Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and for some people it's one of the highlights of Africa. The falls have a drop of 108 m and stretch for 1.7 km.

David Livingstone discovered the falls in 1855 and named this natural wonder after Queen Victoria.

For views it's better to be on the Zimbabwe side of the border. One can watch the falls from safe viewpoints as well as directly from the edge of the cliff. Best views are in (afternoon) sunshine, when one or two rainbows can be seen. If the Zambezi carries too much water (rainy season) one sees less as all is covered in haze.

In the forenoon, overcast skies 

Too much haze ...

Eastern part of the cataract after the sun cleared the sky

Two rainbows

Western part of the cataract in sunshine

You can go onto the bridge, but you need a permit, which doesn't even have your name on it. Bungee-jumping on the bridge!

Some people go for the natural pool on top of the falls 

You might like hearing the falls

Bo-Kaap

Bo-Kaap is Africaans and means "above the Cape". It's an interesting and colourful part of Cape Town. Bo-Kaap is situated beween Wale St. and the slopes of Signal Hill. The origin of this suburb is connected to one of the the dark pages of South African history. The suburb had been called the Malay quarters as people from Malay, India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka had been forced to live there as slaves. Some of the offspring still live there. The houses are painted very colourful. It's worth a visit and a the Bo-Kaap Museum on Wale St. is open on weekdays.

Bo-Kaap from Signal Hill

You might be insterested in looking at the mosque, as Bo-Kaap is also the tradional suburb for Muslims.

I had been quite surprised after coming back to Cologne to find some streets reminding me of Bo-Kaap. I have been to Köln-Mülheim, one of the suburbs of Cologne, since my childhood, but had never entered this particular set of streets. Now, due to parking restrictions I went there and look, what I saw there:

Maybe other cities have their little Bo-Kaaps, too.

Cape Town

Some people asked me, why I'm talking so much and so exuberantly about Cape Town. The reason is simple -: I fell in love with that city at first view. I would have liked to visit the Table Mountain right away to have even a better view, but that wasn't possible due to the table cloth - clouds on the mountains. The cable car won't take anyone on top and everyone is called back by a horn. It simply is too dangerous walking in the clouds / fog as there aren't any safety fences in the national park area (right next to the cable car station are some walls, however).

I started reading Deon Meyer's thrillers featuring "Benny Griessel, a fading policeman on the brink of loosing his job, his family and self-respect." The crime scenes are always in Cape Town and I had the map of Cape Town and vicinity ready as I was reading the novels. I had been fun reading and visiting the city, where the novel play. It also gives inside into post apartheid South Africa.

Here you can see the table cloth and also the lookout point in "Thirteen Hours" by Deon Meyer.

Looking down from the cable car.

View from the top. You can see most of the city and Robben Island on the left. There's the football stadium and right of it you see Waterfront. The centre of the city is where the higher buildings are.

You can also walk up. It's 700 m change of altitude! The cable cat brings you up within a few minutes ... Take enough water with you. And sunscreen.

And you can watch the rock dassies. 

Or have a view of Camps Bay, where the richer people live.

Concerning a ride with the cable car: be very, no be very, very, very early as the queue might get very long.

The older parts of Cape Town have a European touch.

I visited the dock area and the harbour. Touristy Waterfront and the hard work area.

A band ready to play. Looks a bit like Buena Vista Social Club.

Lots of restaurants and amusement.

Shopping arcades - actually not my thing ...

... not even with mermaids.

And the docks.

Next to the Clock Tower is the Nelson Mandela Centre. I just checked. But I would have had to wait for about a week to get on a tour to Robben Island.

Looking into Riebeck St. from a pedestrian bridge.

Benny Griessel thrillers by Deon Meyer: Devil's Peak, Thirteen Hours, 7 Days, COBRA.

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Haiku – Southern Africa

This set of haiku was written during a trip to the Southern tip of Africa during November 2014.

Brooding heat

Impala runs for shadow

Cheetah for impala

Mosquitos buzzing

As we eat and talk

And welcome the bats

Frangipani

A fallen blossom, withering

Still smelling of youth

Blue starlings

Grabbing leftover chips

What a happy spring!

Spring evening

Frogs begin their concert

No ticket needed

Spring shower of rain

The savannah puts on green

Murky waterholes

Jacaranda tree

Flambuoyand with blue blossoms

But they fall like we

After 60 years

Still feeling

Like a puppy

Fresh dew on the grass

Don't call the sun to wake up

Early cicada

Soon after sunset

All cars must leave Etosha

Wilderness remains

Table mountain

Looking down the abyss

Falcon rises

Black night

Black Sabbath playing

Suddenly white noise

Kalahari below

All is red dust

Just like myself

At the waterhole

All animals in peace

So it seems

Corrugated roof

Birds in the Jacarandas

Blossoms on the road

Reddish brown water

white spray down the waterfall

Black crow flying by

Past the waterfall

Cormorant dries its' wings

My dry mouth

Cascades of white water

Running over black basalt

A heli circles

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Penguins at Boulders

Penguins are great to watch. I had seen penguins before in Patagonia, the Galapagos penguins at the equator, and of course last year in New Zealand (see link below).

The natural habitat of penguins ("flightless marine birds of the family Spheniscidae") is the Southern hemisphere. Ice bears are limited to the Northern hemisphere. That's the reason ice bears don't feed on penguins. The small penguins often feed on krill, but the cape penguins that I'm going to show feed more on suid, cuttlefish, small fish like anchovis.

Boulders is a small community near Simon's Town, which is the last railway station of the Metro, connecting commuters with Cape Town. Part of the village belongs to the Table Mountain National Park. Penguins attract tourists, much to the dismay of residents. The penguins come to the beach to breed there. I must say that its much easier to watch there than at the places I went in New Zealand. The scientific name of these penguins is Spheniscus demersus. The colony started with two pairs in 1982, and now there are about 2200.

1910 the number of penguins had been estimated at around 1.5 million individuals. During the past years the estimation lies around 150,000 birds. And this puts the cape penguin on the list of endangered species.

There are plastic nests in the bush, but I didn't see any breeding. I've been surprised, because last year in New Zealand they were already breeding.

The shore at Boulders

Penguins on a boulder near Boulders

You can see both communities at Boulders -: 

humans and penguines

Links:

Penguins at Roaring Bay http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2014/01/penguins-at-roaring-bay.html

Little Blue Penguins at Pohatu Marine Reserve http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2014/01/little-blue-penguins-at-pohatu-marine.html

Southern African Power Plug

I'm interested in practical solutions. I always travel with an adapter for electical plugs as these differ immensely. Before travelling to the Southern African countries I consulted three guide books, but none told anything about the African plug. I travel with a sophisticated adapter, I guess MacGyver would have used it or better he would have used his Swiss army knife to create one; it's compact and so far has worked always . It also worked in Southern Africa as high end hotels and lodges provide a panel of different sockets, so that I could use my adapter to fit in. But there is no way to use this adapter with African sockets.

My advice for people travelling in remote areas or on a shoe string: invest in second adapter (from African socket to one with broader distibution.

The adapter I use