Everyone in our safari group had the opportunity in one or two camps to take an evening ride in a small boat. Some in a 2-person canoe type thing with a guide, others in a 4-6 passenger outboard, flat bottomed. By 4:30-5 pm every day the temperatures started to wane (thank goodness) and off we’d go in the boat. The Okavango Delta is so beautiful. Quiet. Peaceful. If they stopped the boat and turned off the outboard (as they did often) you could hear the birds, maybe crickets and frogs. Maybe you’d hear an elephant trumpeting in the distance.

The goal was to see game, but from a different angle, obviously, than in a Land Rover criss-crossing the paths and roads on land. The guides knew these waterways like the backs of their hands, so they zipped up and around many different channels, seeking some of the typical watering holes for hippo, but mostly we were seeking elephant.

In some of the more still waters there were jillions of lily pads and some blooming lilies as well. I didn’t happen to catch any in my camera lens as we zoomed along.

There are frogs of all sizes in the water there. As I listened to a TV show  (here at home) the other night, about a couple who were doing a research study in Botswana about elephant bones, they were trolling along in a boat and I could hear the very unique tink, tink of a particular frog sound. It almost sounds like an outdoor wind chime. Every night – if we were near water – we could hear them. I loved the sound. Have no idea what type of frog made the sound, but one of the guides told me it was frogs.

There’s one of them at right. He couldn’t have been more than 1/2 inch long and he blended right into the reeds. Our guide spotted him as we slowly trolled in the reeds. He stopped the boat and I reached out and grabbed the reed stem and snapped a photo of him. There was another one – an almost translucent yellow one, about half his size on a further reed, but I messed up trying to reach out for the branch. I nearly fell out of the boat trying to reach it and I scared him off.

We had to be very careful about crocodiles. It’s very easy to get lazy about what kind of predators live in the water when you don’t see them. We actually scraped over the top of a croc on the boat ride and he may have sustained a bit of damage from the outboard. We had no idea he was in the water – he was right in the middle of one of the main water channels. It’s tempting when the boat is trolling slowly to drag your fingers in the water. Unh-uh. No-no. We saw a young crocodile one evening when we returned late from a game drive. He was in the watering hole we had to ford (this was in the Land Rover). One of our group spotted him and by flashlight we could really see him well. He was scared-off from our light and as he flipped over a fish jumped out of the water and the croc just quick-like swallowed him. The croc was about 2 1/2 feet long – young. We helped him with dinner, you see!

Did I show this picture (above) already? Maybe I did. Sorry if it’s a repeat. That was at the end of our boat journey – loved the reflections in the water.

There’s a photo I took the morning we flew out, the beginning of the journey home. We flew out of one of those small sand-packed air strips and flew at very low altitude (because it was only a 15-20 minute flight to Maun, a small city in western Botswana). The dark places are areas where there is still water.

The Delta is so beautiful. Some of it has lots of greenery. Other parts of it are vey arid and dry as a bone.

When we were out on game drives we saw all types, but mostly the dry, arid types as that was where the game was – en route to a watering hole, usually.

They can’t all live by a watering hole – the predators would corner them and they have to go great distances to forage for food. They like the open spaces to run away. I think that’s the case. If they’re lucky.

There’s a more typical bit of arid space and a big watering hole. In the winter – the rainy season, all of those slightly green areas are abundantly full of water. The cycle of seasons in Africa is quite distinct and it’s hard on all the animals during the dry season as they have to go great distances to find water, which most of them do at least twice a day.

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Passenger Waiting Lounge, Pom Pom Airport, Okavango Delta

Like that picture? We went in and out of this airport (nothing but a compacted sand strip) several times as we hopped and skipped between safari camps. And indeed, one of the times our plane had mechanical trouble and we had to wait – in that lovely little covered space, for about 15 minutes (yes, in the 100° heat) until another plane came to get us. We also referred to that hut as “baggage claim,” and most commonly “Terminal One.” We all had many a laugh about that rickety structure!

Once we arrived here, the safari trucks (Land Rovers or Land Cruisers) met us – they’d be waiting in the shade nearby if they could find it and once we’d landed they’d drive up to the bush planes. Baggage out (sometimes food for the camp too) and into the waiting trucks we’d go, for another bumpy, hot ride to our next camp. This time it was to Xaranna, pronounced ka-ran-ah. We arrived in time for lunch. The staff would meet and greet us with dance and song, and more of those cold washcloths and a fruit drink to quench our thirst.

Here’s a typical day in the bush, at a safari camp:

1. 5:30 AM A staff member would come to our cabin outside (remember, mostly no walls, just screens or canvas tarps) and call to us  – “it’s 5:30, time to get up; breakfast at 6:00.” We’d answer and say we were awake. We’d quick-like get up, wash our faces (no time for a shower – no sense anyway because we were going to be out in the dust and sand in the bush), throw on our every-other-day safari outfits (remember, we had but two), maybe put on a dash of eye make-up and lipstick, sunscreen and mosquito repellant.

2. 6:00 AM Having trekked to the lodge (sometimes only 100 yards, sometimes 1/4 mile, being ever watchful of wild game wandering through the camp) there would be coffee and tea, bread or croissants, toast, fruit, juices, sometimes muffins, sometimes some cheese. Although we always needed water, the more fluid we drank the more risk there was that we’d have to ask for a “comfort stop” on the game drive. Nobody really wanted to ask. Because of the heat, very few times did we have to ask because we were all somewhat dehydrated the entire time. We’d wolf down some food and at about 6:27 the guide would call us all to go climb on the Land Rovers. And off we’d go. With me on the game drives was: my long-sleeved shirt, usually wearing it, my camera, my safari hat, a Kleenex stuffed into a pocket, and a bottle of water. Oh, and my dark glasses for sure!

3. 6:30 AM We’re off on a game drive that would last for 3 to 4 1/2 hours. All depended on how much game we saw and how far afield we went from the safari camp. Bone-jarring rides in the Land Rover. At first, at 6:30, it’s cool – very pleasant – but within about an hour it begins to heat up and has reached the high 90s by about 10 or 11 AM. Wickedly hot. If we wore a long-sleeved safari shirt, it got peeled off soon enough. But we all wore our safari hats, with the chin strap fastened securely. I’ll do a blog post about the animals (a separate post altogether and put all the animal photos in one post). Sometimes we’d stop for refreshments part way through – coffee, tea, Amarula, snacks (usually peanuts and dried mango slices) and cold soft drinks and beer.

