananas inside, and proceeded to peel and eat them on the front passenger seat. I had to swipe it with my bag to convince it to leave, after it started going after my sunscreen (yellow bottle - not a baboon-proof idea).
City centre - I didn't have much time here, so I tried to do as much as possible. I went to the castle, where I saw people dressing up and firing dinky cannons. I went to the National Gallery where there were exhibitions on local art relating to Apartheid, and the museum where I got to see whale skeletons, rock art and a planetarium.
Knife wielding mugger - wow, I've enjoyed making you all wait for this story, though I'm grateful it isn't more dramatic. Long story short, two guys stop me in the street, ask for money. I give R10, walk away. Same two guys follow me down busy street, chatting. Then they stop me again, ask for more. I give R10. One guy pulls out knife, and tells me not to *$!" with him, upon which request, I hand over R300 and politely ask to be left alone. I proceed to nearest cafe, and stop shaking gradually and realise what a bargain it was to not risk being stabbed. Also, pretty happy I kept my camera and phone, both of which are greatly more valuable and important to me. Although if asked to choose, my casio or my life, I'm sure some rapid re-evaluation would take place.
Right, I think that's more than enough drama for now kiddies, off to bed!
edit: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2627&l=6bc04&id=505324220

I know the question on all of your minds - did he, didn't he?
He did!
Oh yes, I bunji jumped from Victoria Falls this Sunday, and I'm happy to report that my retinas seem to have remained intact, even after the incredibly rickety 6 hour bus journey to Francistown. It was the highlight of a great weekend, where on the same day, we camped out under the african sky in the bush, saw a lion, got soaked at Victoria Falls and added considerably to our passports. I took 300 photos this weekend, though admittedly maybe 150 of them are the same things from minutely different angles, but I think that should be a measure of the weekend. It takes far too long for me to upload lots of them however, so I'm just going to put a few select ones up for the time being.
So, after a 12 hour bus journey from Gaborone to Livingstone in Zambia with 12 Canadians and 2 Americans, we arrived at Jollyboy's lodge. From there, Chove National Park overnight, where the elephant population outnumbers the human. Back to the lodge in the morning and from there to Vic Falls - quite rightly one of the 7 wonders of the world.
I'll write more later, but for now...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2380&l=f9466&id=505324220

I've noticed a slight dip in my output as of late, and as such this is an effort to remedy that situation. Go - Filler!
Right, tonight I'll be departing on an overnight bus to Livingstone in Zambia, with 14 other people. We'll be staying in a backpackers lodge that has been recommended to me by a few people, and from there we'll be heading out on a safari to Chobe, where we'll be camping on Saturday night, and from there going back to Livingstone in the morning after our third game drive. (pause for breath). And on arriving, we'll be bundled into a bus to look around Victoria Falls, where I will have to make that decision which has plagued man for generations - to bungi or not to bungi? If it was as simple as that, I would be over in a heartbeat. But! Thanks to some of my friends, two words have become lodged in my head - detatched retinas. So now I've got an excuse not to do it, but if it was really a likely problem, then there's no way as many people would do it as they do. So... at the moment I'm leaning towards it (though not too far forwards that I lose my balance).
I should be back Monday evening, and I'll be sure to take plenty of photos!

Rain, rain go away

I was at the pre-school today, doing some hard labour for the playground, and afterwards went in to play with the kids. They sang the classic "Rain rain go away", which struck me as pretty funny considering that this country is in a drought. Yes, little Johnny might want to play, but your dam is less than half full...
I was lucky enough to be invited away for the weekend with some friends at the hospital, so we went to Tau (lion) lodge in Madikwe, a reserve in the north of South Africa. It was really good, and I am trying to upload photos even now, but if it doesn't work then I'll try from another computer later in the week. It was a very different Africa that I saw in that 5 star lodge (one night was more than a month's budget...), and one that I think most of us want to see when we come over on holiday. But, it is a very different place to what most Africans live with. For example, I think half of these guys have never seen a lion, yet we have it on our 'must see' list. Don't get me wrong, I loved my time there, not having to worry about food (fridge still broken), getting shown everything in great comfort, but I am also enjoying my time in the real world, with friends and a routine.
Oh, we saw two of the Big 5, a lioness and elephants. We even got to eat ostrich on Saturday, which I would highly recommend - a very lean meat, more like beef than chicken.
Next weekend I should be going up to Chobe, a destination I've really been looking forwards to. I thought I had a travel plan, but all of a sudden (i.e. this morning), the guys I was planning on going with have said that their organisation has arranged something similar for them, but that I am still welcome to come along. I'll go for sure, I just don't know exactly when, where or how much it will be. Ah well, everything will work out in the end!
And it is now just a fortnight until I go to Cape Town, so I'm getting very excited!
For photos, try http://picasaweb.google.com/mattman.d/UntitledAlbum