Random thoughts and photos
As I write this, we have one month to go to the Hatboro Horsham 50th reunion! Our committee of four has been planning this since early 2022.
We spent months locating people that we had lost since graduation. It bore fruit with around 120 guests ticketed as of now. It was great, catching up with old friends, even if they didn’t have or make the time to travel to Pennsylvania for the event.
After the event, we will have some photos of the two events planned for all to enjoy. Cheers!
So ever since 2011, when we moved here from Bucks County, PA, I’ve fallen in love with the south. So many things are different in a very positive way. The warmth of the people, the pace of life, the cost of living, etc.
But there a couple things that have perplexed me and left me “wondering why.” One is the phenomenon of busing kids versus parents taking them to school. Up North, almost everyone seems to ride the bus (elementary school age). Here the opposite exists, with parents spending a lot of their days waiting to pick up and drop off their kids. Google street view has some examples below locally here in South Carolina.
While up North, layouts dont need to accommodate the “parental processional” twice a day. See below.
The southern setup makes commuting during school hours much busier than it would otherwise be. Parents spill out onto the roads, sometimes snarling traffic.
So why is this? I’d love to hear others opinions! When I look at the demographics (it appears that the mix of bussed kids versus driven kids).
I may be off base. Help me de-mystify this phenomenon!
On Tuesday we started week 2 in Knysna. Its a beautiful town on the Garden Route set on a lagoon with 2 “heads” guarding it from the Indian Ocean.
The Garden Route (Afrikaans: Tuinroete) is a stretch of the south-eastern coast of South Africawhich extends from Mossel Bay in the Western Cape to the Storms River in the Eastern Cape. The name comes from the verdant and ecologically diverse vegetation encountered here and the numerous lagoons and lakes dotted along the coast. It includes towns such as Knysna,Plettenberg Bay and Nature’s Valley; with George, the Garden Route’s largest city and main administrative centre.
We stayed in an inn at the top of the mountain overlooking town, Falcons View Manor.
Falcons View Manor’s history has a strong connection to the Thesen family, who played an integral role in the development of Knysna as a timber town. The Thesen family home, Hill House, has become Falcons View Manor, an official heritage building. And while the hotel retains its original charm, the rooms in the Manor House have recently been refurbished to satisfy contemporary tastes.
We did some shopping after touring the Heads and Thesen Island and headed out out for our 4 hour trek to Gansbaii (HANS-bye), the Great White Shark capital of the world. We had just been informed by our gregarious host Renee of the White Shark Guest House that our dive (Thursday the 28th) had been cancelled due to wind and waves.
So we had a nice meal in town and headed out earlier the next day to get extra time on Cape Town with the hope of returning Sunday for a dive when the weather cleared.
We drove from Gansbaai directly to Cape Point National Park along the ocean. Between St. James and Kalk Bay we ran into almost an hour delay to construction that had been going on for a couple of years now.
After we got through we stopped at the Salty Dog restaurant in Simons Town, a fish and chips place. We were starved so it worked. Onto Cape Point, now racing a rain front due to our construction delay.
With the weather Cape Point was less than spectacular. The highest point actually is a lighthouse not the Cape of Good Hope itself. We learned that the Cape of Good Hope is not where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet but instead the most southern point in Africa. The 2 oceans meet at Cape Agulhas though this is a point of debate among South Africans.
This was Thursday. Friday, my birthday, was grand. We “ubered” down to the waterfront and did as most tourists do at some point, shop. The dollar was worth over 14 Rand so prices were great. I got handmade wooden sunglasses, a beautiful hand painted ostrich egg and some Cohibas as birthday swag.
We rode the Cape Wheel and got some great shots from this vista. We has lunch at a Belgian restaurant (Den Anker) where everything was cooked in beer (go figure)!
On Sunday we toured the Stellenbosch and Franshoek wine regions with our friends. A great synopsis in on the video below!!!
On our final full day (Sunday May 1), we split up as I really wanted to do the shark dive and Lisa wanted to go to Table Mountain. The weather was perfect for both as you can see!!
Monday morning prior to going home (Cape Town >> Johannesburg >> London >> Dulles >>Greenville) we said our good byes to the Sittlingers our friends who we missed terribly and commit to seeing more than once every 15 years!
