New York Madrid Barca Paris

We are off on another adventure! Kurt had meetings in New York and a conference 10 days later in Paris so we decided to travel together and enjoy a few days in between in Spain. Our itinerary is to travel to New York for Kurt's work. On the weekend we will head up to the United States Military Academy at West Point to see the graduation of our nephew Issac with some other members of Kathy's family. Then we will take a flight to Madrid on Sunday. On Thursday we will take the train to Barcelona. On the following Sunday we will take the train to Paris. Kurt will attend an International Bar Association conference in Paris for a few days then Thursday we return to SFO via SEA.

Home

I never did finish up the last entry to our trip blog. We left Namibia and flew to Johannesburg. We spent the night at the airport hotel (our third stay there this trip!) and had a free day. We decided to visit a local game reserve to see if we could see some animals we did not see on our earlier safaris. We saw some "zoo animals" (what I call animals that although are not in cages are fed rather than fending for themselves) and some "wild animals" (animals that although are confined feed on their own and are not fed.) We paid the 30 rand ($3) each to pet the baby lions and had a nice visit. Then back into the airport, some quick shopping and then on the long Delta flight to ATL, then on to SLC. Jordan and family and some friends of John met us at the airport.

Our trip to Africa is over.

Oryx

Sable

Wildebeest sparing

Petting the lion cub

Albino Tiger (I know, not native to Africa, but still cool)

Business class!

SLC

Namibia

The last leg of our African adventure took us to Namibia. It was part of John’s mission but later transferred to the new Botswana mission. He never got to serve there but always wanted to visit. We got up too early (3AM for our 6AM flight) and were taken to the Cape Town airport for the flight to Windhoek, Namibia. We were met by Cliff who took us into town and we met up with our newest friend Nico (a Jeep Wrangler).  We drove Nico the 3 ½ hours to Swakopmund, on the Atlantic coast and Kurt only drove the left side of Nico onto the shoulder a few times (still getting the hang of driving on the left.) The vegetation went from the dry grass and acacia trees we became accustomed to in Sabi Sand to the barren dunes of the Namib desert. Reaching Swakop we checked into the Swakopmund Guest House, a nice clean motel but lacking needed heat, a pebbly-floored bathroom, a giant ocean-view mural with a rock cairn, and with only a glass door opening onto the courtyard. Our afternoon activity was a walk through the village and a drive out on to the sandy beach north of town. Our first night’s dinner was a freezing cold walk about 6 blocks to the Tug restaurant on the ocean (and made of parts of a decommissioned tugboat). The food was good and we were soon back at the guest house.

Up the next morning and after some confusion about whether we were being picked up or needed to drive out to the local airport, and a delay occasioned by heavy fog, we were off with our pilot Serge in a single engine plane flying low over the dry Swakop river and the sea of dunes that is the Namib. We enjoyed our view until we got to the coast and were disappointed by the fog bank that prevented us from experiencing close up from the air the several hundred foot high dunes plunging into the sea. We did see several shipwrecks (one of hundreds that gives this stretch of ocean the name the Skeleton Coast) then returned to Swakop. The afternoon found us traveling by Land Rover with our guide Chris who showed us the abundance of life to be found in the apparently lifeless dunes. He scooped out a legless skink, spotted a chameleon hidden by a small bush (the chameleon walks with a strange back and forth rocking motion that helps it look more like a plant blowing the breeze), caught a deadly horned adder (or viper) and a colorful gecko about to molt. We drove straight up and over dunes, enjoyed the views and had a delightful time. Chris made fun of our “Jurassic” camera that took these great pictures and passionately decried to environmental damage being done by recreational quad bikes and motorcycles throughout the desert (he called it the greatest environmental catastrophe of our time.) Dinner was at the Jetty 1905 restaurant (we were smart and drove to it) at the end of the jetty. The walk was cold and wet and once inside there was a glass floor that showed the waves crashing beneath the restaurant that shook noticeably for every large wave. We had a great meal (John had the Springbok, Kathy the butternut and orange soup and Kurt had a “burger” of tempura prawns, calamari and line fish).

In the morning we drove along the coast to Walvis Bay then inland to the famous Dune 7 then across the desert to the main highway back to Windhoek. We saw flamingos eating in a desert waterhole (the trip started with Kurt’s favorite bird, the lilac breasted roller, and ended with Kathy’s, the flamingo!) On the trip back only once did Kurt’s driving give Kathy and John such a start that they both cried out. Safely at the airport, we boarded our Air Namibia flight to Jo’burg and started the long journey home.

