Today, my second full day here, I got a private tour guide and we spent the best part of the day going to two nearby sites; The Cradle of Mankind and the Ann Dyk Cheetah Rehabilitation Center.  The Cradle of Mankind is a huge area of some 27,000 hectares that is protected as a World Heritage Site.  It is here that fossil remains have been found dating back millions of years and it is here that is accepted as the origin of humans on this planet.  The tour included a small museum of area artifacts; the best part was going into the cave where the most meaningful remains have been uncovered.  I do love caves; this was not a pretty cave although there was evidence of stalactites and stalagmites, but these had been broken off long ago by miners.  This was a cave of significance and there was a feeling of long ago incidents that trapped animals and led to their deaths and a feeling of cultural discovery; it all started here after all.  There were 3 places that required some unique moves - picture me doing a bear walk and a crab walk through openings about a meter square each for about 3 or 4 meters in length; not a pretty sight I'm sure, but everyone else was pretty busy themselves and I'm sure there is no video clips to be posted.  Then there were the stairs; seems every cave I've been to starts with an uphill walk to a small opening, then descending stairs/a path into the depths.  In this case there were 66 steps down into the cave.  The floor of the cave had rubber mats to mark the humans pathway, but the ground was very uneven so I took care with each step.  At the end we had to climb over 200 stairs to make our way out, but that was pretty easy.  We took a 10 minute stroll back to the car park to finish it up. 

The Cheetah Center has been running for about 40 years and Ann , age 83, is still active in its running.  We saw 4 cheetahs who for various reasons would spend the rest of their days at the center.  Ann and her staff also care for vultures, hyenas and wild dogs.  It was all very interesting information.  Can't wait to see these animals in the wild where they belong.  

All for now.

The hop on hop off buses that I find in many large cities are a great idea!  Their routes take visitors to the major points of interest in a city and you hop off at your choice; once you have stayed there for as long as you want, you hop on the next bus that comes along.  So it was a car ride from the house to the train station then a two-station ride to Red Bus stop #1 in Johannesburg.

The Gold Cliff Casino was my first hop off necessitated as this was the pick up point for the Soweto tour.  As it turned out I was the only one on the tour (travel luck) so had my driver, my guide and myself.  I had asked each of them their names and even repeated them and practiced saying them but as you can probably can tell by now that I don't have any recollection of either of their names right now . . .  Soweto is a very large area of Johannesburg where workers were able to find  a place to live when they moved to the big city; the area was called southern workers township; rather long so was shortened to Soweto.  With about 3 1/2 million people and limited resources, homes are pretty basic and there was no visible sign of  anything promising.   The streets pulsated with thousands of people walking, some with purpose, others just passing the day it seemed.  We stopped at several places and got out of the van and my guide gave a more in- depth info about the area, the struggles of the people and apartheid, all of which was so very interesting and moving.

The Apartheid Museum was my second stop; a lot of it was difficult for me to read about and try to understand, but there were some very inspirational exhibits and it was well worthwhile.

My third stop was at the Science Museum.  The human body was on exhibit so I took the opportunity to see it as I had missed it in Canada.  Well worth the time; although I love science and will watch operations on tv etc, I found it a bit eerie to know that these specimens were real people, real dead people, but real people just the same.  A lot to learn here.

My body says that I should be doing some serious REM sleep, but the clock says just the opposite.  With a nine hour time change and very little sleep over the past three nights I find it hard to stay awake here in Johannesburg.  I even dropped my e reader a few times at the London airport . . .  It took forty-four hours to travel from my house to the Smith house in Johannesburg, quite a long day actually.

I enjoyed my twelve hour layover in London yesterday taking advantage of a beautiful sunny day to go into the city.  I first went to the London Eye, the new wheel on the banks of the river Thames; 32 'cars' or 'gondolas' each holding about 20 people at a time.  The experience was unique and with a circular travel time of 30 minutes gave lots of opportunity for looking at picture perfect views.

The last time I was in London was forty-two years ago on a ten week backpacking trip around Europe with my best friend.  Things in London have remained just as I remember them for old things do not change noticeably in four decades; the lions at Trafalgar Square are still magnificent, Buckingham Palace looks the same, the Tower of London hasn't aged.  But there are also a lot of new buildings and it seemed there were construction cranes rising up all over the urban area so there are most definitely changes going on; but those didn't concern me.  There were thousands of tourists downtown; most there to see the anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth earlier that day I suppose.  All I got to see were thousands of metal barricades still up along the sides of the Mall which leads from Buckingham Palace.

I was on a jet at nine last night and we flew out of Heathrow shortly before the sun went down.  I was lucky enough to have a three-seat section to myself so was able to sprawl out a bit and managed some semi-unconscious hours somewhere over the darkness of Africa.  My first glimpse of Africa came at sunrise; it looked as though there was a globally-sized camouflage laid over the place; a patchwork of browns on browns for it is now the dry season.  It didn't matter to me; I was here, over Africa and was excited about it.

My couchsurfing hosts here in Johannesburg are the Smith family, Henti, Bronwyn and their two girls; Vicky age five and Julia age two and a half.   They have a cute dog, Blaze, and two cats so I like that as I really do miss my dog, Emma.

All for now.

With just 21 hours before my plane takes off my mind is in a familiar overdrive; where is my passport, check - have I charged my ireader, check - did I pack a towel, check - where is my plane ticket, check . . . and I realize that I am generally an organized person and everything I need to take I have on my dining room table if it has not already been tucked away in my large backpack ( 60 litres)  or in my daypack.

Last night was spent with family at a BBQ; it was a combination bon voyage/birthday dinner as I won't be home for my birthday in 2 weeks.  Nope, nowhere near home;  I will spend my birthday on a boat in False Bay near Cape Town cage diving with great white sharks;  bettter get the supper in now.  What a great way to spend the evening talking of many things.

Now it's crunch time and with most things completed it's not really too crunchy after all.  But I'm still pretty sure I'll be doing that last load of laundry around 11 tonight.

Adventure awaits;  I'm ready for it!

Africa over easy

Curling toes with anticipation; a smile that just won't quit; the promise of excitement; only Christmas eve made our eyes sparkle as much!  You all know the feeling;  you know exactly what some of the presents will be, you don't know what some of the others will be, surprising delights coming as paper is torn from boxes and tossed roughly aside.  

With only five days before I leave for my African adventure I am reliving this feeling.  I know of many of the places I will visit, but I have never been to any part of Africa and seeing an elephant in a circus or in a zoo will definitely not be the same as almost sharing a shower with one or more of them.  Yes, I've been told by a friend that in one of the camps I am staying in this may indeed happen!  Wow, how cool is that?

So some of the 'presents' I will know, but it is the unknown ones that will fill my days with delightful surprises.

My dining room table has been gathering items for a few weeks now like an explosion of a world traveler's pack; except of course, these items haven't made it into the pack yet and are still new and unblemished.  I'm pretty sure it will all fit in;  and if it doesn't, they do sell things in Africa don't they?  So I'm not too worried about it.