Posts Tagged With: South Africa

Out of Africa

Posted on November 22, 2019 by loansbrad

When we first told friends and family that we were going to Africa this year, they all said the same thing. Africa will forever change you and it will help put life’s priorities in perspective. We weren’t exactly sure how we would be changed but we went into this trip with an open mind and a curious attitude.

We stayed in lovely resorts and all had excellent service. The African people we met were friendly and courteous wherever we went. I told Brad that I think the people in Africa smile when they talk and always have a sparkle in their eyes and a heart-felt greeting.

But it was our guides and their personal stories that we will always remember when we look back at our trip.

We will remember Charles and Junior in Zambia who talked about their country with pride and concern. They had pride in their culture and the beauty of their country but concern about their economy and the future. Zambia’s economy has a 60 percent unemployment rate and the majority of Zambians live below the international definition of poverty with an average life expectancy of 41 years.They were experiencing daily power outages while we there due to lack of infrastructure during the drought periods (most of the power is hydroelectric) and both of them talked about the high levels of corruption in their government. They both talked about their concerns with how global warming would affect their families in the future.

Junior

We will remember our guide at the Nakatindi Village. He had great pride in the accomplishments of his humble village and the fact that he had been selected to be a tour guide. He talked about how grateful he was that Abercrombie and Kent and our resort at Sussi and Chuma had provided funds and training for the people of his village. The village now has a commerce center where people are trained to run their own business. The Bike Shop was especially impressive and the shop was exploding with bicycles that had been delivered from overseas. The community has a neighborhood watch program and each community area has their own form of democratic leadership to make sure the villagers needs are met. The adults were all friendly to us and the children were out playing games and soccer with each other. The village really doesn’t have crime and are mostly concerned about the destruction that the elephants could bring to their homes. The biggest threat to the village continues to be the spread of AIDS and health care issues. He has already seen how the new clinic has helped the community. He is frustrated that the government ignores their village and they must rely on private donations to improve their standard of living.

We will never forget Mo in Kliptown in Soweto who is running an educational program for the youth of the township. He also has to rely on private funds and donations as the township receives very little help from the government. He is very proud of the program’s accomplishments and more young people are getting skills to have jobs as a result of his group’s hard work. I still can’t get the image of the port-a- potties that ten-twelve families have to share (they only get cleaned twice a week). The lack of power and water is also a huge issue for the township.

Monwabisi Baleni — AKA Mo

Our guide, Thulani, stunned us with his accounts of daily life in Robben Island. When he slammed a prison door to let us know how it feels to be locked in, it was very powerful. Being allowed to go in Nelson Mandela’s cell was also very powerful and sobering. The memories of Apartheid are still painful and emotional for Thulani.

Thulani Mabaso

Our mountain man guide, Ross, who took us up Table Mountain was right out of the movies. At one point, he stopped and let us take a much-needed break from our vertical hike and had us look around at the view. He has been climbing Table Mountain since he was five years old and said that as far he was concerned this place was his heaven. How could he want any more out of life?

Ross, our Table Mountain hike guide, right of of central casting.

Our encounters with the African children in the villages will be our favorite memory of all. If I had the resources (and youth) of Angelina Jolie, I would have adopted them all as well! The heartbreak of watching the kids play in the filth of Kliptown, the joy of the 4th graders in the rural area of Sabi Sabi as they showed us their new robotics kits that Exclusive Resorts had donated, the hugs of all of the five and six year olds at the pre-school are memories forever. I struck up a conversation with one of the fourth graders while she was doing the robotics demonstration. She seemed exceptionally bright and told me she plans to be a doctor. I hope she will achieve her dreams. We will also remember the little girl in Zambia who looked to be about Maile’s age. She came running towards Brad and leaped into his arms as if he was her own Grandpa and gave him a long, big hug.

Speaking of grandparents, we will also remember the role of the grandparent in the family unit in the villages in Africa. The extended family is all important in Africa and grandparents are held in high esteem. They take over much of the child-rearing while the parents go to work and apparently at the age of nine or ten they are responsible for all of the sex education conversations. The children stay in the same room with their parents until that age and then the parents need to build a new room on their house. If they can’t do that, the kids have to go spend every night with their grandparents. We love spending time with Max and Maile but I am not sure if we would want to be in charge of child-rearing once they approach puberty! Families all live close to one another with brothers and sisters and cousins all in the same area if not house. We were told that even if younger people get educated and get jobs and are able to move up and leave the villages and townships, their parents and grandparents would never consider leaving their homes no matter how humble.