4. 11:00 AM – (approximately) back to the lodge, with cold washcloths and a cold drink. Refresh ourselves at the lodge co-ed bathroom, wander around, stretch our legs a bit, then a lovely sit-down lunch with a couple of courses. Always good food everywhere (this was an Abercrombie & Kent tour, remember). Wine was offered at both lunch and dinner. I preferred a very cold Coke Light on lots of ice.

5. 1:00 PM – (approximately) trek to our tent cabins for an afternoon rest, a snooze, reading, relaxation, watching for game wandering through the cabins, maybe a dunk in our private pool and/or a refreshing cold shower.

6. 4:00 PM – meet back at the lodge for “afternoon tea.” Usually it was a dessert of some kind and whatever kind of drinks, hot or cold, that you wanted.

Our tent cabin at Xaranna, partially clad in wood, screened around the front (the view).

7. 4:30 PM – afternoon game drive. All aboard, and off we’d go for another 2 1/2 – 3 hour game drive. Usually to see the same animals, but we never saw everything on every game drive. Always there were birds, usually elephant, always some impala (remember, they’re kind of the bottom of the food chain for the wild cat family). We’d stop part way through and have a sundowner – same as the morning refreshment stop except that there would be gin and tonic, bourbon, and other types of alcohol, beer, Amarula, soft drinks and water. We’d stand around the Land Rovers sipping drinks, looking out in the distance, aware of the silence.

8. 7:00 PM – (approximately) back to the camp, maybe time to refresh ourselves before dinner. Often we’d gather for a drink and appetizers on the main deck of the lodge, talking, telling stories about the different experiences on the game drives.

9. 7:30-8:00 PM – dinner at the lodge. Always sit down – sometimes within the confines of the lodge; sometimes out on the sand around the lodge. Often a campfire (did we need a campfire? absolutely not, but it was part of the ambiance).

10. 9-10:00 PM – a walk, with a guide, and a flashlight, to our tent cabins and we’d promptly fall sound asleep. Sometimes we’d wake up in the middle of the night to hear animals nearby (baboons playing on the roof) or something furtive going by the tent. I never was scared inside our tents despite the mammoth elephants that walked by.

At Xaranna, as I mentioned earlier, I was surrounded by a herd of female elephants and their babies one afternoon. Gwenda was over at the lodge and I was just resting, when I heard rustling. I looked up and here were elephants very softly foraging for new, green leaves on the trees and shrubs around my tent. I dared not open any of the screens as they were no more than 5 feet from me, and with babies in the midst I knew the mamas would be alarmed. I did open the bathroom door enough to take this picture at left of two adolescent elephants foraging around the plunge pool at our cabin. They took a little drink now and then. They didn’t seem to be alarmed with me there – the only thing that was outside the room was my iPad and my forearms.

There at right is a little bit of décor at one of the camps – made with dried bark and twigs, they’re a depiction of baobab trees. I wished I could have bought some, but there was no place whatsoever to put them in my little duffle bag! After doing some research online, these baobab trees may be made of painted (dried) banana leaves. Very clever. If I ever find them online, I’ll be ordering at least one.

There’s the lodge deck as we relaxed in the late afternoon. There were always plenty of places to sit and read, relax or write notes at a table, and be served a refreshing drink or cocktail. Always there was someone available to help.

Each of the camps did have a tiny gift shop. They didn’t have a lot of merchandise, but some were baskets and trinkets made by the staff during their off hours, or during the off season. Still I was limited because of my small duffle and no room to put anything. At the last camp many of us bought some things – because we’d unloaded the safari clothes and left them for the employees to use or give away – so I did buy some things. They’re sitting on the mantle in my master bedroom – I need to take photos of them to share here on my blog.

If you click on the links (the safari camp names) in all of my posts about the safari camps you’ll get a much better overview of the camps and how luxurious they are, and how open they are to the savannas. My photos don’t do them justice.

That’s something they call cotton grass. There have been fires in the Okavango Delta in recent years and the cotton grass is one of the things that comes up after a fire. My photo doesn’t show it very well, but the cotton grass went on and on almost as far as the eye could see in this area.

That was my view, most frequently, when we were out on a game drive. I preferred to sit in the front row seats, mostly because as a very short person, getting into the lower level (that’s still up about 3 feet above ground but requires agility to get in) was always a challenge. The taller people had an easier time climbing into the higher tiers.

The road there in the picture is actually in really good shape – I think this was the road to the airport. The tracker is sitting out front and he’s eyeballing the road for animal tracks. Every trip to or from an airport was also an opportunity to see game. He’s holding onto a bar on his left side, attached to the seat, so he can stay in place. The roads were bumpy, and when I say bumpy, they were BUMPY. Had he not held on he’d be tossed off the Land Rover in a jiffy. One thing I never realized, when you watch National Geographic or documentaries about African wild animals is that all of Africa is just a maze, a spider web, an irregular one, of tracks. The single-file tracks are either people tracks from one village to another, or elephant tracks. And the 2-tracks, obviously are used by vehicles. All the animals, but particularly the elephants and the cats, use the tracks and roads to get around. This was such a surprise to me – I just assumed they went their own way, regardless of a road or track, but they find it very easy to get around – easier than strolling in the ordinary bush. Not that they don’t go off-road – they do – but when they want to get from one place to another they use the roads just like we do!

When you fly over Africa, at low altitude (which we did in between the different camps) you can really see the maze. I’ll post pictures of that at the end of my African sojourn.

