We procrastinated and ended up delaying our departure from Cape Town until two days before our flight to Nairobi. Kenya was going to be a whole different ball game, now that we were to wander the African bush without our trusty zoologist, so we decided to do a practice run to revive the old skills, on what grew to be familiar soil ( Read more... )

Oh, the boys... the men! It's our own fault for staying in a surfer's hostel and for the past month I've watched nothing but perfectly tanned chiseled bodies walking up and down the halls. It's a good thing my husband is not a jealous man, and it does help that one of these bronzed hunky bods belongs to him. And I... well I have no problem ( Read more... )

The story of our 4x4 named Columbus finally came to an end. When the company that was supposed to buy it back from us had disappeared, we left it in Cape Town with our new police woman friend, Carla, to deal with the situation upon our return from Madagascar. Since the company that owed us money had evaporated, we wanted to have a little polite ( Read more... )

I've said before how AIDS is one of the first things that pops to mind when you think about the black continent. Truth is, not nearly enough people, in first world or third, know the right facts about HIV and AIDS. We've been cautioned by our Harvard educated friends to watch out for mosquitoes as they too transmit the virus, and an ocean away, the ( Read more... )

Being a member of the humankind, I can find enough good reasons to justify our control-hungry parasitic need to grab the land for our crop and cattle, shoving animals out of their dwellings, and shooting at them for trying to come back. We then incarcerate meek and mighty flora and fauna for their own preservation ( Read more... )

If there was anything that could make us forget being duped by the kind of sharks that had sold us Columbus, it was swimming with the real sharks ( Read more... )

I wish I could say our return to Cape Town was bitter-sweet. I wish I could confess that even though we had so much trouble with Columbus it all worked out in the end, and we have nothing but good things to say about his real parents who welcomed him back with open arms and with a light slap on the bumper sent him to his room to think hard about ( Read more... )

"If you are ever chased by an ostrich," said the farmer, "never run. Instead just lie on the ground and just cover your head. This way, it might jump all over you, even break a few ribs, but it will not kill you. But if you are standing, a kick from an ostrich could easily kill. Can you see its feet?" I looked down at its prehistoric-looking toes: ( Read more... )

In Tenikwa - a wild cat rescue center, life is nice and safe when there is nobody to hunt you down for eating a sheep or a chicken. In the past, the center tried to rehabilitate and release. But after a caracal named Frodo was killed shortly after being placed back in the wild with a radio collar, they only receive and care for animals that need ( Read more... )

I love the sea. Sea sickness, on the other hand, I could do without. When we reach a place with yet another whale-watching tour to review, I feel like hurling at the thought of the long hours I'll have to spend looking thought a tiny viewfinder, trying to balance a heavy 500mm lens in the wind ( Read more... )