No one will probably let us forget some of the crazy, daring things we did willingly and maybe a little unwillingly. At home, I am a reasonably risk-averse person. Brad maybe not as much. But on vacation in an exotic place, it’s fun to try new things. Shark-diving, swimming in waterfalls; having leopards approach our Jeep; taking a bush walk with guides with armed rifles wondering if a lion might be just around the corner; going on a river boat trip down the Zambezi hoping that the rocks we were getting close to were not hippos; and hiking up Table Mountain worried that I rubbed into a Blister Bush (look it up!) that would cause horrible blisters and scars for life. . . These were all things that we don’t encounter back in Danville. Of course, nothing was more concerning than living without WiFi in Zambia and not being able to keep up with the political world back home or play Words with Friends! (Just kidding of course…..mostly it was a wonderful break from reality)

Devil’s Pool

Our guide Ruth at Sabi Sabi stole our hearts and captivated us on every safari ride. Ruth really brought the Savannah to life for us with her her excitement for each and every creature from dung beetles and millipedes to magnificent leopards and giraffes. I mean how many guides have you had in your life that will pick up elephant dung and passionately describe everything in it? That’s a special skill! Her animal and bird mating stories will stick with us and make us laugh for years to come. Ruth is only in her early 20’s and we are curious where this love of the natural world will take her. Whatever she does, she will be successful. And, yes, there were tears when we all said goodbye.

Ruth, our safari guide examining elephant dung

And lastly, we’ll remember Cameron. He was our group leader for the entire trip from Johannesburg to Cape Town. His attention to detail and love of his country showed in all of his actions. It’s a hard job being in charge of thirteen different couples in multiple foreign lands with security and weather issues out of your control. Luckily, like most of our Exclusive Resorts group, this group got along famously, all joined with our love of travel and learning about other cultures. We all commented about how great our karma was on this trip but we all know that it was Cameron’s planning and good nature that made the great things happen.

Cameron in the front,left seat. Photo by Dave Stevens

Our Table Mountain hiking group

The bush walk group

So as we end our blog and have left South Africa, we would agree that we are changed for the better, equipped with a new perspective of the importance of family and ancestors and a different viewpoint on happiness and priorities. We also are challenged to understand the poverty and racial issues that still exist in parts of Africa and the lack of basic necessities in the villages and townships. Their governments all need to find the resources to do more for their people so they don’t need to rely solely on private donations for basic needs.

A neighborhood in Soweto

On my brother Bob’s recommendation, Brad and I read Nelson Mandela’s autobiography “Long Walk to Freedom” during this trip. It made our visits to Mandela’s home in Johannesburg, the Apartheid Museum, and his prison cell on Robben Island even more powerful. We can learn a lot from Nelson Mandela during our present time. I think any blog about South Africa should end with his words so I will leave you with these. They are still meaningful in today’s world.

“I never lost hope that this great transformation would occur. I always knew that deep down in every human heart, there is mercy and generosity. No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Goodbye Africa. We can’t wait to come back and visit again.

Sunset on the Zambezi River

Categories: Africa, Cape Town, Safari, South Africa, Travel, Victoria Falls, Zambia | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

A Day in Cape Town — Prisoners, Their Guard, and a Hike up Table Mountain

Posted on November 18, 2019 by loansbrad

“I set off a bomb at a military building. I didn’t want to kill anyone and no one died. But, I made a statement about apartheid,” said Mabaso. Thulani Mabaso was a prisoner at Robben Island, a flat round island in the bay seven miles from Cape Town. He was imprisoned when he was 19 and finally freed when Nelson Mandela negotiated the release of all Pocahontas prisoners in 1991 — 12 years later.

Mabaso was our tour guide at Robben Island. He was articulate and passionate as he led our group through the prison where Nelson Mandela spent 17 of his 28 years in prison. All of us were riveted at his emotional recollections of Mandela and the conditions at the prison.

We saw the place where prisoners were processed into the prison. They were stripped, searched (in the only places that can be searched when one is naked), and issued clothing. The black prisoners were made to wear shorts to remind them the oppressive system of apartheid viewed them as mere “boys.” Leaders like Mandela were placed in a 6 ft. by 6 ft. cell with a mat as a bed, three blankets, and a bucket to use as a toilet.