Now there, is an elephant hole. Perhaps a few weeks before this it held some water (see the mud all around), and the elephants used it as a small watering hole. But as the savanna began to dry out in the spring heat, the holes dry up. And because the elephants are smart – very smart – they will dig down into a drying up flattish watering hole to try to find more water, rather than walk another mile, perhaps, to find a bigger water source. So they use their feet to dig. This hole didn’t happen to be ON a road, but on one of our game drive trips the tracker, who is responsible for looking out for elephant holes, was scanning off in the distance, and BOOM, we drove the left front wheel right into an elephant hole. Needless to say, the Land Rover came to a complete stop with the front wheel down about 2-3 feet into the hole. The tracker went flying off. I ended up in the left seatmate’s lap, my knees jammed into the roll bar in front of me, and my camera took a flying leap. Fortunately it landed inside the truck and wasn’t damaged. I was amazed. No one was hurt, thankfully. We all had a laugh about it, though. When you think about hazards in the bush, you may not realize until you’ve been there that an elephant hole can be a serious one!

Another view of the tracker’s seat, attached to the front bumper of the trucks, with a roll bar and wire foot rest. You can just barely see the handle on the far side of the seat. The back folds down when no one is sitting in it, and when we began tracking cats, the tracker gets into the body of the truck – too dangerous to stay out front.

Up in the treetop you can see a bird. It was a lilac-crested roller, I think, though I wasn’t taking notes. I might be wrong. In that waning sunset light even if I blew it up I’m not sure. The sunsets on the savanna were absolutely beyond gorgeous.

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The chef at Sandibe (pronounced san-dee-bey), the safari camp where this was served, just called it hummus, but because peanuts are such a major player in the cuisine of Africa, I started calling it safari hummus. Instead of tahini, they used peanut butter. It’s a surprising change of flavor.

I don’t think I expected to be served hummus in Africa. Maybe in a cosmopolitan city yes, but out in the bush? Yet it was very refreshing. They served it with fresh vegetables – icy cold carrots and celery, which tasted particularly good after being out on a morning game drive. I made this the other day to take to a luncheon (my friend Cherrie had a Halloween lunch for a bunch of her girlfriends). Several people commented on it – that they liked this and hoped I would be posting it here. Here you go, friends.

The safari camps must be used to people asking for recipes for their dishes – they delivered them usually the next day after I asked. I came home with several, as I mentioned last week.

This takes no time whatsoever to make. But if you did it exactly as they made it with roasted garlic (instead of fresh, which is what I used) it would take a bit longer. It was hot the morning I made this and I just didn’t feel like roasting the garlic, easy as it is to do – I didn’t want to heat up the kitchen. I’ve left the recipe as-is, below, so you can decide whether you want to roast it or not. Do use soft peanut butter (like JIF creamy), not the natural stuff, and not any peanut butter with nut chunks in it. The hummus is made completely in the food processor – it contains a fair amount of lemon juice which gives it some tang. And there is cayenne in it too, which gives it a kick. Make it the day before if you have the time so the flavors can meld.

What’s GOOD: the peanut butter is subtle – some people could pick it out of the flavor mélange – but some couldn’t determine what was different about it. I liked the option of pureeing the first can of garbanzo beans so it’s smooth, then adding in the 2nd can and leaving some of the chunkiness there. It gives the hummus some texture.

What’s NOT: nothing at all.

printer-friendly PDF and MasterCook 14/15 file (click on link to open)

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At the camp in Zambia, we were there to visit Victoria Falls. The day before we were told that unfortunately, in October, there is no water flowing on the Zambia side of “Vic Falls.” We all gave a collective groan. Oh no. But they said if we were willing to pay extra, they’d take us into Zimbabwe, we’d pay for a Zimbabwe car/van and guide. We all did that. That’s why it was fortunate we’d all decided to get the visa that encompassed a few other countries, so we were able to get into Zimbabwe. So off we went. First we came to the Zambia border crossing (the leaving Zambia side). Picture below was approaching it. I think this is much like I’ve seen on tv. People waiting for people. People wanting to sell trinkets. Our guide wanted us to have nothing to do with the hawkers there. It wasn’t very nice to look at – lots of squalor and trash. Poor people. They weren’t living there, just spending the day there. But maybe they were eking out a living this way. There were dozens and dozens of semi’s parked along the road, waiting and waiting. Only trucks of a certain size are allowed to cross the bridge (see below), and I’m guessing they do it mostly at night when there isn’t much tourist traffic.

We parked and all of us trouped into the small building and waited in line for someone to eyeball our passports and stamp us out. Back in the van we shortly came to a bridge.

Now, I’d never heard of the Victoria Falls Bridge before, and I’d suppose, unless you’ve been there, you probably haven’t, either. It’s an arch bridge, constructed in 1904-05 by an English engineering firm. It was fully constructed in England, then shipped to Africa and re-constructed. When the workers got close to meeting the two sections in the middle, they were absolutely perplexed because there was a gap – the bridge didn’t meet. Oh my. The team of workers left and “slept on it.” During the night, in the cooler air, the bridge relaxed and by golly, the next morning they discovered the bridge had come together. They locked it in place and it’s been there ever since. The bridge is 420 feet above the water below. Dizzying, I’ll tell you. Cars and trucks cross the bridge from both directions, but only one at a time – it has just one lane. Safety concerns were voiced about 10+ years ago, so the bridge was somewhat reinforced. On some tours people are encouraged to walk the open grid cat-walk underneath the bridge. Not me. Actually, doing that wasn’t offered to our group. There’s also a bungee jump from the center of the bridge. And sure enough, while we were there someone made a jump.

We did another border control stop on the other side of the bridge – to get into Zimbabwe, went through a museum about the local national park there, then drove further and parked. Our guide said, as we were standing in that 100°+ heat, that we needed to take the right path first, to go to the bridge (where I took the photo above), then we’d take the longer meander along the edges of the cliffs to take photos of the falls themselves.

And oh, are they glorious. They’re in a chasm, a gorge, plunging down over 400 feet. It’s mesmerizing. Noisy. Misty. A place to take in the power of God who created this magical place.

Note the man (a native) standing on the far side. He was a guide, leading a group of Asians who had purchased a special tour package – right where he’s standing the group was going to jump down into that little niche below him. It’s a sort of cauldron, a pool, where you can sit in the cauldron for awhile with just your head above water. And then he would lead you up onto some precarious steps and climb your way out. We didn’t stay long enough to see the people do it. There were about 6-7 people carefully picking their way to where the guide was standing – it was obviously very rocky and uneven because it took them a long time to go 50 yards.

