Good Bye Africa

Headed off for our final breakfast this morning. Lyn had done most of the packing last night, for some reason she wouldn’t let me help her! Last night for dinner we sampled some local meats, I had crocodile, Lyn had warthog ribs. Previously we had tried ostrich and gembok. We survived.

After leaving our bags at reception we took a taxi to the waterfront as we couldn’t be bothered to navigate the downtown traffic AND find somewhere to park! Our destination to day was Robben Island. I really wasn’t sure what to expect, some people say it’s a must do trip, others say don’t bother and yet others find it very emotional. The history of the island goes back many centuries and has been used variously for defence of Cape Town, a leper colony and more recently a prison for black, coloured and Asian male political prisoners. I had planned to describe it a little more, but it is one of those places I don’t think I could do justice to in a written description. You’ll have to come visit it yourself.

After we returned to the mainland we did some last minute shopping (Paul and Amanda, enjoy what little peace you can….. there may be very little after we meet the kids!!!).

We headed back to the hotel, the cab fare was 100 Rand on the outbound trip but the return trip was in rush hour and I saw the meter climbing quicker than my final 120 Rand liked. I told the driver I was running short on cash, but he said no problem we’d make it with change to spare…. He was right!

Having seen the traffic on the highway to the airport in the last few days we decide to leave in plenty of time, as it turned out we made good time after an initial delay where two highways converged.

We are now in the lounge with about an hour to go until we board, so this is just about the end of another great trip. We will be back? Yes we hope to be. Hopefully next time I do a better job of the planning and we get to do the train trip up to Victoria Falls. Despite all the overt signs of security e.g. wall, electric fences and guard dogs at many houses we always felt safe wherever we were. I believe as long as you apply a modicum of common sense, S. Africa is no more dangerous than many other places. So now you know!

The survey I mentioned yesterday is:

Where should we go next year?

A.   S. America

B.  European Riverboat Cruise

C.  Australian Gold Coast

I think I have the answer already but it would be interesting to here what you think.

That’s all for this trip, we’re off to Alabama again in the New Year, and another adventure next fall.