Mabaso was quite proud that he was given a master key to the prison, an item he would have prized while incarcerated there. He planned to open the cell where Mandela had stayed. He bragged that other tour groups were only allowed to peek in.

While at Robben Island, Mabaso, like all political prisoners, was tortured. They beat him, cut him, forced him to eat his feces, and many other unspeakable acts. Family had to make arrangements to visit prisoners six months in advance. The prisoners, however, didn’t know about the visit until shortly before it occurred. Then they could only visit for 30 minutes with a glass wall between them. Once, Mabaso was told his father was coming to see him in a couple of days. He was so excited. When the time came for his father’s visit, he was brought to the warden’s office. They told him that he would be receiving no visitors that day. His father had been shot seven times and killed in his driveway the day before. They laughed at him and taunted him. He returned to his cell and cried.

When Mandela became president of South Africa in 1995, he closed Robben Island as a prison and converted it into a museum so the country would always remember. During the reunion of political prisoners that followed, Mabaso said he rose the ferry out to the island, but, he couldn’t force himself to get off. Once everyone else had exited, a crewman told him he had to disembark. He forced himself off. It was a highly emotional moment as the memories of his abuse came flooding back.

He then walked us to B section, the place where Mandela was imprisoned. We were able to enter his tiny cell. Mandela was about 6’4″ so he couldn’t even fully stretch out when he laid down on his mat. The prison only held Black (Bantu) and Coloured (Indians, mixed race, Asians) prisoners. White prisoners were held elsewhere. Black prisoners were given far fewer privileges, including a more sparse diet. Lisa and I have been reading Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. It was incredible to us to see in person the place he described so vividly. We walked into the cell and sat on his mat. We could feel his presence there. I imagined what 17 years in this place would be like.

The daily schedule was unchanged. The were awakened, lights on at 5:30am; they were let out of their cells to clean their buckets at 6:45 am; they then ate a meager breakfast. The were chained up and walked to the limestone quarry about a mile away where they worked at breaking up and moving stone that would not be used for anything. At 4:00 they returned and took cold seawater showers that cleaned off the dirt and sweat but made them itchy from the salt. Mabaso said he read about Colgate soap that reduced the itching effect of the seawater. It worked and he said he still uses it today. The were then fed dinner and put back in their cells only to do it all over again the next day. They had Sundays off, but, Mabaso said it was the longest day of the week because they stayed in their cells most of the day.

Mabaso told us that the view of Table Mountain from Robben Island kept him sane. He once said that he would climb to the top of that mountain some day. A guard overheard him and said, “In your dreams.” Shortly after his release in 1991, Mabaso climbed Table Mountain. He said his dream had come true.

President Obama came to visit Robben Island during his visit to South Africa. Mabaso was there to coordinate the event and help lead him around the prison. A very proud day for him. You can read more about Thulani Mabaso’s story here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/apartheid-in-south-africa

Speaking of climbing Table Mountain, Lisa and I did just that later the same day. The mountain is steep and rocky. The 2 1/2-mile, 2500 foot climb took us a little less than 2 hours, and ensured we slept very well last night! Our guide, Ross, looked straight out of central casting and was a fantastic educator on flora, fauna and trail tips. We were hot and sweaty for most of the steep, rocky climb. But, as we neared the summit, the winds picked up and the temperature dropped substantially. That caused us all to become a bit chilled as we waited for the tram rise down. Still, the views from the top were spectacular and we felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment as we posed for selfies in celebration.

Categories: Africa, Safari, South Africa, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Face to Face with Sharks

Posted on November 16, 2019 by loansbrad

When we received our itinerary in the mail a month before our trip, we were asked to choose between shark cage diving or a day of wine tasting. I quickly chose wine tasting and Brad immediately chose the sharks! So….in the spirit of marital compromise and a bit of adventure, we went with the shark cage diving. After all, our daughter Amanda had done it when she was on Semester at Sea in Cape Town. She chose the cheapest one she could find to save us a little money. That was not our intention for this trip. Never skimp on your shark cage!

When we arrived on the trip, I was chagrined to find out that no one else had chosen the shark diving. The rest of the group was going to spend a stressless day up in Wine Country. We had to leave at 6:00 am and they left at 9:00 am. One of our travel mates played the Jaws theme song for us on the way back home from dinner to get us in the mood. I was questioning whether we had chosen wisely.

