Up at 6:30 AM, breakfast at 7 AM so that we could catch the 7:45 AM shuttle into town with Georgia and Don for one last photo op at the famous Victoria Falls Hotel. I quickly walked through the entrance to the outside garden and patio areas to get some pictures of the bridge and Falls. By 8:30 I was at the casino, hoping to play about 30 minutes' worth of slots, but good or bad, the casino didn't open until 10 AM.
So, while I was waiting for the others to join me for the 9 AM shuttle back to the Safari Lodge, I wrote a thank you note to Vitalis. At one point during my writing, I glanced up to see a warthog making its way down the middle of the street - "William, didn't your mother tell you NOT to play in the street???" What cracks me up is that people are totally oblivious to the baboons, monkeys, warthogs and other animals who make up part of the general downtown population. Well heck, I guess they have errands to run just like we do. Lots of people to see and places to go as well.
The rear garden of the Victoria Falls Hotel.
View of Victoria Falls and Victoria Falls Bridge from the hotel.
The slots at the casino.
Back in our rooms by 9:30 AM to finish packing, settle our account, and check our email one last time before setting our duffel bags outside the door. Just as we locked our front door behind us, we spotted a vervet monkey on the maid's laundry basket filled with crisp, clean, fluffy, impeccably white bath towels and sheets. He seemed to be lifting the towels quite daintily out of the basket, one by one, as if inspecting each one to see if it passed some kind of quality control test. Once he had tossed quite a few onto the brick walkway, he started frantically digging for something underneath the sheets. Later we learned he was searching for and hoarding the sugar packets - picture senior citizens at McDonald's poaching all the cream and sugar packets for their morning coffee:)
In need of a sugar fix.
We then departed for the Victoria Falls Airport at 11 AM - Georgia and Don, Shelly and Pam were heading back to the states and the rest of us were going on to Cape Town for the post trip extension. It took us an hour to check in to the British Airways international ticket counter, get our passports stamped once again and go through security. I spent most of that hour in very pleasant conversation with some retired teachers from Brisbane, Queensland in Australia and another woman with them from New Zealand. Before going through immigration, I thanked Vitalis for everything he did for us to make the safari portion of our trip outstanding. I'm not sure if he was relieved or sad to get rid of us - a little bit of both, I think. I personally could never do his job.
By 12:30 PM we were in the departure lodge waiting to board our plane bound for Johannesburg. Iris and I found seats, settled in with our netbooks and logged in to ecowifi, the excellent wireless network at the airport, to check our email. An American couple across from us asked me if there was a free wireless airport connection. After I said yes, I asked if they needed help logging in on their laptop. Turns out the couple, Chriss and Richard, lived in Sarasota, Florida. When I told Chriss I was hoping to retire and buy a single family home there soon, she said, "Well, my neighbor across the street is selling her home, and it's a very nice 3 BR, 2BA with a pool." She thought the asking price might be $250,000 (If this journal page appears a little moist at this point, it is because I am salivating after hearing this information). We exchanged email addresses and less than 24 hours after meeting her, I had her neighbor's name and contact information. Talk about a small world!
Since we were seated near the front of the plane (in row 6), we were first off and into the shuttle buses that carried us to the terminal at the Johannesburg Airport. So began a few hours that most people only dream about when it comes to dealing with airports....(1) our bags were in the first 10 bags to hit the luggage carousel; (2) there were no lines at the immigration counter; (3) there was absolutely no one in line at the British Airways domestic check-in counter, which actually had 6 staff waiting around for customers; and lastly, (4) not a soul in line to go through security! One might say it doesn't get any better than this, but patience dear reader, because you have NOT heard anything yet...
Cue up the music for Amazing Grace...Nokia - missing its back cover, with cracked screen and unreadable monitor. Surprisingly, it did turn on, but I couldn't get anything on the screen. It had clearly been run over at least once by one of the massive, heavy duty Land Rover jeeps we used for the Kruger safaris. I do not think I have ever felt as stunned or dumbfounded in my entire life as I was when I was handed that phone. I couldn't even speak except to tell Iris over and over again, "I can't believe it. I can't believe it." (I wonder how many minutes the baboons and lions ran up texting and phoning their peeps). There was no information inside the envelope or from Karen concerning who found it, when it was found, or how it was found, so as soon as I can find that out, I will add it to a later blog. If I don't hear back from Jeffrey or Wilderness Safaris, I'll just make it up:) ha ha, just kidding! (Found out in an email from Jeffrey, dated July 8th, that Steph found it a day after I left. Apparently it was buried under the sand on the road. I'll try to contact Steph for more details and a much overdue thanks).
Our flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town was less than 2 hours long so I used part of the time to grill Sarah, my seatmate (a college student from Cape Town) about restaurants and places to visit in Cape Town. She was most gracious and accommodating, but after awhile I was getting the feeling she really wanted to listen to her iPod so I thanked her and left her alone. (I think the art of conversation in younger people today is a lost art replaced by texting and iPods).
Deitz, our new guide for Cape Town, met us at the Cape Town Airport and drove us to the St. Georges Hotel in the central downtown area of the city. Apparently the area was having some kind of weird wintry weather with an incredibly blustery wind blowing in the opposite direction they usually experience during their winter. The good news about the wind was that it was keeping the rain away; the bad news was that it was making it very unpleasant to negotiate sightseeing. According to the weather forecast for the next few days, we will have to learn how to deal with it if we intend to get out and explore the city.
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