I started off in Cape Town solo and then met Matt at the Johannesburg airport. We spent a day in Joburg before driving out to Timbavati, a private game reserve within Kruger National Park in the northeast part of South Africa. After that safari trip and a day of exploring Mpumalanga’s Blyde River Canyon area, we headed back to Joburg to fly up to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. We drove from the airport to Chobe, Botswana, and then returned to Vic Falls. While in Botswana we also had the opportunity to spend some time in the Kafuvu Village on Namibia's Caprivi Strip. As it turned out, Matt and I flew on Emirates Air and transferred in Dubai. Not wanting to waste any opportunity to see another city, we scheduled a two-day stopover in Dubai on the way home. In those three weeks we saw five countries!
I left for Cape Town on 11 August and, after a 15-hour flight to Dubai, an overnight in the Dubai airport, and a 9-hour flight to Cape Town, spent an amazing week exploring the area on my own. As friends had warned, I fell in love with the city and can't wait to return! It took me a couple days to get over the fact that I was really and truly finally in South Africa after so many years of planning. I was both excited and nervous to be there alone. Although I never had any second thoughts about the logistics of solo travel before, I rediscovered that “table for one, please” can be both depressing and liberating at the same time. I had always enjoyed traveling alone (no one to wait for or schedule around), and had even lived in Mexico City, one of the largest cities in the world, by myself; however, this seemed a bit more risky for some reason. I had done so much research and reading on precautions and staying safe that I was convinced that I would be mugged while disembarking the plane! Of course, I had little to worry about. Using the common sense that I use in every city around the world where I have traveled or lived, I was never in any danger (at least that I knew of). And I was staying in a touristy area that was well patrolled. My lovely hotel was only about a block away from the Victoria & Albert (or, as it’s know,V&A) Waterfront, which is similar to San Francisco’s Pier 39 or Chicago’s Navy Pier.
On my first day wandering around the Waterfront, I came across a street band that was amazing! I have heard many street bands throughout the world and, although some are better than others, none have ever wowed me enough to buy a CD. But this street band was great! The singer had this incredible baritone voice with which he sang opera with a South Africa twist. I couldn’t help but dance and had to have the music to listen to when I returned home.
Although the weather was perfect for wandering, I decided to go to one of the few places that was open on a Sunday, the South Africa Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center. The museum entrance is through the country’s oldest synagogue, built in 1863. The museum is on the small side, but intriguing with nice exhibits. The current special exhibit was Jonathan Shapiro’s collection Zapiro: Jiving with Madiba. The collection included 130 cartoons tracing the life of Nelson Mandela “from Prisoner to President to Pensioner.” One of the cartoons titled Frustrated Expectations reminded me of Obama’s challenges. Across the courtyard is the Holocaust Center, which was unsurprisingly moving. I had no idea that so many Latvian Jews came to South Africa before, during, and after the war. With my own Latvian ancestors, I found the history of that emigration intriguing. The Center also did a really nice job at drawing parallels between the Holocaust and apartheid. There were also several Jewish leaders who were involved in the freedom struggle who were highlighted.
I stayed at the museum for quite a while before taking a taxi back to the waterfront. I decided to have a splurge meal, going to Karibu, a South African restaurant. I had the ostrich, which was done perfectly, with a local dish of putu and chakalaka, which is a maize-based side dish. Of course, it wasn’t complete without a local pinotage!
The next day, Monday, I headed off to Robben Island (which I later learned means “seal” island in Afrikaans), where Nelson Mandela and many other political prisoners were held during apartheid. It’s hard to believe that such horrendous oppression was so recent, and it’s even more difficult to know that the world continues to violate human rights on massive scales. All of the tours of Robben Island are led by former prisoners; my tour guide was a former political prisoner named Derrick. Derrick’s number was 19/86, meaning he was the 19th prisoner of 1986. He, as well as most other prisoners, had been charged with sabotage, which was a catch-all conviction commonly used. He described the differences among the cell blocks as well as what life was like for him personally. Most prisoners were allowed to write and receive one 500-word letter every six months. We saw the limestone where those from B block, including Mandela, were sent for hard labor. Just below that area is a small cave where those who were educated—doctors, lawyers, politicians—would teach those who were not. According to Derrick, there was a saying, “each one, teach one.” I continue to find such striking parallels between the holocaust and apartheid and, to a lesser extent, America’s apartheid before the civil rights movement. I also continue to wonder if the world will ever advance enough to eliminate all forms of human rights abuses.
