We’re off grid the next three nights, staying in a bush camp without electricity, near the Okavango Delta in Botswana. It might be awhile until the next update.
Here are some photos from yesterday, which was mostly a long drive thru the Kalahari Desert during a series of big rainstorms. During a lull, we randomly pulled off to cook lunch out of the truck.
We gave the leftovers to a local family who was very interested in our big vehicle and what the heck we were doing.
For our last full day in Johannesburg, we opted to do a day tour of some of the main historical parts of the city.
The first stop was at Constitution Hill, which is at a former prison complex/military fort built by Paul Kruger in 1898 to protect against British Invasion and then to house Boer prisoners from the Anglo-Boer war. Starting in the early 1900s, political activists opposed to apartheid were imprisoned here, including Mahatma Ghandi.
We spent a few days in Durban primarily so we could do a daytrip over to Lesotho (pronounced “Luh-soo-too”). The tour is highlighted by driving the infamous Sani Pass 4WD route through the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park UNESCO World Heritage Site, culminating in a visit to the Highest Pub in Africa, and a short stop at a local village to learn more about local traditions.
Lesotho is an interesting country. It is the largest enclave country in the world (aka, completely surrounded by a single other country), and the only one outside of the Italian peninsula.
We decided to spend more to have the hotel do our laundry for us today, so that opened up some extra time that we spent—magnificently, I’ll say—getting (quite excellent, yet cheap) 90-minute in-room massages. A rare treat, for sure, but also a great move after weeks of flights + long drives! -S 🇿🇦
Amarula is a great South African liqueur that my friend, Theresa, introduced me to when I visited her in Cameroon. So naturally I wanted some when we got to South Africa, but haven’t been able to find until tonight. Cheers, Theresa! -J 🇿🇦
Marking off South Africa on our quest to drink a Guinness in an Irish Pub in 32 countries. This makes 17/32 -S 🇿🇦 🍀🍻
Edit: So…this Guinness is terrible. We weren’t sure if it was just a keg gone bad, icky lines, or just how it tastes down here.
The answer: “Instead of barley, it’s typically brewed with maize or sorghum, which produces a more bitter taste compared to barley.”
Photos from our visit on Friday to the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi National Park, a 230,000-acre preserve about 3 hours north of Durban, South Africa. Established in 1895(!), it’s the oldest nature reserve in the country, the only state-run park in KwaZulu-Natal where each of the big five game animals can be found, and is home to one of the largest populations of white rhino in the world.
This was another private game drive (perhaps our last of the trip?
Our first tour out of Durban was three-pronged. The first stop—and the reason we booked the tour—was a game drive in the Tala Preserve.
Up close with a journey of giraffe! This was our favorite moment of the day. Because we had a private tour, we were able to slowly exit the vehicle and walk a few feet out for a few photos. Pretty sure this is very much not allowed, but…well… Reminds me of an African version of that famous The Beatles Abbey Road photo.
Our first safari game drive in Africa was in Pilanesberg National Park, 2.5 hours outside of Johannesburg. The park was formerly farmland located inside a large volcanic crater, but was rewilded as (mostly) natural habitat. -S 🇿🇦
An elephant drinking water, which is dripping off its trunk. Our first giraffe sighting of the trip We watched this guy spray himself with water for a bit, though it was hard to capture given our angle.
A short video recapping our time in the UAE.
Some other observations:
English was the primary language on most of the signs we saw in Dubai; Arabic was also included, but in smaller font below the English version. That’s probably not too surprising—nearly 90% of Dubai is foreigners. Each Emirate seemed a bit distinct
Here’s a video recap of our time in Hong Kong and Macau. It was a short visit, especially after having to trim several days from our original itinerary, but we felt like we saw enough to call it done.
One of my favorite parts of our time in Hong Kong was simply sitting at the edge of two tap houses and watching everyone pass by; it’s a great city for people watching.
We only had a short time in the UAE, so we found a way to get the most bang for our buck—a day tour to 5 of the 7 Emerites.
On December 2, 1971, the Sheiks of what are now 6 of the 7 Emerites (the 7th joined a year later) decided to unify and form one country—the United Arab Emerites. (However, each Sheik still controls their own Emerite.) Throughout the country, there are many references to “7”: murals depicting the 7 Sheiks, 7 pots, etc.
During our day tour around 5 of the 7 Emirates of the UAE, saw some camels on the side of the road in the Ras Al Khaimah Emirate. Then stopped at a place where they were penned-up in the Fujairah Emirate. -J 🇦🇪
Wanting to find out the scoop from our trip so far? Come join us on our first group Zoom call with coffee, mimosas, or your favorite morning drink (and maybe a cinnamon roll or something else fun) on Saturday, December 14, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. (Arizona Time). We’ll do a recap of the places we’ve been so far–the good, bad, and the ugly :)
Here is the zoom link if you want to join: zoom.
Our first day in Dubai was a scheduled zero day (nothing planned; time for rest/“chores”). But we did check out the Burj Khalifa—the world’s tallest structure since 2009. It’s 2,722 feet surpasses the 2nd tallest building (Taipei 101, which we also saw earlier this week in Taipei). -J 🇦🇪
Spent our night watching ASU clobber ISU to win the B12 Championship and a spot in the playoffs in our Dubai hotel room. What an incredible season! Go Devils! -S 🇦🇪
