Paul Goldberg Blog

Okavango to Hwange and beyond

The dip in the pool did not happen. When I got there it was off and the sediment in the bottom was unappetizing. The next day I learned they only ran it in the morning. So much for a dip in a small pool.
We set out for two cruises on boats on the Kafue and Lufupa rivers. We saw many birds along the water’s edge on the first cruise. That cruise was cut short while we heading back when a member of our group passed out. Fortunately another member who was on the boat is a nurse anesthetist.
She jumped in and got everything under control while we headed for camp. The good news is the incident was a passing thing, from heat, dehydration aggravating a known issue. Everyone is well and attending all events. Our second cruise was cut short for some of us when word of a lion on the camp road was passed and most of us agreed that chasing a lion seemed more interesting then drifting around looking at birds, crocodiles and hippos. Contrary to our guide, BK’s, promise the lion did not wait for us along the road and we never did see one in Lafupa Camp, or any other cat in the Kafue Reserve.
By a variety of buses and safari cars we made our way over the border from Zambia to Zimbabwe walking over the “historic” Victoria Falls Bridge. It is not only historic but also old and does not seem likely to last much longer without significant upgrades. Only one truck at a time is allowed over it and it sways badly when they cross. At the center, right on the Zambia/Zimbabwe border is a bungee jumping platform. It may be the only place where you can swing between two countries while bungee jumping. No one in our group thought this was a good idea. We completed our walk across the bridge to rejoin our Zimbabwean bus for the ride to Hwange National Park and Kashawe Tent Camp. The tent accommodation is lovely. It is set in the park so there are no fences and animals are free to roam. I awoke this morning to a herd of Bushbucks grazing just feet from our front porch. Our game drives have been interesting but with no cat sightings.
We saw lots of elephants. This park was once home to 1 or 2 thousand elephants. Today on any given day the elephant population ranges up to 48,000. There is a major source of water at watering holes and it is safe from hunters. Along the Zambezi River which is the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, hunting is permitted. Apparently the elephants have figured out that they are safe in the park. The result is utter devastation to the trees and plant life in the park. Vast acreage has been denuded and with continuing drought it is unclear how the elephants and other herbivores will survive long term. As the elephants range out to find food they will ultimately start eating the farmers fields and the conflict will be serious for both sides. We have seen the devastation elephants can cause in other parks as well. They are deforesters and reforesters wherever they live, but when they are in overpopulated areas there is not enough time for the reforestation to happen.

As if this is not enough environmental devastation the road from Victoria Falls to the park passes through the Hwange Coal Mine. It literally runs around the rim of the open pit mine. Huge Chinese built earth movers are ripping the coal from the earth and transporting it to a major electrical generating plant. Driving though leaves one coated with coal dust. The terrain looks like the outtakes from a bad SciFi movie.
As I write we have one more High Tea and one more game drive planned before we move on to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe for the last two nights of the base Ultimate Africa trip. We will then move on to Cape Town.
In Victoria Falls Airport departing for Cape Town:
We were so active in Victoria Falls that I never got to write or post. Still uploading pictures too.
During our first day tour we stopped at Rainbow Restaurant for lunch before walking out to view the falls. We had several up close and personal adventures with Vervet Monkeys that considered any food left unattended (turn your head away) as theirs. Bared teeth from a disappointed Vervet are not my favorite view of monkeys.
Resuming writing in Rochester: For all our friends who have spent hours at Niagara Falls these are even wider and at low water seem to pass as much water as Niagara at peak daytime flow. I cannot begin to imagine them at high water. We made it back from the walk to Danger Point in time to get the bus back to the hotel so we could prepare for our dinner cruise on the Zambezi above the falls. We wrapped up our time in Zimbabwe with one last game drive to see Black Rhino. These are more scarce than the White Rhino and are only living on protected game reserves as their horns are worth as much as $2,000,000 in illegal world trade. We found the alfa male patrolling around the site where his 4 year old son in penned in a boomah for his protection. Papa won’t permit ANY male to survive in his territory and has already killed a five year old son.