Tuesday was my much-anticipated meeting with the great whites in Gansbai (pronounced Haans-buy). I was the first of six gals collected early in the morning. We became fast friends as we traveled for two hours south, stopping in Hermanus to see the Southern Right whales calving close to shore. We were all very excited to arrive at the shark dive, but disappointed to be separated into different boats—the other five going together and me left to make a new set of shark-diving friends. After the initial chumming, it didn’t take long for the beautiful sharks to show up. There were only a couple at first, but the group then grew to seven or eight sharks, some 5 or 6 meters in length! When it was my turn to get in the cage my hair kept getting caught in the mask, making it leak. I seem to have that problem whenever I’m under water! I finally got my hair out of the way and tried to concentrate on looking beyond the air bubbles in front of me. By the time I realized there was a shark in front of me all I saw was the tail going by! One shark did give us quite a thump against the cage, though. Before I knew it, it was time to come up. I found that seeing the sharks was actually much better from the boat than from the cage. It was very different from when I was cage diving in Hawaii, where the water is crystal clear and we stay under water for viewing as opposed to here where we simply hold our breath and go down to see the shark when we’re told one is coming near the cage. The ride back to shore provided a stunning sunset to complete the day. Most of the gals slept on the ride back, but I found myself contemplating how a game a football can just break out spontaneously on the side of the highway.
On Wednesday, I knew it would be a good day when my hotel’s breakfast buffet included tator tots. I walked over to the aquarium to catch the hop on, hop off sightseeing bus to Parliament. Unfortunately, there was no space that morning, but they said I could come back in the afternoon. In the meantime, I took a nice walk to the District Six museum. District Six was a predominantly Black neighborhood where families lived for generations and that was conveniently located to the docks, where many in the community worked, as well as other jobs, schools, and shops. In the 1970s, under apartheid, the district was declared to be a Whites-only area, and all of the residents were forcibly removed and relocated to the townships in the Cape Flats area. This area meant that workers had to commute long distances to jobs and children had to commute long distances to schools. This was made especially difficult because of the pass laws that were in place. The museum was a moving testament to how horrible any type of race-based, discriminatory laws can ruin lives. The more I learned about these laws, the more disgusted I become about similar laws that the extremist republicans are trying to pass in the US such as Arizona’s hateful immigration laws. I wonder if everyone had the opportunity to travel and witness firsthand what these types of laws do to people’s lives if they would start to care about humanity a bit more. The museum was very moving. The focal point was a giant, beautiful mural with striking contrasts of sadness and pain with happiness and joy. But what was really poignant was just outside the doors of the museum. There had been protests for a few days by the labor movement wanting an 18% raise. On this day, there was a massive protest march going down the street right in front of the museum. It was amazing to read about oppressive pre-1994 laws in the museum and then see a perfect example of democracy in action outside.
