Cape Town: Live it! Love it!

Live it! Love it! is the tourist slogan for Cape Town. However, we think that anyone who had ever visited Cape Town will agree that it deserves its title as one of the world's most beautiful and livable cities. If we overuse superlatives in this entry, please forgive us but remember we really think it is one of the most wonderful cities we have ever visited.

We arranged to meet Joe and Ginger to take the Hop-on, Hope-off Bus. Before boarding we walked over to the museum for Robbins Island for Joe to buy a ticket for the next day's trip to where Nelson Mandela has been held prisoner for 27 years during apartheid. This island was known as the "University," because a stint there put a prisoner in contact with Mandela and so many other notables in the country's fight for freedom. After we bought our tickets for both the Blue and Red Lines, we ran into Jean-Guy and Diana, Joe and Ginger's friendly companions from Ankgor Wat and ours from India. An incredible six-some. Okay, the first superlative--the commentary on this hop-on, hop-off bus has to be the best ever. We learned so much.

First, our commentator informed us that the port where the ship docked was the Victoria and Alfred, not Albert, Waterfront. Alfred, the queen and prince's second son transported the first batch of stones to the port to fill in the bay. We marveled at a highway near downtown that just stops because people protested it would destroy the important cultural heritage. Its remnants remain as a monument to the city planners in the 1960s and 1970s. Today, this unfinished highway is used to film stunts for advertisements and movies. We were equally impressed with the International Conference Center that was opened in 2003 to entice conferences to this spectacular city. Joe spotted a sign for Rotary International that made him want to visit the chapter because he was from the birthplace of the service club--Toledo, Ohio. The other sign that we all appreciated was "Feeding baboons is deeply unwise," a quote that can be used for many activities.

Cape Town also boasts the hospital in which Christian Bernard performed the world's first heart transplant and the University of Cape Town, the oldest university in South Africa. It was the site of lively protests during the height of demonstrations against apartheid in the 1980s. Cecil Rhodes, one of the major figures in Cape Town, who was a confirmed bachelor but a magnet for attractive women, was the impetus for Rhodes Scholarships. Any recipient from South Africa must be committed to working for the betterment of the country.

Then we reached the point on the bus where we had to decide which of two stops we should get off the bus--we did not have time to do both--the Kirstenbosch, considered one of the finest botanical gardens in the world, or the Constantia Wine Tour at the oldest vineyard in South Africa. By a unanimous vote, we all departed the bus for the wine tour that had opened in January 2011. After the wine tasting and the walk around the winery, we all agreed that we had made the right choice. Friends who toured the gardens later informed us that fall was not the best season for the flora.

Simon Vander Stel created his beloved Groot Constantia Wine Estate in 1685, where visitors are only a "cork pop away" from Heaven. The estate was built with slave labor and had been modified lavishly by its subsequent owners. One-half of the land was under vines, with 70 percent being used for red wine and 30 percent for white wine. Our hostess was very generous when she poured the wine for tasting. In fact, she joined in the drinking of the wine with us and opened a bottle of one of the most expensive wines that was clearly marked "not for wine tasting" for us to enjoy. We six were joined by three men from England, and thanks to Ginger, the women each had their photograph taken with one of these men who coordinated with us in color--the most impressive being the Englishman wearing a lime green shirt that matched Ginger's scarf from Singapore, which Joe remembered as a "three-scarf day."

After we rejoined the regular Blue Mini Peninsula Tour, the commentary pointed out a "Shanty Town" where Nate Milton, an Irishman, had built brick houses for the shanty dwellers. Unfortunately, Cape Town, like much of Africa, has a huge problem with unemployment and poverty.

In complete contrast, the remainder of the tour took us along Beach Road with South Africa's best beaches, which we will summarize concisely. The waterfront has been transformed in the last 20 years but the key to success for the city is that it is a working harbor:

Hout Bay: With the slogan is "Work is for people who can't surf," this beach with 20-meter waves (the size of a 10-story building) sponsors the world's most famous surfers in May through August. The water can change from smooth as glass to something that looks like a giant washing machine churning round and round. For these wave chargers, it's "just another day at the office."

Camps Beach: This is the Venice Beach of Cape Town, a place to see and be seen by the rich and famous.

Clifton: This beautiful strand is Cape Town's most valuable property. Smart, stylish people hang out there.