We just continued to walk along the path, with occasional viewpoints. And can I just tell you how unbelievably hot it was? Oh my. We were all soaked through in sweat – nothing to do with the mist!

We had no time to go down further (picture left) but with that picture you can see the depth of the gorge and the power of the mist.

Back in the van we retraced our paths, going into the border crossing building – to leave Zimbabwe – to drive across that bridge again, having to wait awhile as there was a bit of a traffic jam waiting – then stopping on the other side to re-enter Zambia, getting our passports stamped there also. So hot. I thought I was going to faint. Cold water in hand, that quickly warmed to 100° bottled water. I learned on this trip that I don’t much like sipping 100° water. But when you’re dehydrated, you’ll drink anything!

That concluded our Vic Falls visit. We went back to our lodge near Livingstone, rested up, had a lovely dinner, then departed the next morning for our next camp.

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There’s a thing that happens to bloggers. Well, at least THIS blogger. When I can’t WAIT to get to my computer to write up a post about a recipe, you can pretty well be assured it’s a winner of a dish. I haven’t exactly felt that way about any recipe I’ve made in the recent past. But oh, this one, yes indeedy! A winner. Apples cloaked in the lightest of crispy crusts. Serve warm. To raves.

The day I made this I was a bit frazzled. I’ve been that way a lot as the workers are finishing up the work I’ve had done to my house. I’m so ready to have them be gone-gone. I want peace and quiet – not just at 7 am when they show up – but all day long. As I write this they’re finishing up the roofing. The compressor runs pretty much all day long. Shorting out things, tripping the circuit breakers. It’s all very frustrating. My pool filters were off for days and I didn’t even realize it. Vigilance is the word of the day. The word of the hour. Our neighborhood had a power outage the other night (nothing to do with the work at my house since this was at about 8pm), for about 30 minutes. I was watching TV, and grabbed my iPad mini, opened up the lid and it provided enough light so I could locate the flashlight. Some candles were lit. That tripped some breakers too. More frustration.

Anyway, I have 2 ladies that come to clean my house every 2 weeks. I’m grateful for that. Ever so grateful. But if they come later than usual, then they’re still cleaning the kitchen when I need to be in there (they arrive about 2:30 pm and are here for about 3 hours). This week they were later than that, and I was already behind schedule to prepare a dessert for my bible study group. I didn’t start on it until 6:10 and my guests were arriving at 7:00. Oh my. The cleaning ladies were still cleaning the far side of my kitchen as I began work on this. I whipped out my 8-inch springform pan, madly peeled 4 apples (the recipe calls for Granny Smith, but I had 2 of those and 2 other kinds). The apples are tossed with a bit of sugar and lemon juice, then poured into the springform pan. Meanwhile, you mix eggs, sugar and almond extract. That gets mixed until the batter is very light and ribbony, which takes about 10-11 minutes. I did that while I was prepping the apples. The batter is spread on top. The recipe said to let it sit for 5 minutes to allow the batter to ooze down into the apple layers, but I had no time for that, so I just rapped the pan on the countertop a few times and watched as the batter moved some. Into a 350° oven it went.

It bakes for an hour – a long time considering the apples were thinly sliced, but I trusted the recipe (it was in Food & Wine, and is credited to Matt Danko, a superlative chef – he used to be in Cleveland). Anyway, this recipe is his Russian father’s (I love to read about recipes with that kind of heritage).

I allowed it to cool for about 15 minutes maximum, because my guests had arrived and my dessert wasn’t ready. No worries, I served it warm as we sat at my dining room table discussing the history of Paul (Romans). It needed not a smidgen of any garnish – I didn’t have enough ice cream, nor enough cream to whip, so I served it as is, plain and simple. Oh-la-la.

What’s GOOD: everything. All of it – flavor, texture, toothsomeness, sweet, tart. The top is a wonderful thin crispy crust – you top it with some powdered sugar – and some of the batter does ooze down inside. It actually oozed clear to the bottom in some places. It was easy to cut, and everyone liked it for sure. I’d definitely make this one again. It’s also VERY easy. It couldn’t have taken me more than 15 minutes total to put it together, maybe less. The oven had just reached temperature when I put it in. Do let it sit, and do serve it warm. It’s also relatively low in calorie – 200 calories per serving.

What’s NOT: I can’t think of a single thing I didn’t like about it. The original article in the magazine suggested you’d never want for another apple dessert after you’ve had this one. I tend to agree! The left overs lost their crispy crust – so try to eat it all up in the first sitting.

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That’s the Sussi & Chuma safari camp, near Livingstone, Zambia. We’re on a boat out in the Zambezi river. My cabin is on the left, nestled down low in the middle of those green trees at the left – you can barely see it. On the far right was the bar where we enjoyed drinks both nights, along with the bugs. At the center right is the pool – an infinity pool actually (where the speck of red is). The lodge itself is back behind those buildings. If you go to the website you can see a beautiful shot of the lodge.

We flew from Johannesburg to Livingstone – about a 90-minute flight. Livingstone is named for the 19th century Scottish explorer who lived in and around this area on many of his expeditions. Susi and Chuma were his loyal attendants through all of his years in Africa. Per his wish, upon Livingstone’s death, Chuma & Susi (both spellings of Susi or Sussi are found) removed his heart and it’s buried nearby. His body was shipped back to Scotland. So, the safari camp took the Chuma and Sussi names to give it some local credence, I suppose.

At the airport we paid $50 for a visa that would allow us to visit several countries in this area – good thing, as we ended up going to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls. Entering Zimbabwe hadn’t been on the itinerary. Also at the airport someone stood near the passport control and pointed a small hand-held box at our heads (not in our ears) to take our body temp. That’s how they check for Ebola. None of the countries in southern Africa have had Ebola, thankfully. From the airport we took our first bouncing rides into the remote bush.