From there, I wandered around the area, passing the Castle of Good Hope, the oldest surviving colonial building in South Africa, and city hall, where Mandela made his first public speech after being released from Robben Island. I also passed the slave lodge, one of the oldest buildings in Cape Town, built in 1679, and a museum that I was planning on going to later in the day. But first, a quick lunch at St. George’s Square and then Parliament! The only other people in my tour group was an older couple who were actually from Cape Town and had never had a chance to see how Parliament ran. That made me smile. I wonder how many Americans go to see Congress in action just to see how their country’s government is run? Anyways. Our guide, Kenneth, showed us the old Assembly chambers where Prime Minster Hendrik Verwoerd was famously assassinated by a uniformed page. Verwoerd was one of the architects of apartheid and, sadly, a social psychologist. Thankfully, international ethics in the profession of psychology have been strengthened since his time! That room is now used for caucus meetings. We also got to see the library, which is exclusive to Parliament members and their staff. This library was breathtaking! It was rooms and rooms of three-story floor to high ceiling beautiful carved wood and volumes of books on policy, including a whole section on women’s issues (which, again sadly, South Africa needs!). I was able to sneak a photo in there, but it really doesn’t do it justice. A highlight of the tour was going into the gallery to watch the National Assembly convene and debate! It happened to be the day that they came back from recess, and the debate was fascinating! Kenneth wrote down the name and contact information of the Minister in charge of women’s and children’s issues, but unfortunately I didn’t have time to contact her and meet her.
I didn’t want to miss the chance to see the slave lodge, so I left the Assembly gallery and walked across the street. The museum’s theme is “From human wrongs to human rights” and it explores the history of slavery in South Africa. They estimate that up to 9,000 slaves, convicts, and the mentally ill lived in the building between 1679 and 1811. It was a very moving museum, and I was happy to see that special attention was paid to modern-day slavery and human trafficking.
Many people had suggested that I do a township tour before I left Cape Town, so I decided that I just couldn’t leave without doing that. On Thursday morning, I was collected from the hotel and taken to Langa by a Langa resident. Langa is the oldest township in Cape Town, established in 1923 when the Urban Areas Act was passed, which forced Blacks to relocate from their neighborhoods. Most of the Langa residents belong to the Xhosa tribe, whose clicking language I think I am almost able to pronounce. At first, only men were allowed in the hostels that were built in Langa, and 12 men would live in a room with three beds. Men were eventually allowed to bring their families, and to this day as many as three extended families will live out of one room. In a class above, one family lives in a tin shanty, and the middle class, mostly government workers, live in small bungalows that the government has built for them, complete with solar panels! This middle class area is referred to as “Beverly Hills.” I was honored to have an opportunity to visit with some people in their homes, and everyone was welcoming when I asked to take their pictures. I also visited a shebeen, or local pub, which was illegal until 1930, where I tasted some home-brewed maize beer. It felt a little strange walking in to people’s lives like it’s a zoo or for tourist entertainment. I talked about this with the guide, who assured me that the money for the tour goes into the community and that the residents see the tours as an opportunity to not only grow their community but to ensure that attention is kept on the township, which equals more government programs and education opportunities. The guide himself was able to go to university and now runs several community programs. It is those community programs that have helped with the domestic violence and substance abuse problems that accompany such poverty. Family planning programs, whose signs were all over the township, have also been a big help; just a generation ago families consisted of up to 15 children and today families have only 2 to 3 children. HIV rates are also disproportionately high in the townships, but the government provides a huge bin of free condoms and that has helped.
From Langa we went to Khayelitsha, the largest township and located on the Cape Flats. Khayelitsha was established under apartheid to solve the “problem” of the Black population by forming Black neighborhoods. Many people were forcibly removed from their neighborhoods in Cape Town and relocated to townships such as Khayelitsha. The highlight of my trip to Khayelitsha was visiting a preschool/kindergarten, where the kiddos were so excited to sing for us and see pictures of themselves on the camera screen! They sang the national anthem in Afrikaans and then sang such staples as “itsy bitsy spider” and “if you’re happy and you know it.” It was adorable! And so much fun to sing with them!
Later in the day I went to the Bo-Kaap area of the city, where many former slaves settled after emancipation. Most of the slaves were from present-day Malaysia and Indonesia, and that area of the city reflects the rich culture from that part of the world. The area reminded me of San Francisco in a lot of ways. For one, it’s a hilly area, and it also boasts beautifully colorful houses. Under slavery, people were not allowed to wear colors, so when they were freed they painted their houses in bright colors. The Bo-Kaap is also the center for the unique Cape Malay cuisine that part of Cape Town is known for. It consists of curry-type dishes, but my favorite was the malva pudding, which is like a cross between an apricot butter cake and a tres leches cake and is served with a custard or crème anglaise.