Six am rolled around and we headed out with a wonderful driver named Satish. He was a wealth of information about Cape Town and the region. We went through beautiful sections of the city and looked up at the majesty of Table Mountain. Before long, we were passing through shanty towns similar to Soweto and people standing out on the streets looking for day labor jobs. The unemployment rate here is around 30% so getting work is a constant struggle. I still can’t get my head around the immense poverty and the conditions of the shanty towns here in South Africa.

We arrived at our destination, the Dyer Island Conservation Trust. They are the only shark diving company that is also involved in conservation efforts so we were happy about that. I was nervous. My brother, Bob, had been texting me on the drive to the sharks to make sure to keep my fingers and toes inside the cage, etc. You know how brothers are. He had also been shark diving here with his son Jordan.

When we went up to the briefing room, we were surrounded by 20- and 30-somethings. No sane people our age apparently sign up for this sort of thing. They were all in the touring boat that watches us shark dive!

Off we went with our waterproof orange parkas out to sea to find the sharks. The seagulls knew what was up and followed us all the way out to the shark-infested area.

When we got to our spot, we were given wet suits and Brad and I were promptly put into the first cage. No time to turn back now! I thought the cages would be completely meshed over so there was no opportunity to put my hands or feet out. That is not the case. There are large holes where you could reach out your hand and/or a shark could stick in his snout. Again, I was questioning our choice.

The crew began to throw in the chum to attract the sharks and the show began. Chum is a mixture of fish oils and parts. We learned we should keep our mouths shut while the chum is going in. We bobbed up and down going under the water looking at the sharks as they came right up to our cage. One of them was so close that his fin brushed against me. The sharks were actually well-behaved and reminded me ( a little) of swimming with the dolphins. They were just cruising together with their buddies and eating the chum and the bait. No attacking us in the cage. I quickly realized my fears were all for nothing and actually started enjoying the whole experience.

Our twenty minutes in the tank were up and we got on board so the other “youngsters” could get in the water. The hardest part of the morning was trying to get out of our wet suits in a very small bathroom while bobbing up and down in the restless seas. That process took as long as being in the ocean with the sharks did!

We saw mostly 6- to 10-foot copper sharks also known as bronze whaler sharks. Our guide on the boat got quite excited when a seven gilled cow shark approached the boat. Apparently, they are very rare and she has only seen one once before. Brad was down in the bathroom struggling with his wet suit so he didn’t get to participate in all of the seven gill cow shark excitement. We didn’t see any Great White Sharks on this trip. Their numbers are down a little in South Africa and like everything in nature, they are unpredictable.

All in all, it was quite a fun adventure. We topped it off with a wonderful sea side lunch in the town of Hermanus and toasted our morning with an Old Harbor Lager. We can mark shark cage diving off the list because next time given the choice, we are going Wine-Tasting!!

Categories: Travel | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments

The Circle of Life

Posted on November 15, 2019 by loansbrad

She suddenly stood at attention. Each one of her senses heightened. A storm was coming. The perfect time for the female leopard to find a meal for her 6-month old cub. The winds mask her scent from prey and makes it harder to hear her footsteps. We were on our final safari excursion last night when Ruth, our guide, got a radio message that the mother leopard had been located. She wasn’t far from us and it didn’t take long to find her. Soon after she came to attention she crouched down and started moving in a deliberate way through the long grass of the savannah.

It is late Spring in the African bush. Impalas, which are like small deer, are everywhere. The females are delivering their babies in droves. We had seen several new mothers and their babies over the past couple of day. Impala mothers separate from the herd when they deliver and they stay alone with their fawn for about three days to allow the mother to imprint on their newborn. The babies are able to walk within only a few minutes. But, of course, they are slower and less agile than they will be as they grow. A new mother with her fawn was hiding in the tall grass and shrubs about 200 yards from us.

Leopards are very patient hunters. They are extremely fast but don’t have great stamina. So, they work to get as close as possible without detection before they pounce. Impalas too are fast. They are also more agile than their predators. Still, with a baby in tow, mothers are far more vulnerable.

The leopard stopped and surveyed the situation. She had moved to within 100 yards of her target and was determining her next move.

She then began her move. She stealthily crept closer at a measured pace.

We had a vantage point that allowed us to see both the leopard and the impalas. The mother impala was frozen. She knew that escape would be a challenge. When the leopard got within about 25 yards she sprinted toward the impalas. Mother and baby ran behind a large rock closely followed by the leopard. We thought for sure the leopard had caught one or the other. But, they eluded the leopard by making a 90 degree turn and they came running back from behind the rock in the other direction.