After we left Sabi Sands we flew from Skukuza to Port Elizabeth via “Joburg”. Airlink, the regional SAA carrier did not have a baggage agreement with British Air, which was our second leg. As such, we had to collect and recheck bags in Joburg with an 80 minute connection. A mistake by the wholesaler our safari agent used to book our domestic airfare but it all worked out fine!
We picked up our rental car near dusk in Port Elizabeth. A very harrowing 50 km drive to Addo through Motherwell a poor section where people jaywalk in 60 mph traffic with no lights and dark skin.
We arrived unscathed at Woodall Country House, a beautiful spot about 8 km from Addo National Elephant Park. We had a wonderful dinner and a sound sleep after a long day of travel.
The next day after breakfast we took the car up to the north gate of Addo. We didn’t have high expectations after our safari but remained open minded.
Immediately after entering we saw a watering hole on the left with a solitary elephant and a few Cape Bufffalo. Warthogs were EVERYWHERE!
We cruised to the famous watering hole where the elephants “came out around 11” according to Ruan, the ranger at Woodall. It was called Hapoor Dam and the parking lot was full of cars but no elephants. We cruised to the picnic area and Kadouw lookout which had some amazing vistas (insert photo link) and some zebras sleeping right next to the road.
Back to Hapoor and still no elephants (only warthog families at the “beach”). SO we drove on to the next watering hole: Marion Baree. Jackpot! Two to 3 dozen elephants of all sized enjoying a rather small narrow strip of water.
We saw a solitary elephant after leaving right next to the road. we shut off the engine and he went within 3 feet of us as he went behind the car
Saw some miscellaneous game as we departed the south exit. Disappointed that we had our trunck inspected as people apparently do hunt and kill wildlife within the park.
Onto the N2 and onto Knysna, 3 hours away.
The last two drives were amazing. It just keeps getting better and better. We saw a pride of lions sleeping from 25 feet, a solitary hippo sunning himself and two male elephants fighting at dusk.
On the final drive, we learned how the different lodges work together and communication on a clever series of radio channels. We had just left on the final morning (Monday April 18) and we got a call from Lion Sands, a neighboring property. Each property has its private land within Sabi Sands and owners have reciprocal rights with other properties to look for game.
The call was from Lion Sands Ivory Lodge on the Kingston “farm”. More on “farms” later :).There was a male leopard who killed an impala during the night and was high in a tree eating it.
We were standby 3. The person making the sighting organizes the order in which subsequent vehicles will pull close to take photos.
Twenty minutes later we arrived as standby 1. The vehicle left and we tried to get angles to take photos. First angle below, more on Facebook.
Later we stopped as we always do at a spot for coffee in the bush. It was a beautiful watering hole. We were joined by a dozen hippos watering themselves as shown below.
Then, to end the trip, we had a surprise breakfast in the bush with white linen, champagne and the typical (I know by now three cities later) breakfast of scrambled eggs, grilled half tomato, mushrooms and onions. It was a magical way to end a magical trip.
More photos on facebook here… Flickr large size upload still problematic. Next post from Addo National Elephant Park..
We have had a wonderful time so far. Its Sunday midday and we have two drives to go before we fly to Port Elizabeth to begin our tour of the garden route.
Each day has been up at 5:15 on first drive before 6 AM for 2.5 to 3 hours, return for breakfast and then rest till 3:30 and drive until sundown or a bit after. Then drinks with your ranger and dinner. Dinner alternates between family still in their boma and sit down plated meals. Food is fabulous, lots of local fruit growers.
The lodge is wonderful. We had elephants outside our room the first night (everything is unfenced). Someone walks you to your room every night as all the rooms are in separate out buildings from the main lodge. Monkeys and impala are all over the property.
Six drives down to go, we have seen more than we ever could’ve hoped for + a herd of 300+ Cape Buffalo.
Thanks for all of this planning to Ute Sonnenberg at Roho Ya Chui!!
Slow wifi. All photos posted on Facebook public album here.
April 21 – PM
Our first game drive was with our ranger Barney and ranger David who speak their native siSwati when talking to each other and English when talking to us. They are amazing and use a combination or tracks and dung to spot things.
10 minutes into our first dive we found a leopard sleeping in the Sand River bed.
Once the sun started to go down, he awoke and sauntered across the river.