I’ll post this now so I can continue to organize pictures and write about Cape Town, a city we both would love to return to on our own to explore in a more leisurely mode. 
Paul Goldberg Blog

An Interim Post – no pics yet

A long catchup post:
As promised there has been no connectivity since the last post. There was WiFi at the local airport but as soon as we all tried to use it, it slowed to a creep. Some of you may have seen a brief FaceBook post. That was it.
After three nights at Baobab Camp in Chobe National Park (well next to it) we took three planes to transport 17 of us to Banoka Camp in the Okavango Delta. To date we have seen most every large animal and many birds found in this part of the world. The only “major” mammal we have yet to see is a Cheetah. Carol and I have seen Cheetah in Tanzania four years ago . Also we have yet to see a Black Rhino.
In Chobe we learned, or maybe relearned, the meaning of an “African Massage”. The entry road had us rocking side to side with the occasional up and down motion just to keep us alert. It was more like riding a bucking bronco than being in a 4 wheeled vehicle. This long road took us to the Chobe River which forms a border with Namibia. Once along the river sightings of animals increased substantially. We never did see any of the cats in Chobe, not for want of looking, but we did watch a pack of Wild Dogs size up herd of Cape Buffalo looking for a young, or old or weak member to take down. Confronted with more than a few horned heads of large buffalo, they decided to look elsewhere for breakfast. That was the major predator we saw in our six game drives in Chobe. I will not provide the entire birding list we saw. My favorites start with the Lilac Breasted Roller the Goliath Heron, and the Open Bill Stork. Oh how could I leave out the Saddle Billed Stork and the various colored Horn Bills.
The cabins were very pleasant, set in an open campus so we required escort to and from when it was dark. The animals do wander through. They are canvas walled require mosquito netting which is provided as is a mosquito repellant. The food was served in the main lodge with open walls so as the temperature dropped it got chilly. The last night dinner was served in a bomah (corrected spelling), a circular corral with high walls. We ate local foods in a local manner, no utensils, and were well entertained by the staff.
Note for anyone contemplating such a trip. Early morning game drives depart with sunrise, 6 AM in these parts at this time of year. It is Chilly! Driving in an open safari vehicle is cold. We all have multiple layers and gloves and warm hats. By 9 AM most of the outer layers are stowed and by 10:30 we are stripping down to shorts and tee shirts. By 2 PM it is HOT. As I am wrigint this it is 6 PM and I am in shorts and a T shirt but others will be donning long pants and shorts for the dinner hour.
Banok Lodge in Okavango offers tents with full baths and two vessel sinks for our comfort. Power is solar with generator backup and water is plentiful. The tents all face onto a plain that is normally under water and the river is beyond. The area is well populated by mammals, large and small. Our second night our escort to our cabin was delayed while a Hippo decided to move out off the path and away from the paths to our tents. These tents are on sturdy platforms 4 or more feet elevated and have plenty of room for the king sized bed and desk that I am writing at. As we settled down for the night the sounds from outside got louder and it became apparent that more than one animal was disturbing the neighborhood. There was no way to seek help if help could be found. It was clear that leaving the tent was foolhardy and sounding the alarm would only draw staff into danger and not make us any safer. We waited and eventually we fell asleep. In the morning we found fresh elephant dung infront of the tenet next ours and fresh elephant and hippo track around both tents. The calls of lions and elephants were reported by everybody on our side of the lodge. It was a very exciting night! And most of us still got a reasonable amount of sleep.
In the morning we had two highlights beyond game drives. First we had a “back of the house” tour of the facilities that make this lodge work. For 16 of us plus another party of 4 the staff total is about 30 to provide housekeeping, food, maintenance and guide services. Most of these workers come from surrounding communities which own the land the lodge has been built on. After the tour we went on a boat ride on boats poled from the back. They can not use the dugouts for tourism because the number required would e require too many trees be destroyed. They make them out of fiberglass and they are also much lighter than wood.
What remains in Banoka for us is High Tea with explanation of the geology of Okavango Delta followed by a final game drive here and dinner. Transport to Kufue in Zambia sounds complex using buses, boats, and at least two flights in small aircraft. I get tired thinking about it.
Tourism is big business for this region of Botswana. They claim it is the number two industry in the country after diamond mining and just ahead of agriculture.
Okavango to Kafue River was as complex as it could be. Our safari jeeps took us to the airstrip where we flew back to Kasane Airfield. A bus took us from there to the boarder with Zambia where we dismounted from the bus to pass through exit passport control and then back on the bus to the landing at the Zambezi River to cross into Zambia by small boat. The wait to cross on a ferry is 2 to 4 weeks! After crossing the river we boarded a new bus to drive first to Immigration/Passport Control for Zambia then back on the bus to Livingston (not Texas) where after a stop in the market we continued on to the Airport for another flight to Kufue airstrip where Toyota Safari Cars picked us up for the short jaunt to the Fukupa Tent Camp on the Kafue River.
To
We are closer to the equator and closer to summer, it is very hot mid day. The Tsetse Flies are active in the heat of the day so we are not. Our drivers pick up dry elephant dung and put it in a can on the front of the truck and ignite it. The smoke seems to drive off the insects. It might drive off some people too, but not me. The absence on insects makes up for the stinging eyes and smell that some consider offensive. The flying ash on the other hand was a bit much. When I get to post this I hope to post pictures as well. Our tent is good sized With a sort of all in one design. There are curtains to separate the toilet area and the shower. The walls are screens with offer almost no privacy from curious monkeys and passing elephants and hippos. These can be covered with curtains at night so we can only hear the neighbors but can neither see nor be seen. One traveler stepped off his front port yesterday and started a crocodile into jumping into the river. This is a fine lesson to stay in areas we are told are “safe”. Between us and the next tent there are two hippo highways, paths that are very clear headed toward the river. On our way to the tent after lunch we startled a bushbuck into running away.