On my last full day in Cape Town, I booked a trip to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. The tour guide, Robb, was so funny and personable it felt like we—myself and two other American gals—were being shown around town by a friend who lived there. We started out the day with rain, and to stall we stopped in Simon’s Town and at a bird and wildlife sanctuary. This turned out to be the only place on my entire trip where I saw my beloved honey badger! By the time we reached the Point, the most southern point on the continent, the clouds opened up to a beautiful blue sky. Directly south is Antarctica. Cape Point is where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet, and the waves were really cool! We spent about two hours hiking up to the top lighthouse, and the views (and the hike!) were breathtaking. From there we went to the Cape of Good Hope, where we studied rock markings and geology that showed that about 350 million years ago South America was attached right where we were standing! It was very cool. We then headed to Boulder’s Beach, passing some oceanside-dwelling ostriches along the way. Boulder’s is home to the African penguin, dubbed the “jackass” penguin because of the donkey-like sound they make. On the way back up to Cape Town, we had the opportunity to stop at a place that overlooks the Cape Flats, which was amazing!
On Saturday morning, I was lucky enough to have time to check out the Neighborgoods Market in the Woodstock suburb before heading to the airport. The market is similar to San Francisco’s Ferry Building or Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market. It was a lot of fun to take photos there, and a great place to stock up on snacks for the flight and the rest of the trip!
My flight to Joburg went quickly, and Matt had already arrived from Dubai and was waiting for me in the terminal. I was really excited to hook up with an old friend from grad school who lives in Joburg! She and her cousin, her cousin’s husband, and their 3-year old collected us from the hotel the next day and we went to the apartheid museum. The entrance tickets to the museum are randomly assigned by race, and you enter the museum according to race as it was during apartheid. The main exhibits were moving, and the museum was having a special exhibit on Mandela and his life, which was fabulous. After a late lunch in the jazz district, we headed out to trendy Melville, which reminded me a little bit of Boston’s Newbury Street.
The next day started the safari part of the trip, and we had a 7-hour drive (with various scenic stops) to Timbavati Game Reserve in Kruger National Park. Our driver and guide, Marshall, was very knowledgeable about the country, the area, and the politics, which made for really interesting discussions about what life was like before, during, and after apartheid. We arrived at Umlani Bush Camp just in time for lunch. Umlani means “place of peace,” and it certainly was exactly that! Our hut was lovely and reminded me a little bit of the hut we stayed at in Thailand’s western jungle. We had a toilet (yay for indoor plumbing!!) and an outdoor shower, which was cool. Umlani also has a tree house about 2 km from the camp that overlooks a watering hole. That afternoon we had our first game drive and saw a hippo by the tree house as well as some impala. At one point, we were smack in the middle of a herd of about 100 elephants, which was an amazing and humbling experience! A highlight, though, was catching sight of a leopard with a fresh kill. The poor steenbok never had a chance! Soon, the hyenas came in, and the leopard grabbed the kill by the throat and took it up a tree! It was stunning. On the way back to the camp, our tracker spotted a chameleon in a tree and we stopped to check it out. It’s amazing how they can spot things, even in the dark! After the drive, everyone sits around the boma, or fire area, for drinks before dinner. At Umlani there are only 15-20 people at any given time, so all of the dining is communal, which I loved. We had a chance to meet some great people from all over and talk about the different animals we had seen. By post-dinner drinks we were exhausted and, with the 5:30a wake-up call for the morning game drive in mind, headed for our hut with our escort. Since there is no electricity at the camp and animals could be on the path, guests are escorted to their huts after dark by a staff member. By the time we got up there, our bed mosquito netting was already pulled down and I crashed. Of course, 5:30am came way too quickly, but it was really cool to be out in the bush with the sunrise. We spent some time tracking rhinos, but alas, we “only” spotted giraffe, kudu, impala, and another leopard hunting a warthog. I fell in love with the kudu with its unique lines down its side. Each kudu’s lines are slightly different, kind of like a person’s fingerprint.
