The date of my 3rd blogiversary hit me by surprise this year. (Honestly, I’d totally forgotten about it!) I was doing a little site maintenance last week and noticed the date of my first post – November 29th. Right away, I knew what I wanted to do – show some of my favorite photos of the last three years but there was no way to weed through more than 2,500 images in two days and decide which ones to use.
I registered my blog about 3 years before I started blogging. Even though I was traveling, I couldn’t seem to get the writing part going. That is, until two of my friends and I made it to southern Africa. Three weeks in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Lesotho and I returned with so many wonderful and memorable experiences, I could hear myself telling the same stories over and over. I needed a medium that would allow me to share my stories and photos – my usual travel journal wouldn’t do. Then I remembered the blog I registered and never used.
Shortly after I returned home, I looked up my blog, downloaded my photos – almost 1000 images – and began writing. Surprisingly, the words flowed and even more surprisingly, they haven’t stopped.
My blog and I have grown considerably since those first tentative moments three years ago. I’ve met and befriended readers and bloggers and can proudly say there’s no group more supportive. It is because of you that this 3rd blogiversary is possible.
In Take One, I’ll go back to where it started – that trip to southern Africa. We visited Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Victoria Falls and Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, and Sani Pass, Lesotho.
If you can only visit two continents in your lifetime, visit Africa. TWICE! – R. Elliott
Entrance to Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls RainbowVictoria FallsLunchtime at Makalolo Plains, Hwange National Park, ZimbabweLone bull elephant at Mbisa, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe
Hwange Elephant
Zebras
Giraffe
A lioness too full to move
Elephants playing at a watering hole, Hwange National Park
Elephants and Cape Buffalo, Hwange National Park
Mandela House, SowetoIconic Soweto WatertowersView from Table Mountain, Cape TownTable Mountain TableclothJackass Penguins at Boulders Beach, Cape TownVineyard, Stellenbosch, Cape TownM’hudi Wines’ Oupa Rangaka
On the ferry to Robben Island
Mandela’s Robben Island cell
The bars that couldn’t hold him
Overcome by emotion
Photo of Mandela on a banner at Victor Verster Prison
Mandela statue outside Victor Verser Prison
Durban trees
With the chief
Replica of a Zulu kraal
Zulu hut, Zululand
Zulu girls
Zulu woman and child
The dance
It’s my turn, Zululand
Sani Pass Hotel
Sani Pass, Drakensberg Mountains
Sani Pass, Drakensberg Mountains
Sani Pass Switchback, Drakensberg Mountains
Rock Paintings, Drakensberg Mtns
The other way to get up the mountain
Drakensberg Mountain
At 9000 ft, Sani Pass, Lesotho
Lunch at the Highest Pub in Africa
I had the Gluhwein
My lunch at the Highest Pub in Africa
Durban RickshawMorning on the Golden Mile, Durban
Some of the people we met…
Hotel worker, Durban
Our travel agents, Durban
A braai
With Thandiwe Klaasen, a SA jazz singer & Mercy, a dancer
Teachers at Peter Claver
Students at Peter Claver School
with the Prince
The Irreverent Sister at Mama Africa
With Lebo, M’Hudi Wines
With Prince Charles, Giant’s Castle guide
With Don, our tour guide
It’s been a while since I saw some of these photos so that made it even more difficult to decide what to include. But it was great looking back at the wonderful time we had.
I still keep in touch with several of the people we met in South Africa and Zimbabwe. The first time I visited Africa, a friend told me it would change my life. It took the second visit for it to happen.
Coming up tomorrow, Take 2: London, Paris, Toronto, and New York.
Linking up this week with Travel Photo Thursday, which Nancie at Budget Travelers Sandbox organizes. Be sure to head over and check out more photos from locations around the world.
As we exited, we noticed Stefan looking anxiously towards the arrivals gate then at his cell phone, as if trying to decide whether to make a call. We shouted his name and he turned and smiled widely. It was wonderful to see his familiar face.
As soon as exchanged hugs and settled into the jeep, we – Sandra, Judith and I – began chattering all at once, like giddy teenagers tripping over each others’ words eagerly trying to get the stories of our adventures out to Stefan as quickly as we could.
Stefan had some news of his own. While we were gone, Shepherds Court, the guest house he owns and where we had stayed when we arrived in Johannesburg, had seen a flurry of new arrivals and was fully booked so he decided to put us up for our last night in Joburg at his pool house. He dropped us off then left to do some shopping.
We settled in and made our way to the kitchen of the main house and opened a bottle of Tall Horse, a local wine we had fallen in love with. The door bell rang unexpectedly. It was Thope. She had several bottles of wine with her and told us that Stefan planned to have a braai – a kind of a barbecue – for us before we left. A braai? We were excited!
In our two weeks in Southern Africa, we had not been to a braai. We hadn’t thought about it — it wasn’t even on our must-do list.
Finally, Stefan returned and more friends arrived. The men went about setting up and cooking ribs, pork, beef and boerewors (sausage) while we women remained inside drinking and chatting.
Once everything was ready, we moved outside to the covered porch area where the huge braaier was located and the party began.
We had eaten so much beef in Southern Africa, we’d joked among ourselves that we’d have to take a vacation from meat when we returned to the States. But what’s a braai without meat? The beef was surprisingly tender and flavorful and hours later, almost all of it had been washed down with several bottles of South African wine.
After the braaiAnd several bottles of wineJust before dawn
If we didn’t have plans to go to Soweto later that morning, we would probably still be there, chatting and laughing. We had a fabulous time. It was about 3 a.m. when we finally stumbled into bed on our last night in South Africa.
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When our travel agent told my friends and me that she’d booked us for two days in Victoria Falls, we balked. None of us was convinced we’d need that length of time to look at water, no matter how spectacular it was. Boy, were we wrong!
We arrived in Vic Falls on a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon after a pleasant trip from Johannesburg. As we left the arrivals lounge, we were greeted by the sound of drumming and singing. We couldn’t help but watch as this agile and athletic group of musicians greeted us. It was a fitting welcome to Zimbabwe.
Vic Falls Airport Welcome
Since we were leaving the next morning to watch game at Hwange National Park, we knew we had only a few hours to see the Falls. Our plan was simple: check in at the hotel, grab a bite to eat and head out.