As we watched all of this develop we couldn’t help but wonder whose side we were on. On one hand we wanted the mother and baby to survive. They were cute and vulnerable. On the other hand the leopard was hunting for her baby and without food, it would surely die. We were mere spectators as intervening on behalf of one or the other isn’t morally proper. Nature can be cruel and difficult to accept, but, the circle of life requires this drama to be played out.

Seconds later the leopard caught the baby impala. We heard a small shriek and it was over. The mother, who had escaped, looked on from a distance with what we interpreted as a deep sadness.

As the storm clouds grew closer the leopard began her trek back to her cub’s den. She traveled about a half mile as we followed. It is fascinating the way these animals pay absolutely no attention to us. They do not see people in Land Cruisers as a threat. We were nothing more than a part of the landscape to her.

The leopard reached a clearing and set down her kill. She made a bleating call to her cub and waited. The winds continued to blow hard and the cub did not appear. At six-months old, it is beginning to wander off and likely did not hear her. The mother leopard began to look anxious. It isn’t unusual for a group of hyenas to follow a leopard and steal their prey. While the leopard could surely fight off a single hyena, they are no match for more than one. Her cub still didn’t appear. She picked up the fawn and continued to head south.

The bush is spotted with termite mounds. They range from a couple of feet to ten feet high. Many are abandoned and used as dens by mongoose, warthogs and other smaller animals. The leopard headed toward a termite mound situated next to a large tree. She climbed to the top of the mound. There she seemed to relax. From this perch she could see any approaching hyenas and should they come, she could climb the tree. Leopards are strong climbers and can carry over 200 pounds up a tree so the fawn provided no challenge should she need to ascend.

Mother leopard continued to bleat (that’s the only word that I can think of to describe the sound) for her cub. But, as she relaxed, she also began to clean herself not unlike a house cat does.

The cub still did not appear. She laid down and continued to wait. The thunderstorms grew close with lighting strikes and thunder. As the sun began to set and the storm upon us, we decided to head back to our lodge.

As we drove back to camp we hoped that the cub was okay. This morning we heard that it was spotted in the same area we had left its mother the night before. I assume it had a full belly.

The circle of life continues.

Categories: Africa, Safari, South Africa, Travel | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

Things We Learned on our First Safari

Posted on November 14, 2019 by loansbrad

Brad and I are in Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve experiencing our first safari and enjoying every second of it. Here are a few things we have learned so far. In no particular order whatsoever.

— Safaris happen when the animals are most active. This means that you get up at the crack of dawn, rest during the middle of the day, and go back out in the evening. Because you are out for three and four hour stretches, they do require that you plan ahead for your beverage management. For me, that means maybe only a half cup of coffee before we go! Yikes!

— Be prepared to gain five pounds. The dining schedule goes like this.

5:30 am: Light Breakfast

9:00 am: Hearty Breakfast

1:00 pm: Lunch

4:00 pm: Afternoon High Tea

6:30: Cocktail while watching the sunset in the Savannah

7:30: Pre-dinner drinks in bar

8:00: Dinner

— Have your camera at the ready at all times. Impala, Kudu, and Warthogs have joined us at the lodge and at our patios. Apparently, just recently an elephant was found on the roof of our lodge!

— You will be escorted to your room by a guide when it gets dark. You don’t want to become someone’s midnight snack!

— Safaris can be relaxing. There are hundreds of species of birds here and their songs are very peaceful. I may have become a “birder” on this trip and could be joining Mary Frandsen in her love and appreciation of birds. Sorry Brad and Mike!

— Safaris can be joyous. We witnessed the birth of a baby impala and watched her take her first steps. She wobbled and fell down several times at the beginning but with her Mother’s encouragement she was up and running in about five minutes. It was joyful.

— Safaris can be intense. Think the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland on steroids. We got a call that there was a wild dog siting one morning and our guide, Ruth, sped so fast in the pouring rain that we may or may not have almost lost Mary Stevens out the back of the Jeep once or twice!

Safaris can be heart-stopping. We came upon a leopard yesterday and he came within five feet of our Jeep in his effort to go find dinner. A few of us in the Jeep stopped breathing for a moment or two.