After returning to the camp for breakfast, we decided to spend the rest of the morning in the tree house. It was really peaceful and beautiful there, and we saw the resident hippo return to the watering hole. Some neighborhood turtles and a crocodile joined soon joined him, and an elephant came by for a visit. Although I’m sure it would have made for an interesting story, I’m glad that the elephant stayed on the other side of the watering hole as I think I would have been terrified to have him at eye level! We also saw some really cool birds while we were up there (who knew I would be so into birds on this trip!!).
After returning to the camp and having lunch, we went on the afternoon drive and returned to last night’s leopard in time to see him finish eating the head of last night’s steenbok kill. That was a bit disturbing for me as we were so close we could hear his teeth scraping against the steenbok’s skull. We stopped for a drink to watch the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen. It started out as a yellowy orange and then turned to an interesting orangey pink before turning a unique and beautiful shade of bright pink that I had never seen before. When the sky finally went from pink to black, the most amazing stars appeared, along with the Milky Way. The only other time I had seen such a sky was in the Sahara desert. That night we could hear the hyenas just outside the camp along with our returning friend, the frog. But I was so tired I fell right to sleep! The next few days were filled with game drives and a bush walk where we saw amazing animals, including a pride of lions with a rare white lion cub, a full-grown male nyala (also rare), a dwarf mongoose, and lots of kudu, one of my favorites! We tracked down a rhino, but he was so skittish we only got a glimpse before he ran off. At the end of each day’s last game drive, all of the guides sign off of the radio, wishing everyone a good night and acknowledging all of the help they gave each other throughout the day. I really enjoyed that ritual.
I was sad to leave Umlani, but excited to explore the Drakensberg escarpment’s Blyde River Canyon in Mpumalanga. While at the canyon, we came across a bus full of kids on a field trip. They were SO excited to have their pictures taken and be able to see themselves on the camera. And I was equally excited to spend a few minutes with them! The canyon’s “three rondavals” were very cool.
We also saw Bourke’s Luck Potholes, located at the intersection of the Blyde River (river of joy) and the Treur River (river of sorrow). The “potholes” were formed by whirling water erosion over thousands of years. From there we went to “God’s Window,” a beautiful look-out over 700-meter cliffs down to Lowveld. After a long day of exploring, as well as learning that baboon crossings on the highway can be both funny and scary, we spend the night at an adorable B & B near Hazyview.
From South Africa we flew up to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. As we came down to land, we had to ascend again and circle around and try again because there were baboons on the runway! After finally getting through customs, we took an hour-long ride to Chobe, Botswana. Although winter, it was much warmer in Botswana than it was in South Africa. The Chobe Safari Lodge was also much different from Umlani; the “lodge” felt much more like a giant touristy hotel than a small, intimate lodge. I likened the whole experience to a “Disneyworld” of safaris. It was all very self-contained and a bit mechanical. I’m not sure if it’s related, but it was also where we saw the most Americans on the entire trip. In the morning, hoards of people showed up to be assigned to a random safari truck, and the game drive seemed very, well, scripted in a way: no off-roading, little stopping upon request, and not a lot of questions from the safari goers. The driver, who was very nice and seemed to be quite knowledgeable, seemed more to be just doing a job rather than doing something he loves (as opposed to how the guides and trackers were in South Africa). We did see some lions and giraffes and loads of elephants, kudu, impala, and birds, which was all very cool. And watching the sunrise over Botswana was beautiful.