Bantry Bay, Sea Point, Three Anchor Bay: These are some of Cape Town's most popular beaches. There are a beach for singles, a beach for models and weightlifters, a beach for surfers and a beach for families.

Mouille Point: The red- and white-striped, square-shaped lighthouse is the oldest in South Africa. Numerous ships have sunk off its coast.

Once we completed the Blue Tour, we transferred to the Red City Tour with our ultimate destination being Table Mountain. On the way, we passed the Old Slave Lodge, where slaves who worked in the city were locked up at night, and drove through District Six, well known for the role that it played in apartheid. In 1951, South Africa banned marriage between the races, based on the concept the people of different colors could not live together. In 1968, the bulldozers arrived in that section of the city to begin the grim task of demolishing the residents' homes before relocating 60,000 black people. Overnight, the social and economic structure of Cape Town changed. When apartheid was abolished in 1994, committees were formed to prevent the redevelopment of the area so that the grass and weeds remain as a monument to the inhumanity that was part of the movement. Today the white houses in the area belong to the first families who have moved back into District Six with the hope that these residents will breathe new live into the damaged neighborhood.

The commentator also pointed out the Castle of Good Hope, the oldest standing building in South Africa, which was built in the shape of a five-pointed star to defend the cape from the Dutch taking control of it. In its heyday, the Castle of Good Hope was the center of community life, boasting its own bakery and church. It was also used as a prison and place of torture so it has its fair share of ghosts. Today the castle houses a military museum. Another highlight was the Clock Tower of City Hall where in 1990, the world was able to hear the voice of Nelson Mandela after he was freed from Robbins Island after 27 years as a prisoner. Also on the route were Trafalgar Place, a flower market that is a Cape Town landmark; Strand Street that used to be beachfront property before the land was reclaimed; houses in the former slave quarters that were brightly painted because the slaved were restricted to drab-colored clothing; and the Italian Stone Pines that are a bone of contention because they are part of the national park, which some people claim should only sport indigenous plants.

Table Mountain is the heart of Cape Town and served as a symbol of hope and freedom to the prisoners on Robbins Island. More than 80,000 visitors take the Cableway to the top annually. The cable cars revolve so that all passenger can admire the 360 degree view. At the top, we smiled at the cute dassies, which is Dutch for badger, that hold claim to being the nearest relative to the elephants that are not extinct in the area, and took the short Dassie trail to obtain a panoramic view of the Cape Town area.

Then we returned to the waterfront, which was modeled after the waterfronts in Sydney and San Francisco, to consume three pitchers of beer among six people--Ginger, Joe, Jane, Michael, Sara and Ken. We got back to the boat in time to watch the African Folkloric Show before turning in. We had an early start the next day for our tour to the Cape of Good Hope.

Cape of Good Hope--An Optimistic Name for the Former Cape of Storms

The original explorers who sailed around the cape called it the Cape of Storms because of the miserable weather they experienced. However, when their ship arrived back in Portugal, the king did not think that was a very promising name so it was renamed the Cape of Good Hope. Obviously, the king hoped for much better. The drive along the coast to the Cape of Good Hope reminded many people of the French Riviera. The condos and apartments near the shore were for the very wealthy who could enjoy the sweet life if they could afford it. The irony of the beautiful beach was that while the water was a beautiful azure blue in color, the temperature in South Africa's summer (December through February) is only 9 degrees C. The road curved back and forth between the top of the rocks and the shore.

While we hoped to see baboons, we did not. However, our guide informed us that the baboons do not worry about people but rather people need to be concerned about them. If a person had a small apple in a pocket, the baboon would get it out. We also passed an ostrich farm, a healthy form of red meat that is lower in fat than a fillet. The male is black while the female is gray. Life for these ostriches cannot be too bad because they have lots to eat and live on a beach.

The funicular to the top of the Cape of Good Hope is called the Flying Dutchman after a living legend who challenged the guards that he could make it around the cape on a stormy night but was never heard from again. A lovely American couple who we spoke with at the top told us that they were on a SKI vacation--Spending Kids' Inheritance. Then they added that they had brought all of their children and grandchildren to South Africa on a two-week vacation--what a wonderful memory of them for their heirs!