We later saw a herd of elephants and two male lions on a kill (water buffalo)
Dozens of impala and other antelope things and then a stop for a gin and tonic in the bush before returning to dinner.
more to come….
Uneventful flight from Heathrow. Sleeper seats provided a good 6 hours of sleep helped by some champagne.
Three hour layover in Skukuza before taking a small plane to Skykuza Airodrome which is a single strip of tarmac with an open air terminal and a novel baggage claim.
Arrived at Kirkmans to a beautiful room and are waiting to go out on our first game drive after tea.
Arrived safely in London Heathrow. Both slept 5 hours which on a 7 hour flight is great. It’s just before noon here and our flight leaves at 7pm so the whirlwind sightseeing trip we planned is shelved.
The lounge here is spacious and has a spa and showers within it; both nice adds for a 35 hour trip.
Realized after our flight arrival was delayed to headwinds that we wouldn’t have any productive time to tour London on our layover. So we will take advantage of the BA Lounge and spa in Heathrow during our 8 hour layover.
Meanwhile the lounge in Dulles is quite good with sit down dinner seatings and hot and cold running free beverages.
We made friends with Habib from Afghanistan. He left in 1979 and I was nearby in Karachi in 1980. Great conversations about handmade bokhara rugs I brought back! Always meet interesting people when traveling!
Well, checking in last night took an hour (until midnight!!).
Checked in for Washington–>London–>Johannesburg. Lisa doesn’t have frequent traveler status so she has two choices. Pay $135 a leg to pre-select or select at checkin 24 hours out. So, you checkin for both flights but they want to charge $135 for seat selections on the connecting flights as it was more than 24 hours for London–>Johannesburg. This is after I called 5 hours earlier and explicitly asked this question and was told “no problem.” After 45 minutes and 2 supervisors they waived the fee.
Apparently all international carriers have adopted this policy as another way to make money but it’s the worst customer experience in the world.
Today is the last work day this month and after today I only have 8 more before “retirement”. I say that in quotes as you never know what the future will bring.
Have to stay up late tonight to check in (24hrs before my 1020 PM departure tomorrow from Dulles) and get a British Air seat assignment for the Heathrow–>Joburg leg. Even at outrageous British Airways Club World prices they charge $135 to get a seat more than 24 hours before checkin. “WTF”. Since I have status on AA I was able to get a seat assignment for myself and now I have to stay up so Lisa and I can sit together on this 11 hour flight. For a $7,000 ticket, this is ludicrous (speed).
Packing complete 48 hours out. Had to “test pack” for weight on Airlink, SAAs regional carrier from Johannesburg to Skukuza (gateway to Kruger and Sabi Sands, the private reserve where we will be. 20kg each checked and 2 x 8 kg hand carry. Sounds easy until you get to my camera gear 🙂
S Mack Peters ( a less wild cat) is also ready to get rid of us as shown by the photo below. He realizes he can be packed and we are still under the 40kg limit.
There had been a lot of planning on this trip as the 10 days after our safari ends I planned mostly myself with help of our Cape Town friends Mary und Karlheinz as well as booking.com and AirBnB. I even purchased South African maps on microSD for our Garmin (US$99, don’t know how they stay in business) so we could navigate the Garden Route in our rental car without worrying about wireless data.
And of course making sure we had all the necessary accoutrements for our fun excursion with the Great Whites in Gansbaai.
What an experience! We left from our home near Greenville around 7 AM and made the 120 mile trip in 2.5 hours winding through rural western South Carolina after going South to Greenwood.
The last couple miles of the trip were bumper to bumper even on the first practice day, Monday April 4. People hawking tickets flagrantly even though Augusta is very strict on resale.
Once there we went to the Masters store. We waited 45 minutes in queue to get in and then parted with money at $100 a minute, including the belt below that I misplaced a decimal point on the price tag.
The course was immaculate as expected except the azaleas appeared to not yet have reached full bloom. We went straight to Amen Corner the most famous couple holes at Augusta. The sites I had seen dozens of time on television now had smell and felt the grass under my feet. We got to see Tom Watson on his final Masters as well as others including Adam Scott. Truly memorable.
Entering the lottery for 2017’s tournament as I write this. Nuff said!
The Easy Chair talks back 