Once we arrived at the camp – at every camp – we were greeted by the staff – all of them singing, clapping and dancing – and smiling as we pulled up into the camp. The guides always called ahead on the walkie-talkies to tell them we were about 10 minutes away. We were given chilled washcloths to clean our hands and faces (so welcome after being in the dusty bush), and usually some kind of fruit juice drink or iced cold water to quench our thirst. We’d walk into the camp lodge, find a seat, then we were given a little orientation, this being our first one about living in the camps. To learn things like “don’t go to your tent cabins at night without one of our guides.” Interpretation: there may be animals, snakes, the elephants may have destroyed the walkway (very common) or some kind of danger. Or, “don’t drink the water from the tap.” Interpretation: dysentery may ensue. Bottled (filtered) water was always available. “Use the air horn if you’re in danger at your cabin.” Interpretation: probably wild animals are nearby or baboons are ransacking the tent cabin exterior, or as in my case, come get me because my cabin has been surrounded by elephants for 2 hours. Or, as was the case in a couple of the camps, the power went off at the cabins, which meant in the very small space underneath the A/C units (hung on the wall up above the beds) wasn’t cool anymore, so it quickly became unbearable. In most of the tent cabins we had no way to talk to the staff (no intercom or phone) so the only way to get someone’s attention was by using the air horn. Above was our first tent cabin bed. Yes, we had to ask them to make it into 2 beds. And yes, at EVERY safari camp the mosquito netting was put down and around the bed EVERY night. And at right above is the tree house we stayed in. It’s elevated about 10-12 feet above the ground and you walk on wood catwalks to get to-fro to the lodge. We never saw elephants below ours, but many others did.

Daytimes we could make our own assessment of the safety – of walking between our tent cabins and the lodge. Many times over the 2 weeks at safari camps we encountered animals, and frequently we stepped in elephant dung. It just gets matted down and becomes part of the fauna of the paths. Fresh dung we stepped over, thank you. See why I left my pair of closed-toed Skechers behind? If elephants were around, nobody challenged them to rights to the paths – we were told to go back to our cabins and wait until they’d moved on. They’re somewhat used to seeing people at a distance away, but not up close.

All of the camps we stayed in were luxury ones. And even though our rooms were tent cabins and somewhat rustic, they were still luxury. I’m making a generalization here, but I think we had much better food than some camps (based on my conversations with other friends who have done similar tours in the last year or so). And except for one, we had an A/C unit over the bed in every camp. I think that constitutes luxury out in the bush. There is no wired electricity from a power plant – this is the African bush – they run generators, or some have solar panels too. We had ample water for showers and baths every day, although the water is loaded with iron and is discolored. See photo. I’d been told not to take white clothes because they wouldn’t come back white. And yes, I washed and showered in that water. It was clean, just loaded with iron. Most camps, the water wasn’t as dark as this in the photo (that photo taken at another camp). The camps do your laundry for you (except underwear).

In the afternoons, after lunch, all of us went to our cabins and rested. I sprawled on the bed and cranked up the A/C to full power if I had a choice, and just laid there trying to get tell myself I was getting cooler.  Sometimes not very successfully! I read a lot and rested or napped. Remember, it was about 100° every day, and even with the small A/C unit running, it brought the temp down by only 6-8° I’d guess, providing you were right under it. At night, once the mosquito netting was down, that seemed to confine the cool air some, so we were usually more comfortable sleeping and the temps did go down at night.

Above is a tree with a strangling fig killing the main tree. It takes sometimes years, but eventually the main tree dies and the strangling fig flourishes using the main tree as its anchor. Kind of sad, I thought. Sort of like mistletoe.

One of the nights we took a boat ride – a sundowner cruise, they’re called – and saw all kinds of wildlife. This was our first views of African wildlife – we saw elephant, kudu, impala, crocodile, baboons and dozens and dozens of hippos.

There were two boats of us, and those little black things beyond the boat are hippos. More pictures of them below.

I didn’t get a photo of them with their monstrous yawning jaws open. You see them in the river because of their ears – the body could possible be a rock, you’d think, except their ears are brownish pink and they flutter – then you know they’re hippos. They were feeding. Hippos walk on the bottom and then rise up to breathe. We didn’t get very close to them – it’s not advisable. There were youngsters in that group too.

The guides drove the boats into the shore near here – several hundred yards away from the hippos – and sat in them and had a sundowner (a drink – any drink – it doesn’t matter – it’s just that it’s partaken at sundown). The guides brought out all kinds of alcohol and mixers, plus nuts and nibbles for us to eat. All while sitting in the boat. Baboons were nearby playing – fortunately they didn’t bother us. I had a gin and tonic, the only type of drink I had on the whole trip, I think. Oh, other than the Amarula.

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Unless you study the art of safari travel, people don’t know that the jumping-off point for safaris for southern Africa is from Johannesburg. Jo’burg doesn’t have a very good reputation. I can’t exactly tell you why – but many consider it a dangerous place to be. We didn’t see the downtown – we drove from the airport to a remote residential area to a lovely oasis of a hotel called the Saxon. Abercrombie & Kent insisted our group should stay there, rather than at one of the plain-Jane hotels at the airport. And oh, was it ever lovely. Once through their very secure gates, behind high walls, we were treated to a luxury hotel experience. The Saxon is on a huge piece of land, all lushly landscaped. The hotel could have been anywhere – as we were totally insulated from the outside elements, cocooned inside the sprawling grounds and treated so very well. We arrived quite early in the morning, and as luck would have it, none of our rooms were yet available. So, the hotel encouraged us to go into the restaurant and have breakfast – their gorgeous breakfast buffet. We did. Then we lounged outside for awhile, even waiting long enough to need lunch. Once our rooms were ready, most of us took a nap (we’d flown all night), and then gathered on the beautiful terrace for dinner. I was very sorry to leave there the next morning. But leave we had to do. The bed above was two twins very close together. Gwenda and I gave up on trying to get rooms that had separated twin beds. There at the foot of the bed you can see our two duffle bags, one each, of course. The bathroom (see photo below) was quite luxurious.

Our next morning we had breakfast, again, in the dining room (lovely food) and I ordered a latte. It was to be my last latte for the next 2+ weeks. It was delicious.

We journeyed back to the airport by small bus and took a flight from there to Livingstone, in Zambia.