At Boulder Beach, we saw the jackass penguins, which were so named because of the braying sounds that they made. However, someone did not think that was a very flattering name so they were renamed African penguins. These birds mate for life and return every year to the same area to nest and raise their their little ones. The markings on their chests are unique like humans' fingerprints.

Lunch on this ship's tour was delicious with two generous glasses of wine or bottles of beer complimentary. Everyone agreed that they would love to visit Cape Town again.

Luderitz: A Charming German Village and A Ghost Town

It is important to note that Luderitz is an African port that looks like it belongs somewhere on the Rhine River in Germany. A German tobacco merchant named Franz Adolf Edward Luderitz purchased the port, a five-mile radius of land around the port and then an additional 1,000 square miles from an Orlam chief in the late 1800s. He also bought land near Walvis Bay, Swakopmund and other areas, hoping to find minerals, which he did not. Near bankruptcy, he sold all his political and commercial rights to the German Colonization Society, which waged an expensive war with the Nama tribes before relinquishing its claims to the German government. Germany lost the colony to South Africa during World War I but the German style of architecture remained. Franz Luderitz died a poor man in Germany at the age of 69.

Eight of us--Ginger, Joe, Andrea, Mark, Richard, Joan, Ken and Sara--through Andrea's negotiation skills hired two cabs to take us to and wait for us at the ghost town of Kolmanshop, which is being reclaimed by the sands of the Namib Desert. While shoveling sand for the building of a railroad in 1908, a worker found an unusual stone that he took to his boss. A shop keeper identified it as an exceptionally high quality diamond. After the discovery of diamonds, the workers completed the railroad in seven months, an amazing feat. By 1914, five million carats of diamonds had been found and boom-town camps were built in places like Kolmanshop. The town started to shut down in 1928 when diamonds were discovered in the north or south (we heard both). By 1938, all the equipment and workers had moved from there with the last residents leaving in 1956. During the boom, about 400 adults, 45 children and 800 railroad workers lived in Kolmanshop, which boasted churches, gingerbread trimmed houses, a hospital, a concert hall, mess hall, ice house and meat house.

The present-day room in the main building where diamonds were sold was the smoking room, the curio shop was the champagne room and the ground floor housed a bar and skittle alley for a German style of bowling. In an open area outside was where the workers shifted for diamonds. Our tour guide Eugene, a recent graduate from a local school who was born and raised in Luderitz, was giving his first tour. By the time he had finished with our group, he had definitely earned the designation of an experienced tour guide.

At the shop, which seemed to have been a company store, the residents could purchase just about anything. The shopkeeper lived in a typical German designed house with two bedrooms on the right side, a kitchen with a wringer for clothes and a parlor in the middle, a coat rack in the hallway with a stand for canes and umbrellas, and a mudroom on the side. Every day, a train in the town delivered items to the residents including 20 liters of fresh water per person and a block of ice per family. Eugene explained that the No Piddle sign meant no urination. The hospital had been furnished with the first X-ray machine in South Africa, which also was used to detect diamonds that people might try to hide on their bodies, going as far as cutting flaps in the skin on their scalps.

After our tour ended, the cab drivers were waiting to drive us back to the town. We walked to Felsenkirsche, the Church of the Rock, built by the German Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in 1911 with donations from all over Germany. The most stunning features of the church were the incredible stained glass windows, the ones over the altar being a gift from the German emperor.

We then climbed the hill to the Goerke Haus, which a man from Germany had built for his wife in 11 months in 1910. She lived in the house for two years, was not impressed with the lack of a social scene in Luderitz, and moved back to Berlin in 1912. The house remained vacant until 1918 when the Consolidated Diamond Company bought it for $10,000. We tried to put an option on it to buy it if it ever came on the market for the same price. The company uses it as a guest house for VIP visitors. Then we stopped in several gift shops and walked back to the ship, commenting that we had not seen many people who lived in the village and where were they. When we had sailed away, we learned that a woman on the ship had been robbed by a man who took her camera but ran off before he could steal her purse. We certainly have seen the good, the bad and the very, very ugly.

Walvis Bay: Read on for an Unexpected Adventure of a Lifetime.

When Fodor's Tour Guide gives only one paragraph to a location, no one should expect too much. Even Richard, the destination lecturer, gave the port fewer than 15 minutes in his presentation. We were glad that we had signed up for a private tour with Pat Lucas for at least we would have good company.

