Ben

Ben, grumpy and scowling under neath his accessories.  Precious child.  He couldn't frown for very long and ended up in a fit of giggles.

Abu Dhabi, Tiki Tour

We decided that since our time in Abu Dhabi was brief we should leave the swimming pool and see the sites.  The city of Abu Dhabi is like night and day to Jo'berg, where we had travelled from.  Everything in UAE is build on oil money, so it's all new, shiny and brand spankin new. Our tour started off at the mall, because shopping and UAE go hand in hand.  Sorry to say I didn't buy anything. A visit to a historic site with a funky museum and pretend desert camp checked off the super touristy attraction.

New high rises and the Emirates Palace Hotel, which we couldn't go in because Dan was wearing shorts.

This sign is awesome!  Most of the people crossing sign are normal, but this one has an Emirati in traditional dress.

Lebanese Flower, seriously one of the best meals we had on our whole trip.  

And our tiki tour would not be complete without a trip to Abu Dhabi's Grand Mosque.  Visitors are welcome, but required to wear appropriate clothes, so Dan changed into pants and was fine, but I was required to wear an abaya.  Dan took most of these photos as I spent most of our time there tripping over my dress and trying to keep my headscarf on correctly.

We returned to Yolanda and Darryl's and took another dip in the pool, it's hard being a tourist!  Then we feasted on left overs from lunch, yum.  Both of us were surprised by how much we enjoyed our time in Abu Dhabi, somehow I'd expected a desert and a backwards society, but instead was treated to a clean modern city with friendly people and tons to do.

Abu Dhabi, are you sure we're not at Disneyland?

We left South Africa and flew to Dubai, having one of those arrivals where you arrive into a busy int'l airport in the middle of the night, after an 8 hour flight plus an 45 minutes of a holding pattern, a 20 minute bus through the tarmac and then promptly turning the wrong direction in the transfer section and getting lost.  After we finally arrived at our hotel after the mass taxi stampede at 1:30am we were told, "We know you asked for a king, non-smoking, but all we have is a room with two twins, smoking."  Hello United Arab Emirates!

But in the morning after an amazing buffet breakfast we were collected by our friend Yolanda.  We met Yolanda and her husband Darryl in our antenatal class in Dunedin and have enjoyed their hospitality both in Dunedin and Napier, where they lived before they moved to Abu Dhabi.  Yolanda, Darryl and Gemma live in a residence at the Shangri-La, which I knew before we arrived was a 5 star hotel, but I don't think I was fully prepared for how amazing it is.  Our day was seriously like a day at Disneyland.  We went out to lunch at the hotel restaurant.  We sat by the chilled swimming pool, had some refreshments.  We jumped in the ocean.  We surfed the internet, had a coffee drink...

Later we took a boat ride on the hotel's water canal between the residences and the souk, the traditional Arabrian market (i.e. an upscale shopping center) where Gemma had an ice cream cone.  

We marveled at the views of the Abu Dhabi Grand Mosque from the hotel.

And later we went out for dinner and while sitting outside on the patio there was an amazing fireworks show.  No one knew why, 8 pm on a Tuesday, but needless to say we truly felt like we were at Disneyland.

Watermelon Boy

Pretoria and Jo'berg

Upon our return to Jo'berg we did some laundry, went to a craft market in the city center, took a walk around a lake with a sign that said "toxic water, don't eat the fish" and relaxed.  After a day of relaxing we decided to take a trip out to Pretoria and went to see the Union Building and the Voortrekker Monument.  Both the momument itself and the history behind it were fascinating.  I also found it intriguing to visit a momument that was so rich in history, but a history that isn't celebrated by all South Africans today.  A great example would be the gift shop at the Voortrekker carried lots of memoriabila from the pre-1994 South Africa, for instance the old South Africa flag.

Upon return to Graham's house a selection of beverages were consumed, as modeled below.

And here's a parting shot with the cast of characters from this adventure.  Our full service tour dropped us off at the airport and we flew on to Dubai.

Coffee in Botswana

What started on our first day in Botswana as a picture of a bowl full of coffee, turned into a fun little photography project and resulted in a photo of my morning cup of coffee for the rest of our time in Botswana.  