I’m going to take a break from this soon and go for a dip in the pool. At the last camp the pool was closed and empty. They had made a design error and elephants were able to stand just off the narrow deck and help themselves to the pool water. This was too close to the deck for everyone’s comfort.
Paul Goldberg Blog

The Big Five

In African big game hunting the five most dangerous and difficult animals to hunt are are Cape Buffalo, Elephant, Rhinoceros, Lion and Leopard. For the photo safari enthusiast these are also the favorites to look for. If you are in African wildlife reserves it is reasonably easy to see the herbivores. Lions are also plentiful and relatively lazy so they can be seen resting or on the move. In our, albeit limit, experience the Leopard may be the most difficult to get a sighting of. Four years ago in Tanzania the only sighting we had of a leopard was sleeping in a tree way off on the distance with its kill.

In our game drives at Thornybush Reserve we saw all of the big five in our first two game drives. The picture of the Leopard I posted a couple of days ago was taken in the first couple of hours of our first drive. In the course of six game drives we have had the great joy to see all of these animals repeatedly. This morning during our game drive shortened to 2 hours to get us to our plane later in the morning, we first went looking for lions which we had heard calling during our wake up calls. Eventually we saw this lioness moving steadily through the brush

She crossed the road right in front of our truck

 and paused before resuming her trek to catch up with her pride.

As the lioness continued into the brush we relinquished our position in the viewing group (no more than two trucks at a time) and set out in search of leopards to cap the drive. First Dan and John (Ranger/Drive and Tracker) found markings of a leopard dragging a kill. Leaving us on the truck they set off to locate the animal and see if we could get into position in the truck. Eventually they returned and told us they had indeed located it, but there was no way to get the truck in position and without a rifle they could not lead us in on foot. They then heard reports of leopards being heard calling and determined they would chase down the lead. What we found was a female attempting to drive off a male from the den where her cubs were. There was plenty of noise and although we saw both cats, this was the only useful picture I could get.

The Waterside Lodge in Thornybush is an amazing place, made that way in large measure by wonderful staff, lead by Liam and his wife, dedicated to making the experience wonderful. The food was excellent, the accommodations superb and the sense of being in Africa was enhanced by a relatively open campus with all kinds of animals drifting through. On our first night, as I may have mentioned, we had to detour around a Hippo while walking from the dining area to our cabin. Each night the dinner was set in a different area of the grounds. The last night was in a Booma, a round area surrounded by upright stakes to keep out animals, wind other people with a sand floor. The barbecue was great and we had a fine time. I would recommend that anyone planning a trip to the Kruger area of South Africa ought to consider Waterside Lodge in Thornybush as a must stop. If you can only take three days for Safari this is the place. Our tracking team were wonderful and they poured a mean Gin and Tonic in the bush during the Sun Downers (not the kind we experience with people with dementia).
We are at an airport hotel near Johannesburg and the connection is good so far. Tomorrow Botswana.
Paul Goldberg Blog

