Leaving Africa

Ok, well, I am not leaving today, but I think this may be the last time I get to the internet before I do leave. So, I thought I would compile a brief lists about the things I miss at home and the things I will miss here.

Things I miss from home:
1. My kitchen, specifically dry dish towels and the garbage disposal
2. Constantly being connected to the internet
3. The plethora of electrical outlets
4. The clothes dryer.
5. Coke that tastes like it does in the ATL

Things I will miss from Africa:
1. Views that take my breath away every time I look up even though I have seen them everyday for a month.
2. Baboons
3. Friendly people in the street
4. Wine, even the house wine (and the exchange rate for the wine)

South Africa - in pictures, version 3 - featuring me!

South Africa - in pictures, take 2

Here are some more pics. This time with better resolution. Enjoy.

What large ears you have...

What large canines you have

I have spent a few days tracking the baboons now. I can totally see why some people get addicted to field work. You have the thrill of a chase (ok, not so much a chase, but a lot of looking), then a discovery, and then you get to watch animals that you are really interested in for hours. And, you get to go where they go and in some cases do what they do. The person I was tracking with the other day tried some of the fruit that they were eating. Her first word was "mucous." But, it was fun to watch.

This morning, in what would prove a futile search for the troup of baboons known as "Kanonkop" we came across a different group of baboons. They either crept up behind us, or we walked right by them without knowing they were there. Then, their behavior got kind of strange. They got real interested in us and started approaching in what was a kind of velociraptor from Jurassic park moment. I felt I was being hunted. They were moving as a group to surround us. Now, this is really odd behavior for baboons. I happened to be with the person running the project and she has tracked baboons here for years and never saw anything like this. We tried just moving off the path and looking submissive, and they followed us. We tried TALKING REALLY LOUD, which turned out to be a bad idea as they became more aggressive in their posture. Finally, we tucked our absence of a tail and walked off the side of the mountain...away from them and the path. It felt very much like they were being territorial. Which, baboons are....with each other. So, either they saw us as baboons or as a threat. Either way it was rather exhilarating and I was glad I had a large walking stick with me...

South Africa - in picture

Here are some pics to tide you over...

Ostrich, Baboons and Antelope - Oh my!

Finally went into the park today. And, we saw tons of stuff. The coolest were of course the baboons. But the ostrich were the most surprising. Who knew they lived here?

Really short post today, but the good news is one of the guys has a camera to computer cord, so I can post some of my pictures soon.

Check back regularly!

Mr. Poppers Penguins

I'm in Simonstown. It is this gorgeous little place on the southern end of False Bay, about 20 km from the Cape of Good Hope. It turns out that Boulder's Beach, here in Simonstown, is home to a colony of several thousand African penguins.

I went walking down a board walk that overlooks their protected beach and I literally saw thousands of penguins. It is nesting season, so they were all in pairs with one sitting on the nest and the other looking over protectively. It was amazing.




Hopefully, I will get to see baboons this afternoon. If not, definitely tomorrow.

Under the hot African sun

Yesterday the weather was awesome, although windy like nothing I have seen before. For a while I wondered if hurricanes were possible without clouds. I decided they aren't but I would guess there were wind gusts of at least hurricane level 1. But, it kept the temperature really nice.



Today it is hot. Really hot. And still no clouds. Makes me wonder how well I am going to do tracking baboons over un-treed mountains in this weather. Yesterday I was cursing the winds, but today I think I would prefer them.

I took it pretty easy today. I went around town picking up the things I forgot to bring with me (hat, correct power adapter, etc.). I also hit the SA National Gallery. It was pretty good. Much better than the SA Museum, which was a huge disappointment. I think I have hit most of the must do tourists things in Capetown except going up to Table Mountain and taking a boat to Robbins Island, both of those are closed due to the winds.

It is my last night in Capetown. Tomorrow I will head to Simonstown, where I will be the rest of the month. I can't wait for the upgrade (I hope) in accommodation. The 8 person backpackers dorm is somewhat loud and crowded.

I can't wait to see Simonstown and get out of the big city some more.

Goats do Roam

I went on a wine tour in the cape region today. Hit three wineries, or wine farms as they are called here, and had many wines.



It was a lot of fun. We drove out of Capetown and into the rural areas. It is so beautiful that it is nearly incomprehensible. I keep trying to think how to describe it and the only thing I can come up with is the alps, but with a tropical paradise in the valleys.

Very awesome.

Arrival in Capetown

I made it to South Africa! I got in late last night and am just emerging from my hostel to explore the city.

When I walked out my door this morning, this is pretty much what I saw (not my picture)