Day One: JohannesburgWe left JFK on Sunday morning and flew with South African Airways. After a very long and very dreadful flight we arrived at OR Tambo in Johannesburg on Monday morning. We then went to our hotel where we were staying for one night. We didn’t feel that we wanted to spend too much time in Johannesburg, but being that we were landing there anyways we spent one day there and toured a bit.
After washing up and resting a bit we went off for our tour of Soweto. We drove through Soweto and got a running commentary on everything we passed. It was very interesting to hear about the lifestyle there from our guide, who was a local. We saw Winnie Mandela and Bishop Tutu’s homes, stopped at the Mandela Family Museum (but didn’t pay for entry) and visited the Hector Pieterson Museum.
Hector Pieterson was killed at age 13 during the Soweto uprising and the museum is located two blocks away from where he was shot and killed. Hector's sister Antoinette, who is seen in the photo below, works at the museum as a tour guide, and we were able to meet her.
HectorPietersonMemorial by
ponash, on Flickr
A standard township in South Africa:
Townships by
ponash, on Flickr
After that we went out to eat at Metzuyan. The food was really good and the prices can't be beat! (The dollar gets you really far over there)
Day Two: Victoria Falls, ZimbabweTuesday morning we went right back to OR Tambo to catch our flight to Zimbabwe. After sitting down and getting ready to take off, we were all told to get off the plane and identify our luggage. Apparently a family with 2 kids had 11 pieces of luggage that caused some confusion. After all getting back on the stewardess walked up and down the aisle and sprayed us with some sort of insecticide so we don’t bring any diseases to the animals. Then, after hearing the landing gear go down and circling for a while, we were told that we couldn’t land yet because there were animals on the runway. We finally did land a little while later but we were pretty pleased with this introduction to Zimbabwe
.
We then landed in Victoria Falls Airport in Zimbabwe. I was handed my passport back after getting a visa and walked off without looking at it. Good thing the agent called me back because he had mistakenly handed me a 90 year old woman’s passport.
VictoriaFallsAirport by
ponash, on Flickr
Some dudes dancing outside the airport:
DancingDudes by
ponash, on Flickr
We then went to our hotel which is right near the falls. Ilala Lodge is a really nice little place with amazing service. They were also extremely accommodating when it came to dealing with our kosher food. After checking in we went to Victoria Falls. The falls are magnificently beautiful and still manages to have that untouched nature feel that Niagara does not. We were planning on doing Devil’s Pool and tried to arrange it. Unfortunately we didn’t realize that you normally have to book 2 days in advance, and we weren’t able to work it into our very packed schedule. I was disappointed about that but as we were walking along the falls we got just as close to the edge. But still, you’re not in the water. Oh well… next time
VicFalls3 by
ponash, on Flickr
VicFalls by
ponash, on Flickr
Here you can see some people in Devil’s Pool:
DevilsPool by
ponash, on Flickr
Note the baboons crossing the bridge from Zimbabwe to Zambia:
Bridge by
ponash, on Flickr
Some warthogs in the backyard of our hotel (we were told at check in to keep the back doors closed at night so animals, mainly baboons, don’t climb in):
Warthogs by
ponash, on Flickr
After getting back to the hotel we walked to the market. As we were getting near the market we were approached by a Tourism Policeman who walked with us. Zimbabwe’s main source of income is their tourism so they are very protective of it. And with good reason! We entered a big open space and immediately started getting calls and shouts. We decided on a shop to enter, a big building with no electricity. We walked in were instantly surrounded by complete darkness and about 10 women, pushing onto us, harassing us to buy their wares. It was quite the experience!
Market by
ponash, on Flickr
Apparently they don’t listen to the rules:
MarketSign by
ponash, on Flickr
Day Three: BotswanaWednesday morning we crossed over the Botswana border, which was about an hour from our hotel, and went directly to Chobe National Park. We then took a game drive for a couple of hours. It was amazing and we were able to see 3 of the big 5 on our first day on safari. We were lucky enough to see a leopard, which are really elusive. We came across a dead elephant and the leopard was snacking on it:
Leopard by
ponash, on Flickr
Elephants protecting the sleeping babies:
Elephants by
ponash, on Flickr
After the game drive we drove to the Chobe lodge for lunch.
Giraffe crossing the road (a regular street outside the park):
Giraffe by
ponash, on Flickr
After lunch we did a river safari cruise which was really nice. The weather was perfect and we sailed through the river and were able to see a whole host of animals including crocodiles, hippos and buffalo.
The ‘office’ where were registered our boat:
BoatOffice by
ponash, on Flickr
Crocs by
ponash, on Flickr
ElephantPostcard by
ponash, on Flickr
Family of elephants crossing the water and then rolling in the mud (the mud acts as sunscreen for them):
ElephantsCrossingWater by
ponash, on Flickr
ElephantsMud by
ponash, on Flickr
We then returned back to Zimbabwe and to our hotel.
To be continued...
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