It was to be yet another eye-opening and perception-altering trip to another part of the globe. There were no issues with violence, crime, disease or health. For good or bad, there were no National Geographic-type images of tribal life; but wow did we see spectacular and lush green and colorful landscapes and aerial views, as well as vineyards and wineries comparable to Napa Valley. And traveling was as easy and inexpensive as could be imagined in a country on the opposite side and opposite end of the planet.
Scott Hettrick (unshaven face leftover from Africa trip)
An African safari and a firsthand look at Victoria Falls; these were two of the few things remaining on the bucket lists for my wife Betty and I, especially Victoria Falls, the largest in the world combining its width of more than a mile (5,604 feet) and height that is taller than than the length of an American football field (354 ft).
When the company that last year provided myself and other Chamber of Commerce CEOs from all over North America a great trip to Dubai and Abu Dhab — Indus Travel — alerted me about two remaining seats on their February 2014 trip to Africa that offered both of these elements and much more as part of a guided tour at the lowest price we had seen, it didn’t take us long to book it.
Story continues below the following video montage (in two formats, first YouTube in HD-coming soon, followed by a Flash video player that is not in HD), which offers a fast-paced 11-minute compilation of the more than 500 photos and more than two hours of video Betty and I shot during our 12-day trip (9 nights in Africa; 3-days of travel)
Get the Flash Player to see this content.
After being in transit for more than 35 hours, we finally reached our destination of Cape Town in South Africa, where 19 of us from North America who had never met each other (12 from Canada — Toronto and Vancouver areas mostly — and seven of us from the U.S.; Betty and I were the only two Americans from west of the Mississippi), were met at the airport by our wonderful tour guide, lifelong South African Catherine Boshoff.
As is happening more and more as each year passes and the world gets progressively smaller and more “Westernized” (homogenized?), there is often a disappointing lack of cultural and visual distinction when traveling abroad, especially for groups like ours who usually stick to the touristy areas. Not only was there hardly a word of any language other than English spoken nor the airline safety routine delivered in a second language — certainly none of us had to even so much as learn how to say hello, goodbye or thank you in a native tongue; the cars looked familiar; and the roads, restaurants, shops and malls all seemed pretty similar to what we’re used to. Heck, at the hotel breakfast buffet on the first morning they were playing Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” for God’s sake. And the biggest stores fesaturing African merchandise are named after the American movie “Out of Africa.” In fact, it was several days before it even began to feel like we were not in some coastal city of North America like Boston or Seattle.
Betty in Presidential Garden with Table Mountain in background. Click image to enlarge.
Nonetheless, we thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the amazing sites of Cape Town and had perfect weather and visibility the entire trip, and not a single missed connection or significant delay in travel despite traveling about 12,000 miles on three separate flights to get there, the same to go home again — 38 hours in transit each way — and several additional flights to and from South Africa and Zambia and between Cape Town and Johannesburg. All but the first and last flights were on South African Airlines, which runs a very efficient and user-friendly business. The only hiccup for some in our group came on the last couple legs of the trip when SAA was an hour late getting back to Dulles in Washington D.C., causing missed connections for some and leaving many of us to deal with United Airlines, which could not keep up with checked luggage and which has notoriously terrible customer service.
Although the top of the famous Table Mountain is often obscured by clouds (dubbed the table cloth), it was 100% in the clear for our aerial tram ride to the top, where we could see the island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for more than two decades. We also had a nice walk though the Company’s Garden outside the Cape Town office of the Presidency of the Republic of South Africa the morning of the State of the Nation speech that evening. We also saw Bishop Desmond Tutu’s church.
Betty at a stop along coast to Cape Point.
Among the other highlights of Cape Town and the surrounding areas over the next couple of days was Cape Point at the Cape of Good Hope on the southernmost tip of Africa, where Betty and I enjoyed putting our feet simultaneously in the Atlantic and Indian oceans, and where all of us rode to the top of the point on a cable car to witness the spectacular lighthouse view. Due to the depressed Rand currency at present, there is a tremendously favorable 10-1 exchange rate right now, meaning we only paid 10-cents on a dollar for food and souvenirs.
Rest stop men’s room view of wildlife,
This was handy at the three lovely wineries where we did wine-tastings as early as 9 a.m. (it’s 5 o’clock somewhere indeed), and at various roadside rest stops with markets, including one which had urinals in the men’s room featuring a picture window above the urinals to view hippos, zebras, and ostrich while doing your business — it’s better than the TVs at ESPN Zone!).
While traveling between cities we did see low-income government housing on the outskirts of towns that looked like sad shanty towns, but it was interesting to learn that these areas are funded entirely by the government to at least provide rudimentary homes and electricity for the poor.
Betty decided to take a turn as spotter.
The second half of our trip was the most exciting and rewarding as we were taken first to the beautiful Bongani Mountain Lodge for two nights on a game reserve at the famous Kruger National Park. Though none of us was expecting to see the vast open plains of Kenya or the Serengeti in Tanzania where giant herds of animals can be seen on safaris during their migration as we’ve all seen on TV, most of us were surprised to see such extensive rolling hills of immense vegetation. In a sunrise game drives and two sunset game drives, one of which spilled until after dark when our guides and spotters used spotlights to look for wildlife, we enjoyed tracking, stalking, and getting within a few yards of everything from rhinos and cape buffalo to giraffe, zebras, and many other animals, including exotic and colorful birds.
We did not see lions or leopards as hoped — two of the so-called “Big Five” — but that was due in part to the timing of our trip in the off-season of late summer/early fall when grass and growth is higher and therefore obscuring ground-based animals. We were also surprised to learn that the population of the cats is extremely small in the area right now for a variety of reasons.
Ideally, the most exciting two days were reserved for the final 48-hours of the trip, when we were taken into the South African neighboring country of Zambia and driven to the luxurious David Livingstone Safari Lodge and Spa on the Zambezi River only 1 kilometer upstream from Victoria Falls.
Sunset cruise on Zambezi river.
The first evening brought a sunset cruise on the Zambezi and an exhilarating experience of spotting the most forms of wildlife yet, from elephants and giraffe to baboons, crocodiles and pools of hippos.
The next morning began with my unexpected adventure riding in an open Microlight (smaller than an Ultralight) over the falls in the airspace of both Zambia and Zimbabwe, an option for which I was gratefully alerted to by Vernon, one of the Canadians in our group, who did the same flight later in the day.
Scott over Victoria Falls in Microlight aircraft.
Our entire group then enjoyed a magnificent walking tour of the falls, followed by most of us in an exciting helicopter ride.
Once again, our timing and the weather was perfect, as the falls were at their maximum flow with water levels high, and visibility perfect.
Another couple of wonderful meals in the idyllic outdoor setting back at the lodge, another swim in the glimmering infinity pool, a Swedish massage at the spa (courtesy of our daughters), and we were off again on our 38-hour trip back home, this time carrying a bundle of fabulous new memories.
— By Scott Hettrick