That afternoon we went with a local villager and guide across the Chobe River to his village in Namibia. The Kapuva village is on Impalila Island on Namibia’s Caprivi Strip. The island lies between the Chobe and the Zambezi Rivers. We talked about the relations between and among tribes as well as the chief’s role in the tribe and the role of women and children. Only about half of the children on the island go to school because school isn’t subsidized by the government so if parents can’t afford school, their children don’t go to school. Perhaps tea party members who are advocating eliminating the department of education should pay a visit to this and other parts of Africa. We had brought with us pens and pencils for the kids, and it was great fun to see their faces when getting them! One of the moms asked for a pen for herself, too. Some of the kids started playing sword fighting with the pencils and were scolded.
Later that day we did a boat safari on the Chobe River and saw tons of hippos and crocodiles (which I did not feel badly at all about eating!). The day ended with another beautiful sunset. The only goal for the rest of the day was to keep the monkeys from stealing our butter and bread from the dinner table.
The next morning I decided to skip the game drive and slept in until a heavenly 7:30 (speaking as someone who struggles to get to work before 9am). Matt went on the drive so we met at breakfast around 9 before scrambling to pack to leave for Victoria Falls. The border crossings were easy enough as we just missed a rush of truck drivers and tourist vans! One of the guards gave our driver a bit of a hard time and made him go back to get a “gate pass” to get through, but I suppose there are always people who will be difficult just because they can be. It only took an hour to get to Vic Falls. We were disappointed with the B & B as it was pretty far from both town and the falls, but also because it felt more like a dorm than a guesthouse compared to all of the places we had stayed. But we sucked it up since it was only a few days. We made our way into town, which was cute, and had lunch in a local café. I had the crocodile, which was just as good as the previous times I’d had it, and Matt tried the zebra, which was a little too close to tough horse meat to be very good. It was striking how different Zimbabwe was from the other countries we’d been to. The effects of the Mugabe government can be seen everywhere, and we even bought some of Zim’s devalued currency (a 500 Billion dollar bill!). There were many more touts than we had seen in other countries (save for our last trip to Morocco). We went to an outdoor market with lots of stalls right next to each other. It was fascinating that each merchant would stand patiently until we entered his stall space, and then he (and it was always a he) would accost us and practically beg us to take a look at his things and negotiate a good price. But they were completely respectful of each others’ stall space. They were all selling mostly the same stuff: wood carvings, nick-knacks, etc. It was quite exhausting to get through the entire market as each merchant was very persistent! Many were very friendly, though, and wanted to talk about the U.S. (as well as what kinds of gift from his shop our U.S. friends would like). Some of the merchants had names for their “stores,” including “Chris Rock Shop,” “LA Lakers Store,” and “Chicago Bulls Store.” They were also interested in bartering for tee-shirts, socks, pens, and pencils. It made me think of the boxes of pens that I have at home that haven’t even been unpacked since we moved almost two years ago and how useful they could be in Zim and other places—how much I take little things for granted that are coveted in other places in the world. One of the merchants agreed to carve me a wooden kudu since I had been looking for one since South Africa and couldn’t find one. We returned two days later, the morning of our flight out, to retrieve it.
That night we went to the famous Victoria Falls Lodge for a drink before going to dinner. At the Lodge, we had a fascinating conversation with our driver, who was educated as a geology teacher but also had a lot to say about the country’s history and politics with Mugabe. For dinner, we went to Boma (meaning “a place of eating”), a very touristy but very fun theme restaurant. It was made to look like a Zim village and included a face painter, story teller, and fortune teller in addition to the drumming and amazing buffet of wild foods. Matt got a certificate for eating a mopane worm, although he seems to enjoy them and has eaten them before (I draw the line at insects). The Boma was kind of like a Zim version of a Hawaiian luau.
The next day was a whirlwind of activities! While in South Africa, one of the safari managers had recommended doing the lion encounter when in Vic Falls. The lion encounter was with a conservation organization that used a four-step process to reverse the decline of the lion population in the last 50 years. We got a chance to pet and walk with two sibling cubs that were about 15-months old. After about 18 months the cubs are too old to be around people and they’re kept in a wildlife sanctuary where they mate. Their cubs are then kept from human contact and eventually released to the wild.