Day 3 Thornybush Private Reserve

It is a bit hard to write. I am sitting looking over a lagoon from then Waterside Lodge after eating my third meal of the day, lunch at 1 PM. We started with a game drive at 6 AM. The highlight was following a leopard through the brush on a harrowing ride. Naturally he did not follow the road so

Dan, our Ranger/Diver followed him though the brush. We drove over small trees and brush and through gullies staying near the leopard while another safari car paced us on his other side. He seemed totally oblivious to these two vehicles so close to him as he made his way to his destination. 
After uploading that image it is clear there will be fewer pictures than you or I might like. The upload speed is very slow. 
We did see elephants again, also at close range. My favorite picture is this big guy giving himself a dust bath:
The first meal was coffee and biscuits before the drive. The second was breakfast after the drive and the third was lunch about 3 hours later. No we don’t have to eat again until after our evening game drive which will get us back about 6:30.
The lodge grounds are open to game. We have nyala wandering the grounds most of the time:
Last night we learned why we are not permitted to walk outdoors unescorted. We had to detour around a hippopotamus that was browsing in the gardens between the public areas and our cabins. No pictures, it was dark and flash is very bad form. Naturally there are monkeys and many birds, not to mention several varieties of antelope beside the nyala. 
I will try to post again from here as I have no idea what we will find for connectivity as we go. Our group of 10 seems very compatible and fun to be with. 
Paul Goldberg Blog

Lots of Social Activity and preliminary packing well under way

I am writing this on my Surface Windows 10 computer which I bought for travel. It is more adaptable and flexible than the Samsung Tablet I have been using. We will see how I like writing on the cute little keyboard. It has more key “feel” than you might expect looking at it. Enough about the instrument.

We have been getting out a lot seeing many people who we haven’t seen in a year. Yesterday we went with Joyce and Victor and Sandy and Neil to Sonnenberg Gardens for an Art Festival and tour of the Mansion. Sonnenberg is a “summer cottage” in Canandaigua NY about 45 minutes from Rochester. The house and gardens are really grand and since the state stepped up with preservation funds in 2004 it is well maintained and has regular hours open to the public. If you coming into the Finger Lakes this would be a must stop if you are into gardens. For the festival there were many crafts people and artists showing there work. Carol and I have been to many festivals and other than the people we find very little of interest to us. It may be that not having a spare square inch for anything new also reduces our desire to shop. We had a grand time dodging the rainstorms and after a stop at the
Culinary Center for a glass of wine we headed to Branca for dinner and then on to the Memorial Art Gallery for the opening of their show which includes War Rugs. Very disturbing knotted rugs from Afghanistan depicting the weapons the craftspeople see in their daily lives, tanks, helicopters, drones, Kalashnikovs and more. This combined with images from the civil war printed on leaves was really a downer. WE adjourned to the other end of the gallery where the Dady Brothers were performing music from the 60’s on a variety of folk instruments. What joy and we all felt restored from hearing the performance.

Tonight we are going to Barbara and Robert’s house for dessert and many more friends we haven’t seen yet. I have skipped over many other events to avoid spending the whole day writing.

Packing. We have a 44 pound limit total. So I started packing today to be sure I would get under the limit and have everything I need. I hope those are not incompatible goals. We will be traveling on small planes in Africa and the limit is the ability to fly safely not an arbitrary number to force paying an added fee. I already found one medicine I had forgotten to refill. I have the clothes I need and electrical adapters so we can plug in everything when electricity is available. Also a camera and binoculars. I hope to be able to post pictures as we go. Like the inside of a lion’s mouth 🙂 We will see how we do for connectivity. I am depending on provided wifi and not planning on getting a SIM for my phone – 4 countries in 27 days makes that seem pointless and much of the time we won’t have cell service either.

The writing has been easy and I hope it makes sense as well. Next post should be from South Africa, our first stop. We land there on the 26th.

Paul Goldberg Blog

and on!