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Just one of the views from the hotel, the Taj Dubai, somewhat on the perimeter of 2015 Dubai. In another year all the empty space you see in that photo will be completely filled in with more buildings. I think I counted 9 cranes working on the rooftops of the buildings just in that view.

Let me backtrack just a little bit. The small group tour I was on (planned by my travel agent, Carol) had 16 people, including Carol and her husband (they are long time personal friends). The tour actually started in Johannesburg, but all 16 of us had to get there, and there are many ways to do that. Carol recommended I go by Air Emirates, the airline of Dubai (UAE – United Arab Emirates). It’s one of the top reviewed airlines for comfort and safety, and the price, flying business class, was reasonable, I thought. It was about $6,000. If you haven’t priced going on safari, you may be in for a surprise – it’s very pricey. Had I gone solo (without a roommate) the trip would have been over $25,000. Fortunately, I did have a roommate, Gwenda. She is good friends with others who were traveling on this trip, so it worked out well. I didn’t know her prior to this trip, but we got along very well. Having a roommate brought the price of the trip down to something in between $16,000-18,000. Even with the business class tickets.

I suggested to Gwenda that we fly to Dubai 2 days early, just so we could do a bit of touring in Dubai. I probably won’t ever be in that part of the world again, so might as well give it a whirl. Gwenda was game, so we flew from LAX (Los Angeles) to DBX (Dubai) nonstop on an A380. Just so you know, going that direction it was about 15 1/2 hours, which I find amazing. I can’t imagine how big the fuel tanks are! And wow, what a plane. There at right is my little space – it was all mine. Storage compartments under the windows, a console on the near side with an iPad to use if I chose to. The seats were very comfortable and once airborne with the touch of a button the seat moves forward and my feet went into a well in the seat ahead of me and the seat makes into a completely flat bed. We were served wonderful meals and I managed to sleep about 6 hours, I think. I watched 3 movies (nothing memorable) and read on my Kindle quite a bit.

The Dubai airport – all I can say is WOW. It is gigantic, and opulent. Vast, high ceilings, marble and sparkle everywhere. Very clean – spotless, actually. We got through customs, immigration, passport control, etc. No visa is required to visit Dubai unless you’re staying awhile. We were met by a driver who whisked us off to our hotel. The Taj Dubai is quite new and they were offering fairly affordable room rates. If you’ve never priced hotel rooms in Dubai before, you’ll be in for a shock. Most rooms are about $800-900 a night. Carol managed to get us a deal at this new hotel, at not quite half that price (and only because the hotel is new and trying to gain tourist traction).

So what’s Dubai like? It’s not normal to most people. It’s a city of skyscrapers, every bit of it, almost. Dubai (situated right on the ocean, the Gulf of Oman) didn’t exist 13 years ago. It was nothing but sand. In a way, Dubai is similar to Las Vegas in that it’s nothing but big buildings. But there aren’t neon lights, nothing blinking – just a vast landscape of tall buildings in mostly shades of gray (cement and glass) in varying shapes. Architects have had a field-day in Dubai, designing ever more elaborate ways to build a high-rise with jutting blocks or rounded shapes. In the photo at left, the far left building actually curves 90°; it was designed by an American architect.

We took a 4-5 hour city tour on our last day there and got to see some more of the high rise landscape, including the Palm Island, the one that was built out into the sea in the shape of a palm tree (picture at right from wikipedia). It’s quite a tourist attraction. The leaves of the palm are all residential, and access is denied unless you live there. But getting from the base to the far tip (up the trunk of the palm) is public, lined with huge sprawling hotels. Those are not high rises, except the one at the end. We visited the harbor area (the older part of the city) with boats of all shapes and sizes, lined with restaurants and hotels.

One important fact you need to know about Dubai – the drinking of alcohol is somewhat limited. If you LIVE in Dubai you’re issued a card that permits you to buy a minimum of alcohol in a month. They want no drunkards there. Hotels serve alcohol, and ALL restaurants are attached to hotels so they can serve alcohol. Dubai is a very cosmopolitan city – very upscale. Most everyone is well dressed (except Gwenda and me who were en route to safaris, so we didn’t have very nice clothes. Remember, they had to fit in the duffle. I wore my airplane outfit all 3 days we were there. I was really embarrassed, but I couldn’t do a thing about it.

Those pretty ceramic bottles were on a high shelf in our hotel room. We saw some beautiful ceramics in our travels around Dubai. Including this lovely piece at left, sitting on a table near the elevator on our hotel floor. I wanted to buy it and ship it home. Alas, I never saw anything like it in our shopping travels in the city.

At right was a very pretty, traditional kind of wing chair, but it had a lovely purple and gold back cushion. Quite elegant looking I thought. Behind it is the hotel lobby. We ate breakfast and dinner in the hotel. Lunches we had out – both times a restaurant in the Dubai Mall.

You may not have heard about the Dubai Mall – oh my gosh – it’s gigantic. I don’t know if it’s larger than the Mall of America, but it was 4 stories high and about the size of 2-3 city blocks. It houses an aquarium, a 4-story waterfall (pictures below right), an ice rink (only one person was skating when we walked by), a big movie theater, and one entire area with nothing but children’s stores. Probably about 40-50 children’s clothing stores mostly, maybe a couple of toy stores. Lots of mothers with their children – mothers wearing an abaya, children colorfully dressed. One day we had a Subway sandwich. You’d be surprised how many American restaurants exist in Dubai. They’re everywhere. The other day, believe it or not, we wanted to have a carbonated beverage with our lunch, and many restaurants don’t serve them (no, I don’t know why) and finally we found Coke Light at the Rainforest Café. NOT where I wanted to eat, for sure. But it was convenient. There is lots of beef in the Middle East (no pork in Dubai, obviously), and ample vegetarian selections too.

No expense is spared in Dubai. Everything we saw was quite elegantly outfitted. Lots of luscious velvet, marble, polished brass, silver, pewter, tile. And the waterfall there at right is many stories high with the sculpted divers looking like they are headed for the pool at the bottom. Nearby there is a huge Bellagio-style synchronized water fountain. Shows are offered at 1 and 1:30 in the afternoon, then every half hour in the evenings. To see it you must go outside. With the temps over 100, I opted not to watch it. We visited a Starbucks so my roomie could buy a Starbucks’ Dubai coffee mug for her son. There were many famous label designer stores there as well. And a Pottery Barn. Really!

