Maxine and Ray's trip 2022

 We arrived in Madagascar after several days at sea. Our port stop at Maputo was cancelled due to a hurricane in the area that we had to go around. Luckily the seas were not too rough. We tendered outside the island of Nosey Be which is about 5 miles off the northwest shore of the mainland of Madagascar.  It is a volcanic island about 9 miles long, and is very lush and green.  We did not visit the main town of Hell-Ville (no kidding) , but instead went to the jungle nature reserve.  Hell-Ville was named after Admiral de Hell who was the Commander in Chief of  a French warship named the Colibri which arrived in 1840 and claimed the island for the French.  The native population of Madagascar is most closely related to the people of Indonesia, although the French colonial rule also brought many people from the French speaking colonies in West Africa. The animal life on Madagascar is quite unique, since evolution in Madagascar was quite isolated. It is well kno...

We are now in Cape Town.  Cape Town is quite beautiful, with mountains very close to the water. Some suburbs are on the back sides of the mountains as well.  We went for a short trip and a great Indian food lunch to "Camp's Bay", a suburb where we stayed on our last visit four years ago. It has a nice beach, and lots of beautiful homes built on the cliffs overlooking the water.  The beach at Camp's Bay We are staying in the wharf area in the center of Cape Town. They have done a very nice job developing this area with lots of good restaurants, street entertainers, and some interesting shops. The Cape Town "Victoria and Alfred Wharf " area outside our hotel. Cape Town's famous Table Mountain is in the background. African dancers outside the trading post shop which has lots of original African art and sculpture. A closer shot of the dancers. The harbor boardwalk. Our hotel is the tall building on the far right with the blue roof.  From the harbor it is pos...

 We left Gondwana Game Reserve and drove another few hours on  "the garden route" through beautiful rolling farmland to the beach town of Plettenburg Bay. It was lovely, and felt more like California than Africa. It was clean and modern, with great restaurants.  Our  accommodation was a lovely small Bed and Breakfast with seven rooms overlooking the ocean. The long sandy beach at Plettenburg Bay. After two nights at Plettenburg Bay, we drove 4 hours back to the charming town of Franschoek where we have visited before. It is about an hour and a half east from Cape Town in a beautiful small valley surrounded by steep mountain peaks on all sides. It is known for it's vineyards and excellent award winning wines. The town is spotlessly clean, and most buildings are painted white. It has been settled since the 1600's when the Huguenot Protestants left France due to religious persecution. They began farming and growing grapes. On our last visit we saw a copy of a letter at ...

 We had a bit of a challenge arriving in South Africa. High winds and waves forced us to cancel our stop at the beach town of Mossel Bay, and then delayed our arrival into Capetown for a day because high winds had forced the closure of the port. We missed a day of sightseeing in Capetown, so when we disembarked we immediately picked up our rental car and drove for five hours to the wonderful Gondwana Game reserve. Gondwana is a private game reserve, covering over 10,000 hectares. It is located in the southern Cape in an area known as the garden route for it's lush landscape. The reserve has a mixture of plains and mountainous areas set against the backdrop  of a beautiful mountain range. The reserve has some private homes, as well as four lodges for guest  accommodation.  The entrance to Gondwana Game reserve. This large valley is part of a rift which goes all the way to the ocean and used to be an extensive wildlife corridor. There is a goal to restore this corridor...

 We arrived at the pretty harbor port of Richard's Bay, then immediately took an hour and a half bus ride to the Hluhluwe Game Reserve for our game drive. Richard's Bay is primarily an industrial shipping  port since it has a very deep harbor. Pulp and paper processing and metal smelting is done here, but there are not sightseeing city tours. The modern port just opened in the 1970's. Approaching Richard's Bay harbor. Our drive to the  reserve was pleasant, and the homes by the highway were much nicer in the countryside than those that we have seen in other African countries.  Most had sturdy modern construction and glass windows, with neat yards surrounding them.  The game reserve is very mountainous, and because it is the wet summer season, the vegetation was very pretty and green. We were lucky to see a good variety of animals up close, including the rare white rhino which is not actually white.  A herd of Cape Buffalo. These are very dangerous when the ...

 Maputo is the capital of Mozambique. Mozambique was a Portuguese Colony, but gained independence in 1975. The primary language is still Portuguese. We did a short city tour. The city is poor, and quite rundown, with a lot of trash scattered on sidewalks and roadways.  We visited the old Portuguese colonial railway station which still has a couple of local trains daily, the colonial Portuguese Fortress, the "Eiffel House"  and the botanical garden as well as a local vegetable and craft market. The old railway station. The entrance to the Maputo Central Market.  Produce and local nuts and spices for sale. Much of the produce is imported from South Africa. There were several kiosks selling wigs and hair extensions in the market. Our guide informed us that some women from particular descent have sparse hair that will not grow long. They prize "big hair" so often purchase hair extension products, some of which can be very expensive. The entrance to the Maputo Fortre...