Our tour guide Ernest of Turnstone Tours at (064) 403123 told us that he had been "born and breed in Namibia." As the youngest of six children, he had inherited his father's farm but he and his wife had moved into the city because she was a music teacher who needed students. He studied to become a tour guide and "loves it." The downside was that crime runs rampant in Namibia because of the 51.2 percent unemployment rate.

Our first stop was the Pink Lake to admire the 80,000 pink flamingos that achieve that color as they mature from their diet of brine shrimp that feed on blue-green algae. Unfortunately, the flamingos we saw were young and much more white than pink. When we were back in the vehicle, Ernest told us not to take photographs of the police. When Pat asked if the police enforced the law, Ernest answered after a very long, pregnant pause, "They try to." He told us that the country has many challenges such as HIV-AIDs and education. The country did not have enough well-educated teachers.

As we drove into the desert, Ernest informed us that the small sand dunes can move up to 100 meters per year. Tourists were climbing up Dune 7, the world's highest sand dune, that the country made the prisoners climb as a form of punishment. When we got out of the van to view the dunes that had dark streaks in them from the magnetic rock content, Sara could not believe that we were in the middle of the desert and she was freezing and feeling moisture on her face. Everyone else was getting cold by simply looking at her, and she thought that she had dressed appropriately with her sweater but who thought anyone would need a coat. When we returned to the van, the other passengers started a "Coats for the Cold Charitable Contributions Campaign" and handed Sara so many coats that she was afraid she would not remember to whom she should return them. Did Fodor's really give an entire paragraph to this port?

Ernest showed as what looked like dry twigs but were really lichen. When he poured water on them, the twigs started to come to life and bloom in shades of green. Ken's pun for the day was "I'm really lichen it!" Lichen was important because it holds the ground together and stabilizes it. Because it has no nutrisystem to hold moisture, it must react quickly when moisture is there. Then Ernest said, "Close your eyes and don't open them until I tell you to." This was a dangerous game to play with the cold and sleep deprived. Once he told us to open our eyes, what we saw was what we always imagined the landscape of the moon to be. Everyone was snapping as many photographs as possible of this spectacular terrain. When we climbed out of the van, the sun had come out warming us and causing the landscape to be even more beautiful. Suddenly this place had become magical. It started to remind us of the dunes at the beaches in Nags Head, North Carolina, one of our favorite vacation locations. Bev and Brent from Idaho said it reminded them of the Bad Lands.

Before we got back in the van, Brent, John-Guy and Ken hiked down the dune for a nature call to water the lichen so the dry twigs would sprout green vegetation. Ken complained that a couple took photographs of them that would probably show up on You Tube. But the women got their revenge when they had a rest stop in the desert and proclaimed that now a green plant had grown were they had relieved themselves. When on a trip in a third-world country, one should always carry toilet paper.

Ernest showed us the Welwitshia, the national plant that is unique to the Namibia Desert at higher altitudes so it can partake of the condensation of fog. This plant has only two leaves but because the trunk moved, the leaves were split into many long, thick strips. The female plant had huge cones that open up like pine cones. We also stopped to see the newest addition to the family, which probably started during the heavy rains in 1997. We also saw the quiver tree, which the bushmen used to make arrows, and the uphobia urosa, which looks like a cactus but has a white latex substance rather than a watery see-through liquid. In addition, this plant forms a hump before the leaves bloom out unlike the cactus that grows straight out. The plant also is extremely poisonous to anyone that touches it. When miners came to the area, they used the dead branches for roasting meat. Their memorial was 26 graves.

Our guides then set up the perfect lunch in a desert--Italian lasagna, to-die-for bread, salad and apple crumble for dessert. We ate in chairs they had set up for us under a rock, while admiring the sand that sparkled from the quartz. Ernest and his partner even poured water in a scooped out area in a rock for the birds. We could have stayed there enjoying our surroundings for hours.

On our drive to Swakopmund, the name of which is a combination of Swak for dirty brown water and mouth for the mouth of the river, Pat spotted two kudus and Ernest pointed out at least 10 springbok. These deer-like animals have adapted to the desert so they do not need to drink water but get 80 percent of their moisture from the evaporation of the fog. However, they pay for that trait through dry stools and constipation.