One evening we had pub food in the honest-to-goodness British pub in the hotel. I certainly wasn’t expecting fish and chips in Dubai. There is definitely a British influence there, though.

Note the Arabic signs. Fortunate for me much of their signage is in English and in Arabic.

There was a Mario Batali Eataly store in the Dubai Mall. We walked through it – didn’t find anything we wanted – but we couldn’t buy anything as it had to go into that tiny duffle bag anyway.

No question, there is a lot of money in the Middle East. Dubai has oil money, and Saudi Arabia is just a hop skip and a jump on the freeway. The Saudis come to Dubai often, and I would guess they spend well.

See photo at right – a store for abayas. They were having a sale. I didn’t see anyone in the store. Many of the women wear only black with an almost full veil. Others were dressed with color (as in the mannequin in the middle).  Our guide on our city tour filled us in on a lot of the dress customs. Many of the men were dressed in kundara (as the man at left was busy on his cell phone in front of the fountain). We learned about studying the male head dress (you can tell where they’re from) and the shoes (men from Saudi wear black dress shoes – the Dubai men wear sandals). Cell phone use is every bit as prevalent there as it is anywhere. When we sat at the Rainforest Café a family of Chinese sat next to us. They were speaking their native language, and as soon as they ordered, all 6 people in the group began using their cell phones and didn’t talk to one another. Such a sad state of affairs!

We went up in the extremely tall spire, a focal point in Dubai – the Burj Khalifa. We zipped up the 120+ floors in 50 seconds and walked all around taking pictures of the view. At one time the building was the tallest in the world, but some other city has taken over the honors now. It was pretty amazing.

In the photo at right the bottom left is the Dubai Mall. The building next to it is one of the very popular hotels, and at the bottom is the water fountain.

At left is the famous Burj Al Arab – also a hotel – one of the earlier ones built in Dubai. Each suite in the hotel is 2 of the floors you see there. I don’t remember for sure, but I think the guide told us that the hotel rented that 2-floor suite for about $40,000 a night. I cannot imagine . . .

Dubai is a top get-away destination for people from India and other parts of the Middle East. There are people there of every nationality, and dress is as varied as you can imagine. We did see a few women in scantily clad short-shorts, but not many.

What I didn’t mention to you is that almost all of our time was spent indoors. We did our level best to STAY indoors as much as possible because it was insufferably hot and humid (100° and 100% humidity). I can’t imagine living there, yet lots of people are in love with the place. There are virtually no sidewalks – almost no one walks anywhere – you take taxis. Our hotel was close to the Dubai Mall, but there was no way to get to there, so we took a hotel shuttle, and a taxi to return. The little bit of time we spent outside was awful – we were drenched in sweat in minutes.

But, we did it. We saw it. I can now say I’ve been there, done that. No real wish to return.

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I should have taken at least one picture of my stuffed-to-the-gills duffle bag. This I took after I got home, after I’d unloaded most of what was in it. The duffle bag is about 21 inches long, about 12-13 inches in diameter. It does have a flat bottom, and each end has a pocket. Sticking out of the bag is my folded up safari hat and the top edge of a yellow manila folder that had trip documents (not tickets) inside.

Some safari camps allow more luggage, but because we took small puddle-jumper single-engine planes 3-4 times between camps, they, the fixed-wing charter airline (Mack Air) had a limit on the size and weight of the bags. Everywhere we went there were 16 of those bags piled up on the runway, beside the game drive Land Rovers. The only difference between them were the yarn tags hanging from the ends – one of our gals knit them for us, so we could identify our bags quickly. Fortunately, at every camp and hotel the staff delivered the bags to our rooms for us.

Abercrombie & Kent provided the bags. And they provided a list of things we could take on the trip. Here’s what I took: 2 pairs of cropped pants (cotton, both beige), 2 t-shirts, both beige, a few changes of underwear, a jacket for cooler nights (never used) and a rain jacket (also never used). I took a safari vest my friend Linda loaned me, but it was SO hot I only used it one day. Linda loaned me a long-sleeved safari shirt too, which was also required and I used it a lot. Also took a pair of pajamas, some took a bathing suit (I didn’t; I just used one of my outfits when I used the pools). We wore one pair of shoes (sandals, heavy-duty type, not strappy type) and packed a pair of closed-toed shoes. Some took tennis shoes (mostly the men), but I took a pair of Skechers (left them behind at our last stop as I didn’t like them) and also took a pair of flip-flops. All of our liquid toiletries had to fit into ONE quart-sized plastic bag. I took sunscreen, mascara, eye liner, brow color, one lipstick, one tube of lip moisturizer, makeup remover, my nightly nasal spray, mosquito repellant. No shampoo (it was provided), no hair spray, no gel, no perfume. I took my Kindle (read 5 books as I think I mentioned), my iPad mini (played some games during the hot afternoons), and my iPod (that I listen to when I am trying to go to sleep). I took my big honkin’ camera (Canon Rebel xSi, the one I use for all my blog photos) with the standard lens, not the zoom – there was no way I could have handled that on this trip. Fortunately we were able to charge our devices in most places. Some took a phone. I didn’t. I had to make room for my charging cords and an extra battery, an extra card for my camera and a wall plug that would fit into the southern Africa electricity. And then, I had the outfit I flew in (and wore every day I was in Dubai, and wore it a couple of nights at the safari camps) and then I wore it on the long journey home. I wished I’d taken some hair gel as those safari hats wreak havoc with any hairdo. I had my hair cut very short for this trip so all I had to do was comb it and it dried in about 2 minutes because it was so hot there.

The shampoo in all of the stays was hard on my hair. I guess I should have packed some of my own (we were told not to), but my bag was already very full. I also took a Baggalini purse, of course, which was packed solidly, and I put a few things in a tote bag I carried on. It wasn’t big or heavy; my purse would actually fit in it if necessary. I think I was the only person who took an extra small bag. At the end of the trip I left behind all of my clothes that I could, which left a bit of room to buy a couple of trinkets. I’ll show them to you eventually. Cute animal figures done in wire and beading; also a balsa wood zebra. I left the tote bag behind and was able to fit my camera and my 5×6 notebook in a very small paper bag with handles given to us at one of the camps.