Over the Namib Desert

Cozy

Downtown Swakop with the Tug Restaurant in foreground

Ferguson's Skink

Chameleon

Gecko

Horned Viper

Shovel-nosed lizard

Dinner at the Jetty 1905

Flamingos

Nico, John and Cliff

Headed back to Jo'burg

New birds and mammals

Cape Town added only:

Mammals

Eland

Birds

Ibis, Hadeda

Ostrich

Penguin, African

CAPE TOWN

The next day in Cape Town the weather was clear and Table Mountain was free of clouds so we took our rental car up the road and rode the tram to the top. Of course, once we waited in line to buy tickets, waited in line to ride the tram and took the tram to the top the clouds started to roll in and we had limited visibility. We had a good time in the cold clouds (Table Mountain is about 3500 feet above sea level so quite a change from Cape Town at sea level) then headed down. The rental car had a flat front left tire (Kurt apparently had run on the left shoulder a few too many times!) We returned the car, headed to the mall to buy John some new clothes and had dinner at a Belgium restaurant on the waterfront.

JOHN !!!

Kathy and Kurt spent a relaxing Wednesday in rainy Cape Town wandering through an upscale, modern mall and through the shops on the V&A waterfront. On Thursday morning we rented a car and drove over to the mission home to pick up Elder Krieger. What a thrill to see John after two years! He has grown a few inches but is his happy, effervescent self. It was fun to see him interact with his fellow soon to be released friends and hear some stories. President and Sister Merrill (who only arrived last month) were great.

We drove over to the hotel, disposed of some particularly worn-out clothing and headed out on a drive. With John navigating, Kurt could concentrate on driving on the left side of the road. We first stopped at Boulder’s Beach for lunch and to see the African Penguins (added to the list!). Then on down the east side of the peninsula to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope enjoying great views and lots of scenery (we saw ostrich, hadeda ibis and a herd of 30 eland at the cape). We rode the funicular up to the lighthouse (and thought of Grandma Krieger, Happy Birthday Molly!) Our path took us through Fish Hoek (pronounced “hook” meaning corner in Afrikaans), which was John’s first mission area. We saw a bit of the township where he did most of his work and marveled that he spent his entire mission working in townships, where the poorest Africans live. He said he always felt safe there, as they understood the efforts of the Mormon missionaries. It is amazing that they were so welcoming to a young white man from Draper, Utah. We finished our drive back to Cape Town up the west side of the peninsula along the Chapman’s Peak Road past the mountains known as the Twelve Apostles, through the city and back to our hotel.

Cape of Good Hope

Chobe additional identified species

Mammals (7 new species, total 34 identified)

Jackal, Black-backed

Lechwe, Red

Lion

Polecat, Striped

Roan

Sable

Squirrel, Ground

Birds (35 new species, total 87 identified)

Bee-eater, White-fronted

Bustard, Kori

Cormorant, Reed

Darter, African

Duck, Knob-billed (or Comb)

Duck, White-faced Whistling

Eagle, African Fish

Egret, Great

Egret, Little

Egret, Slaty (or Black)

Egret, Western Cattle

Egret, Yellow-billed

Gull, Grey-headed

Hammerkop

Heron, Goliath

Heron, Grey

Hornbill, African Grey

Ibis, African Sacred

Ibis, Glossy

Jacana, African

Kingfisher, Giant

Kingfisher, Pied

Lapwing, Blacksmith

Lapwing, White-crowned

Openbill, African

Quelea, Red-billed

Skimmer, African

Spurfowl, Red-billed

Starling, Cape Glossy

Stilt, Black-winged

Stork, Marabou

Stork, Saddle-billed

Stork, Yellow-billed

Swallow, Wire-tailed

Vulture, White-backed

Last game drive and on to Cape Town

Yesterday was our last game drive. We only had a few hours because others in our Land Cruiser were scheduled for an early departure from the hotel. We saw prints where a leopard had dragged an impala across the road (alas, no Mumps to jump off and track it for us and no Liam to drive cross-country until we found it), another lone sable antelope and a business of mongoose coming out of the termite mound where they spent the night. (I looked them up: a pride of lions, a dazzle of zebra, a sounder of warthogs, a tower of (standing) giraffe, a jenny of (moving) giraffe and a business of mongoose!)

We said a sad goodbye to room 408 at the Chobe Game Lodge and headed to the Kasane, Botswana, International Airport. We transferred through JNB from international arrivals to domestic departures and arrived at the Table Bay hotel. Today the weather is rainy, windy and cold (winter rains in Cape Town, summer rains in Johannesburg) so we expect to just hang around the Victoria and Albert Waterfront shops, mall and restaurant. Tomorrow we pick up John!

A couple of notes from the (limited) comments you dear readers have left on the blog:

Jack and Molly: Thank you for your constant comments and yes, a “giraffe in hand is worth two leopard in the bush.”

JJ and Lewis: More giraffe photos for you.

Jackie: More baby elephants

Lewis: Another lovey-dovey hotel picture for you

Leopard having dragged a kill (impala?)

Black-backed jackal

Banded mongoose

Chobe Game Lodge

Chobe Game Lodge

Great selection at Chobe Game Lodge

Elephants playing at a waterhole

Table Bay Hotel decorations