Swakopmund seemed to be a very prosperous, resort town with many boutique shops. On the main street, we had to ring a bell to gain entrance through a barred gate to many of the shops. Prices seemed very high. When we returned to the van, a man was screaming at our guide that he wanted to call the police to arrest him. We tried to get in the van but another man had cornered Diana wanting her to buy his wares because he had to support three children. When we finally drove away, Ernest told us that the man who was screaming had been trying to get a woman to buy a nut large seed from the fruit of a palm tree on which he had carved her name, which she had given him when he asked her name and where she was from. The man would not tell her the price so Ernest asked him how much it cost. The man became very aggressive and proclaimed it was none of Ernest's business. It seemed that carving names on the these seeds was part of ploy of vendors to tell tourists that they had to purchase them because the vendors had carved their names on them. But with unemployment that high, it seemed like anyway to make a buck was acceptable to the vendors.

On our way back to the ship, Ernest showed as miniature bottles of colored sand that his 14-year-old son created to make spending money--remember anyway to make a buck. Sara as so impressed by the industriousness of this young man that she bought two. Everything considered, our day in the Walvis Bay area was magical.

African Safari--Day 1

Although we have seen all the African animals at Busch Gardens Africa in Tampa, friends have told us that we have not really experienced the animals until we have seen them in their natural habitat in Africa. So we signed on to the African safari planned by Sylvia and Pat with other adventurers Bev and Brent, Marge and Ross and Marianne. Our driver Soly met us at the port in Maputo, Mozambique.

Soly informed us that Maputo has a population of 2 million while Mozambique numbered 22 million with many people working in the mines in Johannesburg. On our drive, we spotted a van carrying at least twice the people in our van of nine passengers and a driver--shades of India. Everything was going smoothly until we got to the border of Mozambique and South Africa. After careful checking before we left the ship, we had been told that all we needed was our passport stamped. Unfortunately, the officials at the border claimed that we needed a visa stamp so they refused to let us through. Someone also mentioned that the stamp cost $75. We ran into Sergio and Noemi, who were greeted by the same fate on the start of a five-day safari. Noemi was so upset that she explained the situation to Sara in Spanish. If this were India, we would have concluded that someone was looking for a pay-off. Later, we were to learn that what happened to us was not uncommon and a pay-off often worked.

Sylvia said that she hoped the buses carrying the passengers who had signed up for the tours on the ship did not do a city tour of Maputo so they would be there soon. Sara had a copy of the Princess Patter with the name of the ship's agent in Maputo who was called and promised to contact the ship. The only fascinating thing about the border check-point was the free condoms that were distributed to help prevent HIV-AIDs. If Mozambique wants to detain travelers, the country needs to offer a lounge with free coffee, tea, soft drinks and snacks along with televisions, video games and native entertainers. We stood outside in the blazing sun trying to find any shade that we could.

Fortunately two buses from the Pacific Princess arrived after we had been there almost an hour. With many more travelers than the border-crossing station could accommodate, the officials let our drivers take all the passports and make lists of the passengers before clearing us to proceed. We talked with Sandy, our future cruise specialist, and Frankie, the deputy cruise director, who promised a "Frankie Talk" on this experience. Once we crossed the border, we had to go through immigration into South Africa. Because we had the completed entry form from the Pacific Princess, this was much easier. Sara was the last one through because she was delayed in line when the clerk took a cellphone call. Shades of home!

Our driver knew a shortcut but the bridge across the road was flooded so he backed up, backed up and backed up until he could turn the vehicle around to return to the main road. A man who was fishing where we turned around did not even notice. We liked the sign at the toll gate that pictured an ostrich with the writing, "Don't bury your head when there's something to be said. Report fraud, theft and dishonesty."

We entered Kruger National Park through the Crocodile Bridge entrance where we were greeted by our guide Leonard and were transferred to a Toyota four-wheel drive land cruiser with 11 seats to be transported to Shawu Private Lodge, a part of the Shishangeni Private Lodge. To be prepared for our game runs, Leonard taught us "valala vasola," which means "you snooze, you lose." When we arrived at Shawu, Leonard said he would return at 4 p.m. for our first of three game runs.

