November 3-14, We ARE home, Life is back to normal, Some stats and thoughts on South Africa

Several friends and family have mentioned to us that we never "completed" the blog of our trip to South Africa, so thought I would confirm that we really are home and summarize a few things.

Tom took about 2500 photos during our close to 5 weeks there, and is in the process of sorting through them and weeding out duplicates, blurry ones,  etc.

We saw 386 species of birds, of which 336 were new for us.  There are over 900 species of birds in South Africa, so there are definitely more for us to see if and when we go back.  And, yes, we would LOVE to go back!  We've been asked many times what our favorite bird of the trip was, but there were so many amazing ones that it's impossible to narrow it down to under 100

Mammals tallied up at about 42, including the Big 5 (lion, elephant, leopard, rhino, buffalo).  Six leopards in 3 days was definitely the highlight of the mammals for me, but watching giraffe move their towering bodies so gracefully and powerfully was something you don't quite experience in the same way watching on tv or in a zoo, and looking into the eyes of an elephant only 5 or 6' away from the car literally took our breath away (most likely out of fear though).

Flowers are known to be at their best in South Africa in September, so we didn't expect to see near as many as we actually did.  The proteas were different than any flower we've seen before, and there were so many colors and sizes of them.

Insects weren't a problem anywhere for us, except for the Africanized honey bee that tangled with me 3 days before coming home and continued to remind me of its aggressive nature for almost 2 weeks.

The social structure in South Africa was a bit of an eye opener for both of us.  We didn't expect to see such large gaps between the haves and have-nots, and saw it throughout the country.  The most impressive and memorable social interaction I had was when I gave a young black woman staff member a 50 rand (about $3.75 ) tip at the end of one of our guest house stays, at which her expressionless face immediately lit up to an immense smile and she grabbed me and hugged me.  This really made me wonder what incomes are if 50 rand meant so much to this young woman.  I later found out she has 2 children living in one of the east Africa countries that she sends all of her income to.  Many people spoke to us of the high crime rate in the country and their concern of it.  Regardless though, everyone we met was pleasant, helpful and welcoming.   

It was a great experience and adventure, with beautiful scenery, birds, mammals, flowers and people all along the way.  If only one could get there from here without spending 35-40 hours in airports and planes.........

November 2, Halfway Home

We planned on 2 hours for refueling the rental car, driving to Cape Town airport and turning in the car, but it only took us 45 minutes this morning.  So we had a long wait before our first flight to Joberg, especially since it was about an hour late departing.  During our layover in Joberg, we had a really fun conversation with a couple of Jamaicans, a German, and a South African couple.  Our conversation began by the Jamaican moving over to make room for us "elders" (Tom & I) as he called us and went on to discussing dark chocolate with the German and its health benefits, with the Jamaicans never tasting 70% cacao before - until the German pulled out a bar for them to try.  Our 10+ hour flight to Frankfurt on Lufthansa was extremely uncomfortable; packed in like sardines.  But the flight itself was very smooth on the 747-8, other than the fact it sounded like the pilot scraped the tail on the runway at takeoff!!!  Made for a touch of anxiety..........I've decided we will try to avoid Lufthansa from here on out, as they are difficult to get any info out of prior to flying, and the seats are really cramped.  We've in Frankfurt for about 4 hours now; Tom's recharging IPods; and I had a jumbo latte to revive myself.  ☺️

Birdwise, our last bird in Cape Town was a pair of Rock Kestrels flying around the outside of the terminal.  And in Joberg the last bird was a pair of Rock pigeons flying around INSIDE the terminal.

Only one photo today from Frankfurt.

November 1, Rain and Wine

We did a birder thing this morning and visited the Paarl Sewage Ponds.  😝  Sewage ponds can often be very birdie, but we just had pouring rain, lots of wind and a few birds - thus, no photos from there!  Just getting us ready for home!  We were actually passing the time before the wineries opened for wine tasting.  We tasted at 2 and ate lunch at another one, with the wine being very acceptable at both, and Tom's cheese plate being "wonderful" at the other one.  Too bad the weather wasn't less cloudy here because the surrounding mountains and the endless vineyards really are stunning when you can see them.  We've checked in online for our afternoon flights home tomorrow afternoon, and my next blog post may be from Joberg or Frankfurt since we have 5 hour layovers at each place.

Photos are of one of the many Helmeted Guineafowl that began making a racket in front of our room early this morning, the vineyard view from our room, the front and the back of Lovane Guest House where we're staying, the view from the front porch of the guest house,  tasting room at Spice Route Winery and then the view, tasting room at Bilton Winery, enjoying lunch at Fairview Winery.