CHOBE NATIONAL PARK, Botswana

Our guide set us up for low expectations of seeing much wildlife in Chobe National Park this morning. Seems the giraffe, elephants and cape buffalo stay inland until the warmer part of the day when they amble down to the river for a drink and the sandy tracks for vehicles don't go into the bush. So I sat back content to take photos of the moon over African skies followed by the dramatic rise of the sun.

Was I surprised when our driver Motumba took a left turn and circled back to where a leopard was napping in the neck of bare tree branches. As we arrived he yawned (just an assumption) stretched and sat up to look our way. Then he gracefully scurried down the tree and off into the woods.


On our way out of the park gates we all were sharing our excitement about our amazing leopard sighting as we gazed down the valley at cape buffalo arriving at the Chobe river when just in front of us a lioness was meandering along the soft sand tracks. A shared shhhhh hung over our jeep as we sidled up beside her. As if stopping to say hello she sat down and turned to gaze at us. Just then another jeep arrived having received radio contact from Motumba. With purpose she dashed across the road and prowled through the bush as if stalking prey while we drove along beside her (and I pressed the right button on my video recorder!). Satisfied that we'd gotten the best photographs, we scooted on our before being doused with the dust of the half-dozen vehicles coming to see our lion sighting.



Okay, this all happened before breakfast! And every time we think we've seen more amazing scenes than we could possibly imagine, we see something more spectacular. In the afternoon Joan and I took a walk along the river and saw some of the locals catching fish. I've attached some photos of the human sightings that are to me as colorful as the animals.





In the evening we went on another sunset river cruise which was much more dramatic than the night before – the animals but not the sunset. On most days of this trip I've had trouble narrowing down the photos but today was absolutely the hardest!





In addition to the dramatic animals, today we saw a number of Roan Antelope that are very rare and horselike and also a puku which now can only be found in Botswana. And this evening we saw at least 1000 elephants. Evidently many are immigrating from Angola (to avoid the landmines of civil war) and Zimbabwe to escape the poachers that the political turmoil allows. These are incredibly intelligent animals! And they are kind, too. We saw a herd gathered at the waterfront and when another herd arrived they all moved aside so the others could drink. I think we could all learn a lot about world peace by being more elephantlike!

SOWETO, South Africa

Obama for President! Our traveling mate Sally had the foresight to bring Obama for President buttons on this trip. It's been a great equalizing conversation starter in urban settings. The Sowetoans we met shared our enthusiastic endorsement of Obama.

Soweto is home to 4 million South Africans from nine different tribes with a rich history in the struggle to abolish Apartheid. Our guide Queen, a resident of Soweto, showed us the "good, the bad and the ugly." We drove past gated exclusive homes (a small section) as well as varying neighborhoods and stopped at Sakhumzi for a down-home African lunch on Vilakazia St., the only street in the world where two Nobel Peace Prize winners have lived. (Nelson Mandela's former home is just up the block from Rev. Desmond Tutu's Soweto house.)

According to Queen, Soweto is a very safe township due to the vigilante efforts of private citizens who work in cooperation with local police. This is not the case in Johannesburg. The Stock Exchange and virtually all of the other office buildings have been virtually rebuilt just north of Joburg in Sandton. There are no hotels left downtown and many office buildings have become refugee squatter camps. Queen was robbed at gunpoint last month after a trip to the bank in Joburg. She described her ordeal in a matter-of-fact way and commented: "So it's better, they don't take our lives."

Our afternoon was spent at the Apartheid museum adding emotion to a sobering day. No pictures allowed but I did sneak one in while imagining the terror one must live with when stripped of all dignity and recourse

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The road to PRETORIA, South Africa

Disclaimer: Most of these photographs were taken from a moving vehicle. The disadvantage of being on an organized tour is you can't always stop when you might like. The advantages, however, include such niceties as having a car waiting at each destination avoiding the delays involved in renting a car or public transportation (which is basically not an option here). And we are able to have lively and lovely conversations with our traveling companions: Brenda and Mort from Boca Raton, Gene and Leslie from Manhattan Beach, and sisters Judy from mid-Jersey and Sally from Falls Church, VA.

We left the bush today and took a long marched to Pretoria. On the way to Nelspruit for our plane to Johannesburg we passed through rural areas so I held my arm out the window of our van snapping photos in hopes that a few would capture the flair of the rural areas that are spotted across the vast expanses between cities. Our route took us through Mkhulu, a tribal village; Hazyview, a larger town with lodges servicing Kruger Park and where Frank sleeps with a gun under his pillow in his proper white house on the hill; and Whiteriver (Wit Rivier in Afrikans).

Smoke-filled air greeted us in Johannesburg, a common result of dry winter brushfires, as we boarded our bus to Pretoria for a very Anglo-tour of Voortrekker Monument and the Union Building. Pretoria was settled by the Boers during the Great Trek which was similar to the pioneers heading west during that same period in America and included similar hardship and bloodshed.

As we drove through Pretoria I once again posted myself at the open window of our van and caught a few glimpses of contemporary Pretoria.

(Only saw oxen today and a few wildebeest grazing so no animal pictures for you. Last night I hung out on the lawn at our hotel with Zebra munching at my feet and though I attempted photographs I was only able to capture black night and pairs of laser-like eyes.)

KRUGER GATE HOTEL, South Africa

Between game drives we spent the afternoon at our hotel. Joan did the sensible thing and relaxed with a book. I created my own walking safari on the hotel grounds and pretended I was an animal photographer. Now there's a calling …

BTW – we've been enjoying a variety of new palate teasers: ostrich, kudo, impala, springbok, wildebeest and even some crocodile. All rather tasty.