Some other fun highlights from our road trip:

• We drove 1600 miles
• 2 countries
• Botswana car bingo includes: donkey, cow, goat, donkey cart, elephant crossing sign, 60K, 120K, Nando's, mud hut, tuck shop, police stop point, Whimpy's, liquorette rest, electric animal fence and Super Spar
• several camp fires
• elephant, zebra, giraffe, lions, wildebeest, wart hog, chackman baboon, duiker, eland, gemsbok, hyrax, kudu, klipspringer, monkey, white rhino, waterbuck, egret, horn bill, ostrich
• multiple braais
• night time boat trip to eat bunny chow
• plenty of photo opps
• donkey, cow, goat and horse crossing
• Kalahari desert
• many bottles of water
• cough, cough, a few beers
• bilbong, chips, rusks, chocolate and other junk foods
• bush bathroom pit stops
• overnight sea kayak and camping trip

Francistown, Gaborone and back to Jo'berg

Our road trip through Botswana continued from Planet Baobab down to Francistown.  We arrived in the city center and promptly got stuck in a traffic jam!  After a stroll through the local mall, a restock of reading material for me (and no postcards) we spent the afternoon lounging in our tent cabins at the Dumela Lodge (just outside of town, past the prison and down an isolated road).  Scott was the only brave one to jump in the unheated pool, while the rest of soaked in the bathtubs in our rooms and lounged on the lodge deck enjoying an afternoon beverage.

From Francistown we drove to Botswana's capital Gaborone.  After a few wrong turns we had lunch at a beer pub and later continued our quest to find me some postcards (no luck).  We strolled through a local market and braved a packed Spar supermarket before heading out of town.

We spent the night in a cabin in the Mokolodi Nature Reserve, literally next to a watering hole.  How amazing is it to have a bbq while wild animals are out and about less then 10 feet from where you're standing?

A quick cup of coffee and we were back on the road, heading south back to Jo'berg, South Africa.

And upon return to Jo'berg, Graham took care of some business and then promptly met us at his watering hole, the G&G.

Planet Baobab

I'm not even sure how to describe Planet Baobab, let's just start by saying that the sign on the highway (in the middle of nowhere) has a giant globe on top of huge fake ant mound and across the street there's a 15 or 20 foot pink aardvark.  So even before you get to the reception area you know you're in for something a little different.  Scott had originally reserved us tent cabins, but when we turned up they were out on safari so they upgraded us to traditional African mud hut with a thatched roof and separate hut for a bathroom (with very cool open air showers).  The grounds of the lodge are dotted with ancient baobab trees, with trails linking the huts, the swimming pool, the bar and the access to the local watering hole (that would be the animal watering hole, not the people kind).  But any place that has a chandelier made out of beer bottles, cow hide covered chairs and a concrete living room sofa set gets high marks in my book for originality.

We toasted the birthday crew (Joni and Graham) with a sunset stroll around the grounds.

Elephant Spotting and more kayaking

We rose early after our camp out in the Okavango Delta so we could take a bush walk around the island with our local guide (and also motor boat driver).  We wandered around for the better part of an hour before we finally spotted some wildlife, some birds, a few zebra, a wildebeeset and then finally we spotted 3 elephants.  The most amazing part about seeing these elephants is that we weren't in a game park or a nature reserve, this is their home and we were able to walk up, from a safe distance, and watch them.  

As you can see we weren't that far away, and not behind a gate or a fence like you would be at a zoo.

After a hearty breakfast back at camp we got back in our kayaks to continue our paddle downstream.

At the end of the trip we'd paddled 52 kilometers.  The group vote was that was a huge hit and next time we had to go for longer.  Upon return to the Old Bridge Backpacker the crew took up station at one of the many outdoor picnic tables and toasted our trip with a few beers.  John and Emily later took us upstream in their motorboat to another lodge where we dined on a local dish called "bunny chow" (beer stew with carrots in a bread bowl).

Kayaking in the Okavango Delta

One of the highlights of our trip was a 2 day kayak trip in the Okavango Delta.  It's hard to get a grasp of how large the delta is from the ground level, but it is the world's largest delta and covers an area of 250 kilometers by 150 kilometers and has up to 11 cubic kilometers of water (wow).  We covered a small sliver of the area, first by being taken upstream in a motor boat and then paddling our way downstream in a kayak.  

Here's where we stopped for lunch.  Our trip was through Kayaktive Adventure Safaris.  I liked the safety briefing from John before we started, "I'll go in front, if we have any issues that's usually where they are.  If we spot a croc or a hippo I will raise my paddle and the motor boat will go between me and the hippo before you proceed."  

After our day's worth of kayaking we went out on the motor boat to do some fishing.

 

And then we all slept under the African stars in our tents.