Ring around Rosie

Rose likes circles...whether it is with guys in a pub sharing home brew out of a bucket.... Or ring around the rosey with pre schoolers.

Table Mountain and Robbin Island

We are in DC.

Our plane to SF is delayed an hour. We slept the best ever on fairly empty plane...Capetown to Dakar to Dulles... More than 8 hours.

It has been a great trip... Engs are good. Ready to hit a rat race. Love, Mom

Ready to come home

We thought of Ginny's quilting as we got ready to leave Joburg.... Hal and I leave for DC and Rose to London. We both arrive at SFO near noon on Wednesday. We are almost "Out of Africa".

Bo-Kaap

Bo-Kaap is a section of Cape Town for colored people, mthose are people who are not pure black African or white. There used to be many slaves from Malaysia. We went to a spice shop in their neighborhood where Weylin's sister bought some ground Ginger.
I really liked the brightly painted houses of all different colors. We also ate Malay food which was sweet more than spicy.

Our last day in Capetown was really great. We are flying home tomorrow after we townships in the morning. It will take 30 hours to come home.

Cape of Good Hope

Wonderful day on the Cape of Good Hope. Perfect weather. Adaptable driver....took to cookie outlet, seafood restaurant, penguins, wine tasting, university and more! It is my kind of travel! Tomorrow we walk the city from central hotel on Greenmarket Square where Africa curios are sold. Traveling with Engs is easy.

Happy Birthday to brother Rick!

Penguins

Dear Atticus,

Today we went to the most southern part of Africa . We saw black footed penguins near our lunch spot. It was fun watching them go into the water to catch fish. We only have one more day on Africa , then we fly home. See you soon.

Love, Grandma

Table Mountain, Capetown

We hired a hide and took a cable car up to the top of Table Mountain. The city of Capetown lies between it and the sea. In the afternoon, we took a boat to Robbin Island, the prison where Nelson Mandela was held. From that island, we had another great view of The table top without a cloud cover. It is a beautiful day in South Africa.

Animal close ups.

Papa has a video with close ups, we are not supposed to get too close. We often had hippos and elephants right outside our tent, so we could to go out after 8:30. Love, Grandma

Hal in Victoria Falls

Hal can check off one more thing on his bucket list... Victoria Falls.

He took a 15 minutes helicopter ride above the falls in the morning then walked along side this afternoon . This wraps up our Ultimate Africa tour...and fly to Capetown tomorrow for a few days exploring with the Engs.

School visit

We visited an elementary school and was hosted by a class of 5th graders..aged 11 &12. They sang and danced for us. Three girls were my special hostesses. I showed them pictures of Atti and Pax at Disneyland, and video of the water show. I had them play math bingo on my iPad .
The tour company gave them a hose to water their garden from a well.

They certainly were well behaved and danced well. It costs $10 a term for school plus uniform. Tere are three terms in a year. Average teachers make $350 a month. Workers make $280 a month. Most of the villagers lived off their own gardens and bartering.

Leopard in Zimbabwe

The beautiful leopard is difficult to see until he sits up. His coat is georgeous .

Walking safari

Dear Atticus,

Papa and I took a walking safari today and found this elephant jaw near a watering hole. Animals that die of old age are often found near a water so they do ot have to o far to get a drink. Our guide was real strick with absolutely no talking as we walked single file close together. He carried a loaded rifle to protect us if we were attacked.
Papa is holding an ivory elephant tusk that will be put in a storage place. Zimbabwe is allowed to trade ivory with Japan once every 4 years.
I learned that each elephant foot print is different and the back foot steps in the print made by the larger rounded front print. Can you see the big toe on the right of the back foot.

In our afternoon break, papa took a bath in our outdoor bathtub where baboons are chasing each other near us. Soon we will go to the city. I will miss the animals...like I miss you and Paxton.

Please write me a note. Love, Grandma