We are still racking up the miles even though we are in our apartment and the coach is waiting for the estimate so the reconstruction can begin. We decided that none of the new coaches we were looking at had as useful floor plans for us as what we already have. The time to repair is about equal to the time to order new. We have little to lose by rebuilding and setting out in GeeWhiz. If everything works well, we will be in our happy home, if not we can always make a trade for something else. Stay tuned.

The miles included a trip to Hamilton Ontario as I mentioned in the last post for aunt Dorothy’s birthday. Her sons Mitch and Joel Harvey were there as were Marilyn and Al and cousin David (you don’t know these people anyhow so complete names are not included). We had a marvelous time over lunch at Dragon Court Chinese and then adjourned to Aunt Dorothy’s apartment to continue the celebration until we had to leave for the long drive back to Rochester. We stayed put on Saturday, mostly. Walked to the Park Ave Festival and strolled from Alexander to Berkeley St in the crowds. Eventually we decided the walk back would be a bit much so we walked to East Ave and caught a bus back to the apartment. Having the terminal right next to our apartment building is really convenient and the senior fare is $.50 each off rush hour.

Having sat still for a day, on Sunday we picked up cousin Ellie at the Canandaigua Wegman’s and continued on to Fox Run Vineyard on Seneca Lake for their annual Garlic Festival. Carol has covered that nicely in her blog Message in a Minute. Our most recent excitement was a call from grandson Josh wondering if he could see us on Monday night and last night we went to dinner with June  at Hose 22 and then walked the Charlotte Pier on a perfect, warm and humid evening. We elected not to stop for Abbot’s Custard as we were still full from the nice dinner.

and on . . .

Paul Goldberg Blog

and Life Goes On

Since the last post we have been very busy. Two trips to Colton RV to get our belongings off GeeWhiz and understand that we will not travel in that coach again have been difficult. We have at least one more trip, this time with a rental van to finish the job of clearing our belongings out and storing them temporarily in a spare store room provided by our wonderful property manager at 80 St Paul St.

We have been shopping and looking and trying to decide what we really want and need. The current Phaeton 36 foot floor plan does not meet our needs. Newmar Dutchstar 36 foot floor plan is close, but there are too many other compromises and the price is much more. We are currently looking at a 40 foot Phaeton that meets most of our needs and the price is only marginally more than the 36. In the mean time we are waiting for the insurance company to agree with the repair shop on an estimate or decision to total. Soon, I hope.

We have not stood still while this has gone on. We drove to Syracuse to visit with my uncle after our stop at the RV show at Turning Stone. We had a delightful couple of hours conversation and a lovely dinner out. It felt good to see him, especially since my aunt had died less than 2 months ago and he is still recovering. On this Friday we will drive to Hamilton ON to celebrate Carol’s aunt’s birthday, although we can’t call it that because she doesn’t like to be reminded.

Looking ahead, we leave for our Africa trip on August 24, fly to JFK and depart for Johannesburg on the morning of the 25th. Return to Rochester on September 19. I will write and add pictures as we go. Will post when we get someplace with internet connection. There are still 22 days until departure and we will need to firm up the motorhome decision and stuff like that before we go. I am sure there will be at least one more post before we leave.

Paul Goldberg Blog

Change of Plans – Forced

Something you never want to see!

We will not be living in our motorhome for some time now. The really good news is that no one was hurt! The short version of what happened: I was pulling into a roadside parking lot when I realized that I could not complete the turn without backing up. I set the Park brake with the coach in neutral and turned the wheel over to Carol so I could guide her in whatever maneuvering was to come. This is a normal procedure for us in tight situations. I wanted her to come forward about 3 feet to see if we could clear a parked car. For reasons unknown to us the coach would not move and then it showed a warning “shift inhibit” and the shift panel lights went black then it lurched forward through the parking lot hitting several cars along the way before Carol could stop it. Fortunately everyone was shopping or eating away from their cars and no little kids were running loose at the moment. Also fortunately I was not in my usual spot directly in front of the coach for Carol to see me clearly. 