— Shamans are real. We visited a shaman in the nearby village and she predicted our group would see a leopard and within thirty minutes on the ride home we all encountered our first leopard. He had been eluding us for days.

— African children are loving and are eager to pose for photos and give you hugs. We spent a morning at several nearby schools and were completely overwhelmed by the children’s hugs and smiles.

— Mothers are the heroes of the Savannah but also can be the most vulnerable. The gestational periods for elephants can be up to 22 months , the Rhino up to 15-16, while the hippo and impala are only 6-8 months. The Lionesses have cubs in only 110 days. The Mothers we saw were very protective of their young while the male species were off galavanting or possibly watching football! Sadly, Mothers and Babies can also be prey because they are the most vulnerable especially after they have just given birth.

— There is an incredible diversity of animals and birds on the Savannah and they even provide you a check list to mark them off! I love lists so it has been great fun. So far, I have checked off 24 animal species including animals I had never heard of like Kudus, Bushbucks, and Duikers. We have also checked off 32 species of beautiful, colorful birds with names like the Square-Tailed Nightjar, the Red-Billed Oxpecker, and the Lilac-breasted Roller.

— We saw the Big Five and are allowed to go off road to follow them. So far, we have seen Lions, Rhinos, Cape Buffalo, Elephant, and our elusive Leopard. Following a leopard as he went after a kill might be one of the most exciting animal experiences I have ever heard. We have been close to seeing the Magnificent Seven which include all the Big Five, Wild Dogs, and Cheetah. All we need to do is find that rarely-sighted Cheetah.

— Bush Walks have their own element of excitement. We went out today with two guides whose rifles were loaded and told us what to do if we happened to run upon a lion or elephants. The rules are no walking and talking and no running away or screaming if we happen upon a large animal. While we were on foot, we chanced upon an elephant, a hippo, and more kudu. Not your average walk around the property!!

Our guide and tracker are passionate and incredibly knowledgeable. Our guide, Ruth is a 23 year old woman from CapeTown who has a love of the Savannah that is unparalleled. Her knowledge of every living creature that we have encountered is astounding. She is willing to pick up Elephant Dung and show us everything the elephants have had for breakfast as well as telling us colorful mating stories of African Crake (The males stick around in this story). Dollen, our tracker can sight a Serval in the high grass in the dark or a Verreaux’s Eagle Owl in a dense tree from afar. His sensory perception is unreal. We have felt fortunate to have Ruth and Dollen as our team this week. It is going to be hard to say good-bye tomorrow. There will be tears.

Here are a sampling of other animals we saw along the way:

Categories: Africa, Safari, South Africa, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Failure to Launch

Posted on November 7, 2019 by loansbrad

Well, it’s 11:45pm and we are sitting in San Francisco airport’s baggage claim waiting to retrieve our luggage. Yeah, I know. We’re supposed to be on our way to Johannesburg, South Africa.

We arrived at SFO promptly at 4:15 for our 6:45 flight because Lisa likes to be prompt when we travel. I, on the other hand, like to get to the airport just in time to board. But, after 34 years of marriage, one learns to compromise — which means Lisa gets to decide.

We were entertained in the waiting area by a mother with a toddler and a 3-year old. They were running around the waiting area saying “aah, aah”. Constantly. Really loudly. That made us happy. Not because we like kids that are yelling really loud. We were happy because we weren’t the ones chasing the kids around the waiting area.

After about a 30-minute delay, we boarded our United flight to Frankfurt. Then we sat. And sat. Apparently a light in the cockpit suggested one of the doors wasn’t closing. The crew knew the door was closing, but, clearly that little light in the cockpit didn’t. So, we sat some more.

After about 3 hours the pilot glumly announced that the flight was cancelled and we all needed to get off. Lisa and I didn’t want to get off because we had to get to Johannesburg. The flight attendant politely nudged us out of our seats and off the plane.

Travel, like life, can throw you unexpected curveballs. It happens to all of us. Success and happiness don’t depend on things going as planned. They depend on how you respond. For Lisa and I it meant waiting in line to reschedule our flight for tomorrow, calling the house sitter to send her home, grabbing bad Asian food and a beer while we waited for our luggage to be retrieved, and then riding home in an Uber where I sit writing this blog entry.

We are feeling pretty fortunate even though we’d rather be on our way. After all, we’re not the mom chasing around two toddlers.

Categories: Africa, Safari, South Africa, Travel | Tags: | 3 Comments

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