After some tasty ostrich burgers for lunch, we went for a helicopter ride over the falls. It was extra exciting because it was my first-ever helicopter ride! The falls were incredible, and it was really cool to see them from the air because I hadn’t realized that it was a huge gorge. We also got really lucky because this time of year the falls are usually much weaker, sometimes even at a trickle. For our ride, we were paired with an older Australian couple with whom we became friendly. It turned out that we were all going on a Zambezi River safari cruise later and so we sat together there as well. Watching our last African sunset over the Zambezi was bittersweet, and we toasted to Africa eating dinner at Mama Africa later that night.
The next day we got to see the falls up close and personal. Before reaching them, though, we stopped to see a 1500-year old baobab tree, which was beautiful! When we finally entered Victoria Falls National Park, we didn’t mind sharing the pathway with tons of monkeys, who didn’t seem to mind in the least that we were there. The power coming from the Zambezi and the mist the falls created were incredible!
The next time we woke up, just like that, we were in Dubai. The contrast between Zimbabwe and Dubai is striking! We went from mosquito-infested toilets with no seats or paper to warmed toilet seats with not only abundant toilet paper, but also a scented wash for the toilet paper and with rose petals on every towel. From abject poverty and oppression to over-the-top opulence and gluttony. Dubai was like nothing I have ever seen before. The UEA Sheik has so much money he doesn’t know what to do with it, so he built islands off of the Persian Gulf made to look like palms and other islands made to look like a map of the world. He built malls that are mini-cities, complete with a ski slope, an aquarium, and an ice rink. In fact, the mall culture in Dubai is fascinating (perhaps because of the weather?)! He grows skyscrapers and high-rises like weeds, most of which aren’t even occupied! The skyline reminded me a little of the dream city in the movie Inception; it was very surreal and a bit creepy. Everything is so expensive and built for commercialism and extravagance.
Our hotel in Dubai was just beautiful and fit right in to the extravagance! We were directly facing the Gulf and could see the Atlantis on the palm island and the famous Burj Al Arab sailboat hotel a little farther down. After being in the bush and on the road for so long, it was so nice to have big, fluffy towels and great water pressure and swank toiletries and turn-down service! And breakfast and dinner were included in our package, so we got to sample amazing local and international food from one of the hotel’s restaurant, including camel’s milk. We arrived around 6am but weren’t able to get our room until around 10:30, which was expected. For whatever reason, our travel agent told the hotel it was our honeymoon, so they brought us a beautiful vase of flowers, a bottle of champagne, and a cake. The Emiratis sure know how to treat people! After a quick nap, the rest of the day went something like this: eat, sleep, swim, read, repeat. It was so awesome! We hung out on the beach for as long as we could considering the temperature was slightly cooler than the surface of the sun. The Gulf water was like warm bath water, so it wasn’t very refreshing, although it was nice to be in it. It was much saltier than I expected. Not quite Dead Sea levels of saltiness, but enough so that the water burned my skin at first and it was easy to float.
The next day we went to the Dubai Mall to go to the top of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world (at least for now; it won’t be for long if the Saudis have anything to say about it). I was able to get some photos of the skyline from the plane and it’s amazing how much taller the Burj Khalifa is compared to the rest of the city. With plans to go to the souks and the mosque see other places in Dubai, we ended up spending most of the day in the mall! There was a mix of Western and Arab stores and things to see; it was actually a bit overstimulating and exhausting.
And then, just like that, we were home. After nearly a month of not needing my keys, I had remembered to pack them on top so they were readily available when we got home. After loooooong lines that we hadn’t experiences since Zimbabwe, we arrived home around 4pm local time, fell asleep on the couch around 5pm, and then woke up around 7am the next morning. Time will tell how long it will take to get readjusted, but I’m already thinking about what’s next! Antarctica seems to be a good place to see before the glaciers are all gone, but it would sure be nice to return to Cape Town and then explore East Africa! There are just too many places in the world to see in one lifetime. We’ll try to see as many as we can!
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