We were headed for Toronto to see cousin Mitch and his wife Candy, plans to stay in the coach in his company parking lot. Instead we are staying with them, in their lovely house, until Thursday morning. The coach will be towed to Colton RV the dealer we bought it from, to arrive tomorrow July 20. Then we will drive to Colton RV in North Tonawanda NY – the Niagara Falls area – to further assess the damage and get more stuff off the coach to take to storage someplace.

We are a bit fragile emotionally, Carol in particular, but physically in the best shape we have been in since returning from our big trip. When we know what will be happening with the coach I will post about that. Until then I will try to resume my usual posts about things we are doing and seeing.

Paul Goldberg Blog

Bucket List . . . Continued

Leaving Grand Canyon we determined to stop at Four Corners. We made it in plenty of time, although we lost an hour as we walked around from Arizona to Colorado, then Utah and New Mexico. The site is on Navajo land and is a Navajo Park. There is a line of people waiting to take their pictures on the spot that marks the intersection.

Naturally Carol and I had to wait our turn to take no more than the prescribed three pictures.

So here we are each standing in two different states, no I don’t know which of us was where 🙂 – Carol assures me she was in Colorado and New Mexico which leaves me in Utah and Arizona. Surrounding the corner are booths lined up in each of the states selling a variety of goods. We did see some excellent craft work, I almost bought another Bolo, and a lot of less interesting “stuff”. There were only two T shirt booths. The last time this monument was revised was in 2010 and much work remains to be done, including finishing the toilet rooms and smoothing the parking lot, pavement would be nice. We drove on another 30 minutes to Sleeping Ute RV Park, behind the Ute Casino. The park is very nice and as a Passport America member we got 50% off the nightly rate. 
Planning ahead it appears tomorrow will find us at an Elks Lodge in Pueblo, CO and the following night will be another Bucket List item, the freight yard in North Platt, Nebraska. This is the largest freight yard in the country and it was a meeting of the rails in historic times. North Platt also figured prominently in the lives of many US Servicemen in WW II. It is midway across the country and troop trains stopped there to let the men stretch their legs. The locals learned about this and set up a regular service of sandwiches coffee cakes and more for the troops as they dismounted the trains. There is a fascinating book “Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen” by Bob Greene which we listened to years ago courtesy of friends.who gave us there copy which we passed on to other rail buffs. We have been wanting to pass through their ever since. I just learned that we can stay at the Golden Spike Tower parking lot courtesy of Harvest Hosts. The train station where the good folk catered to our servicemen was torn down years ago. 

Not sure what else will appear on our bucket list as we travel. It’s amazing that in our many crossings we still have so many new places to explore.
Paul Goldberg Blog

Change of plans

Today the plan was to stop at Four Corners monument where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet. We were ready to roll, just needed to pull in the slides and raise the leveling jacks. Carol pushed the button for the back passenger side slide and nothing happened. Nothing that was operated by hydraulic motor was working. The leveling jacks don’t require the motor to come up but the valves would not activate to permit them to raise.

The good news; Our road service, Coach-net that we have been members of since 2001 responded with a tech on the phone. Rob and I worked for 30 minutes and could not locate the breaker he was sure needed to be reset. He said he would arrange for a mobile tech to come to us. I thought “yeah sure, on a Sunday a mile from the South entrance to Grand Canyon.” Well, within the hour specified, Randall appeared and working together we had the slides working by 11:45.

More good news; We had no problem booking the site for another night and we had the afternoon free to see more of Grand Canyon NP. We had given the Village short shrift in our desire to take in the scenery. Now we were able to go into the park and devote exclusive time to the village. The three places we wanted to see were the Kolb Studio sitting on the brink of the Bright Angel Trail, The Lookout Studio further along the rim designed by Mary Colter and built by the Santa Fe RR and finally Bright Angel Lodge built for Fred Harvey and the Santa Fe. Links can be found at Kolb Art Exhibit, Flickr Images of Bright Angel Lodge (none of these are ours) and Mary Colter’s designs.

Our plan for the morning is to get out early and stop at Four Corners and then move on. We have no cushion left in our original route up through Wisconsin into Canada and over the top of the Great Lakes. This route is over 4,000 miles so we will most likely stay in the US. Not sure yet how we will do this. We may drive though southern Nebraska and make it up from there.  Stay tuned.

Seeing the World/Seeing North America