After we enjoyed a refreshing fruit juice drink, Golden, the lodge manager, showed as to our rooms. The lodge had only five huts, which are very large rooms with a canopy bed with white curtains and a large overhead fan, a vessel sink, an old-fashioned tub, a screened-in toilet area and an outdoor shower. When we arrived at our room, Number 3, we had to wait while Golden lodge manager disposed of a poisonous snake (after we took photographs, of course) that he said only bites when it is provoked. Because the lodge had no telephones in the rooms, Golden showed us blow horn that we were to use if we needed help.

The deck behind our room offered a magnificent view of the large watering pond where elephants, zebras, giraffes, warthogs, wildebeests, and impalas come to drink. Each species of animals seemed to have its own section and did not disturb each other. The rhinos seemed to be having a wonderful time in the pond. We were told never to get between a rhino and water because they would cut you in half. The rhinos also made their own sounds during the day and night that helped to remind us that we were not in Kansas anymore if we awoke during the middle of the night. We unpacked before going back to the main building for high tea before taking off for our first game run.

The first animals we saw were burcilla zebras, which were running down the road before veering into the tall grass when they heard our vehicle. While they look like horses, zebras have never been domesticated because they have very weak spines making them unsuitable for riding or carrying loads. The zebras were always switching their tails because of the flies that buzzed around their noses. But the flies really are beneficial to them because they enter the zebras' nasal cavities and go into the stomachs where they help them digest their food. The zebras' large stomachs are complimentary of gas that accumulates there. Ken took a wonderful video of one of the zebras going to the bathroom (number 2) that we would be willing to share. Remember, we invaded the zebra's territory so it had no reason not to respond to nature's call. The wildebeests hang out with the zebras. Egrets follow the wildebeests because they disturb the insects that egrets like to eat.

Next we spotted the giraffes. Okay, their height makes it difficult to miss them. Leonard explains that giraffes walk like camels with the two legs on one side taking a step, then the two legs on the other taking a step. The life expectancy for giraffes is 28 years. The females had black tuffs of hair on their horns while the males were bald because they wore off the hair when they fought. The gestation period for giraffes is 16 months, and the mother delivers the baby while standing up because lions could attack them if she laid down. Giraffes have the most beautiful eye lashes. We wondered what brand of mascara they use.

As we drove along the edge of Kruger National Park, we saw the fence that keeps the animals in so they do not migrate. Behind the fence were the sugar cane plantations. Leonard pointed out the fever trees with communal nests that housed 10 to 15 birds. On our trip, we spotted a yellow-billed horn bird. When these birds breed, the female requires the company of two males to feed her so if one dies, she can rely on the second male to feed her in the tree so she will die of starvation.

Other birds that we saw were the Malibu storks, which are the ugliest storks in the world; the utopia rolla that migrates to the park in the summer; the kori bustards, which are the heaviest flying birds in the world; vultures that start circling when there's fresh kill; the lilac breasted roller with its beautiful blue, pink and purple coloring; and the giant eagle owl. Sara was fascinated by the guinea hens that ran on the road, and when they heard our vehicle behind them, would speed up until they found a place with grass that had been stomped down where they could veer off the road into the field. They were so cute!

Next on the impromptu agenda were a mother and baby white rhino. The name had nothing to do with their color, which was gray, but their white lips on their mouths, which were made for grazing. Rhinos are very shy because they have extremely poor eyesight. While they knew we were there, they could not see us. The rhinos have no predators because they are the biggest animal in the jungle. The red-billed ox picker bird cleans the rhinos and eats the parasites on them. Nature really had worked out a great plan!

We were fortunate to spot kudu, which are extremely rare. These antelopes, which are the largest of their species, have an incredible rack of squiggly horns and can jump up to five meters high.

Trees that were new to us were the canopy tree that looks like its name and the sausage tree with fruits that looked just like the name and were pollinated by bats. While the fruit is not edible, it can be used to treat skin cancer. Also unusual were the acacia or toothpick trees.

As the sun was setting, Leonard drove the land cruiser into the grass and set up a sundowner of snacks, beer and wine for us. What a way to end our first game run by toasting the sunset and the animals with our favorite beverages. Afterward, we drove back to the camp where we enjoyed a delicious dinner and then went to our huts that the staff had prepared for the night with the flaps snapped down along the picture windows. The rhinos grunted us to sleep almost acting as if they knew our wake-up call would be 5:30 a.m. the next morning.