In the Johannesburg airport, en route home, Gwenda, my roommate, and I visited the duty free and both bought Amarula, a delicious liqueur similar to Bailey’s Irish Cream, except this is made from the fruit of the Marula tree. It was offered to us daily at the camps, to drink in our coffee when we stopped for refreshments on the morning game drives. That’s when I started drinking it – this at about 10:30 in the morning. It was lovely in the coffee.

When we went through security in Dubai (on the way home) I got flagged for a random check. I was with 3 other people from our trip, and they made them go on ahead of me, but they wouldn’t let me take my Amarula with me. I was SO upset – it wasn’t that I couldn’t have it, it was that when you’re flagged by security you can’t take alcohol there. Why, I don’t know! I thought they were going to confiscate it, but they didn’t. Anyway, I was escorted to another floor of the building and they took a swab all over my clothing and sent it through a machine. When I was finished they put me in an elevator which promptly locked me in and I couldn’t make it go to a floor or even move. Finally had to press an alarm bell to get someone to come. The elevator required a special pass only held by the security staff. Obviously I passed the security check and was let out of “prison.” What was funny was that they told the others in my group that I was taken “prisoner.” Gwenda was very distraught. Fortunately they allowed her to carry my Amarula so I managed to get it home after all.

It doesn’t taste like  Bailey’s – it doesn’t have chocolate in it – but it’s a cream-based drink. Altogether lovely. Gwenda bought 4 bottles and got someone else to take 2 of them through customs for her. I had 2 bottles (in a 2-pack cardboard case). The customs official did ask me about it – I assured him it wasn’t straight alcohol. Am not sure but I may have bought too much, but the guy smiled at me and winked and let me go through. THANK YOU, kind sir!

I haven’t had any of it since I got home – I don’t generally drink coffee at night, but my friend Joe will be coming to visit in a week or so, and I know he’ll have some with me. The marula tree fruit is bitter, so they must add sugar or some kind of sweetening to it, then the cream. There’s a photo of the marula fruit, from Wikipedia.

On the trip I drank a gin and tonic almost every day. They’re so very refreshing in hot weather, and oh my, was it ever hot on this trip. I don’t think we had a single day when it was less than about 100° F. Miserable. Absolutely miserable. But the gin and tonic helped! On a regular, daily basis I don’t drink at all anymore. I used to drink wine most evenings – a glass only – I’m a lightweight, always have been, but I didn’t have wine anytime on the trip. It was free to everyone, but I passed. Coke Light was my drink of choice, with LOTS of ice.

Since I got home, in between feeling lousy with jet lag (it’s 9 hours difference between Los Angeles time and Botswana time), trying to sleep (not well, except last night, finally) and trying to take care of necessities, I’ve been sorting and organizing my photos. I’ve just finished them today, so now will begin to tell you all the stories of my trip. Stay tuned.

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I’ve just returned, last night, from 2 weeks in Africa, on safari, and 2 days at the beginning of the trip, in Dubai. I’ve only begun to download all my photos from my camera. I’ve got one good night of sleep under my belt, am sipping on my first cup of coffee with cream (the cream unheard of anywhere on the trip), and will begin in earnest to work on my photos. I have hundreds to sort through, many of which will go into the computer trash. The above picture I took in a gift shop in Dubai – it was a big canvas print and I thought the art itself was so interesting. No, I didn’t buy it – I had no place whatsoever, to put a tube of canvas prints! On the entire trip we never saw a camel, but it at least is representative of the African continent.

We spent (I use the collective “we” because I was with a group of 16 – and I had a roommate, Gwenda,  – and we did everything together) 2 days and 2 nights in Dubai (enough), then flew to Johannesburg, where we stayed at a magnificent hotel (the Saxon), then took a flight to Livingstone, in Zambia, and began a journey to 5 different safari camps (most of them in Botswana), some more luxurious than others and I’ll be telling you all about them. One camp was accessible via LandRover (or LandCruiser, whichever), but the others were accessed only via very small puddle-jumper planes on very short, compacted dirt and sand landing strips. Sometimes the flights were longer (an hour), sometimes as short as 10-15 minutes.

And, believe it or not, I’m going to share some recipes too. We had fabulous food – I can’t fault any of our camps for their food – they did wonders with what they had available. I don’t suppose broccoli and cauliflower are common to the African people, but we had it often. There were combinations of foods I’d not considered doing, but it worked there. In coming days or week or two I’ll be sharing a cookie recipe – I just called them safari cookies. We had hot soup nearly every evening on the trip, and I’ll be sharing a recipe for a carrot, ginger and lime soup that was exceptional. And we had a delicious hummus that I want to make. If any of you have read my blog for awhile, I made a categorical statement recently that I’m “over” being infatuated with hummus. But THIS hummus was different. I’ll make it sometime soon. We had lots of butternut squash – that must be a staple available in Africa. We had beautiful fruit (melons, papaya, oranges, limes, lemons and green apples) that must have come from South Africa. I ate a cooked breakfast nearly every morning (generally I had 2 poached eggs or sunny side up ones) with wonderful, fresh breads, and sometimes bacon or sausage. We had lots of beef, pork, kudu, chicken, guinea fowl, even some fish. Vegetarian options were available everywhere, and even on occasion some GF breads.

So, bear with me as I begin the work here at my end, categorizing and sorting my photos (is that a bird up in that picture of a tree?) and I’ll share it all in coming days. My first night home I had a Trader Joe’s salad, and let’s just say I’m savoring my coffee this morning. Home feels wonderful. Today I’m meeting my daughter who took care of my kitten for me while I was gone. I’ve shopped for groceries already. The work on my house still isn’t quite finished, but it’s almost done. My newly redecorated bedroom still lacks accessories, but it’s almost completed. And my own bed was the most comfortable I’ve been in the last 2 1/2 weeks!

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