One week to Africa

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Next week, at this time, we will be getting ready to catch the shuttle bus to the airport. Last week was a wild ride of anxiety. Thursday we visited the UW Travel Medical clinic to get a perscription for Malaria tablets. Of course, they have to recommend all the different immunizations that need updating, other interesting items we might be exposed to such as dengue fever and schistosomiasis. Okay, we’ll make certain we use mosquito repellent in the day and we won’t go wadding in any fresh water pools or river.

Along with all the health warning, came the additional information about travel insurance and other dangers. I’m paranoid enough about ATM robbery to not get caught up in all those other items that might happen.

But we did decide to get a cell phone which I really wanted to do. We’re renting one at the airport. We emailed them and we already have a number which is kinda cool. We’ll give it to friends and family. We might also just get a bit of travel insurance for medical.

We spent Sunday going over the Namibia section. I am definitely going to get voted out of Slow Travelers. This is more of a road trip than a slow trip. We are in Namibia for 8 days. We stay two nights in Etosha and Sesreim but otherwise we are on the road averaging about 250 miles a day. We have some times planned so we can get in early morning and evening game drives. We’re also going to get a ‘cold box’ (ice chest) for keeping water, drinks and sandwitches cool on the drive.

We’ve also been doing a bit of websurfing looking for interesting information about the places we are visiting. I’ve found some pretty interesting write ups about the plant life which has George really excited. I’ve also been researching the wine area. That is much harder. There are lots of places to visit and I can’t seem to narrow the list. We’ve been tasting the wines that are available locally. Several of the wineries such as Fairview and Ken Forrester sound very interesting. Now we just have to decide.

We’ve also found a couple more flower shows that we might be able to catch. There is one at the V&A Waterfront on the weekend that we arrive. The Clanwilliams flower show may also be on when we get there but I’m not certain.

I’m finally getting over the anxiety and getting ready to leave. We haven’t started packing yet. We’ll do that probably on Friday. Otherwise, we’re wrapping up most of the preparation. Now we are ready for the experience!

Testing Email notification

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Last time I went on vacation, I used email to update by blog. I can’t seem to see how to do that with MT. That actually might be a good thing. It looks like MT has the reverse which is it will send an email to people who want to know you have updated your blog and who don’t subscribe using RSS.

Let’s see if it works.

WBW#12 Roundup

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Today was a zoo at work but I finally got a chance to check my feeds. I see that Lenn published the roundup for WBW #12 – Drink Local – Real Local. Great job Lenn. Thanks for hosting the First anniversary and coming up with the original concept for the monthly tasting.

Hmmm… I suspect I’ll miss next month’s tasting since I’ll be in South Africa. I’ll toast Lenn and the websphere group of WBW tasters from Paarl or Stellenbosch.

Namaqualand

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Tonight G remembered to dig out an old VCR taping of a PBS Nature program on Namaqualand. It was so wild. We had taped a couple of different programs on the VCR tape. It started with this program about Ted Bundy staring Mark Harmon called The Deliberate Stranger. We moved to the Seattle area during those times in the mid-70’s. Everyone looked so strange in the program. We hadn’t fully realized how old this tape was. The comercials really showed their age. There were shampoo commercials for Halsa shampoo and Caress soap. The women’s hair style gave us a clue to when we had recorded the TV program. What was really surprising was the news clip came on for the Chernobyl fall out. There was a map that showed the potential fallout for the explosion. A little googling gave us a timeframe; 1986!

The Nature program had been prodcast on PBS in 1986 but documented by BBC in 1985. There was a record bloom in Namaqaaland in 1983. It was so cool to see the area and the potential wildflowers that we might see in two week.

Twenty years? That is how long our dream has been alive. We have been intrigued by the area and always thought it would be so great to visit. And now, here in 2005, we are visiting.

G knew the botanical names of all the daisies and succulents. I don’t know how he does it. I’m sitting there looking at the flower on the TV and he says it is yadda yad. ‘How do you know that?’

Two weeks. I am so excited.

Studying the details

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We spent the day getting into the day to day details of the trip. It is so surprising how much time you can spending just planning a few days.

First off is always the important arrival. You are jet lagged, tired, needing a shower and you have to negotiate the airport. I googled around for information on the Cape Town airport and struck out. No maps but most of the information said that there were ATMs and exchanges. We are transferring in Jo’Burg so we may end up getting some cash there. Of course, I have to find a blog on someone getting their ATM card snatched in the airport. ATM crime seems to be pretty rampant. I’ve come across several entries detailing fake ATM fronts that take your card after you enter your pin and other items. The Lonely Planet guidebook has a section on how to prevent ATM crime. Great.

The options to town seem to be a shared shuttle and taxi. The shared shuttle doesn’t seem to be that much cheaper. Some of the shuttles have a high fee for the first passenger and cheap for others. The taxi looks to be about 150 rands ($25US). As usual, there is an official taxi company, Touch Down Taxi.

We won’t arrive until the afternoon so I doubt that we will do much after arrival. It would be great to go for a walk but I’m not certain about walking after dark. It is spring and will probably be dark early.

We will probably eat in the hotel the first night. Fortunately, it has a good restaurant.

After the 24 hours or more of flight, who knows what we will be like on Saturday. We’ll breakfast in the hotel and ask them to make reservations for Mama Zingara. We decided to take the topless bus (on-off). If the weather is good, we’ll head for the Table Mountain Cable Car. Otherwise, we’ll take in the museums (District Six, Gold, etc). After the cable car, we’ll ride the bus on to see the Atlantic coast area of Camps Bay and then get off at Victoria and Albert Waterfront. This is a favorite tourist area with lots of shopping and restaurants. They have a flower show going on so we can’t miss that. We will need to check out Baia and other restaurants at V&A since many of the other restaurants are closed on Sunday in CBD.

Sunday, we will probably take a taxi out to Kirstenbosch. If we can get up, we’ll do brunch in the garden. Otherwise, just lunch. For dinner, we’ll go potentially to Baia.

Monday, we pick up the car. It is about 6 blocks away from the hotel. And we head out to Clanwilliam. The drive is about 150 miles or 3 hours. There is a spring wildflower going on in Clanwilliam so we’ll stop and see the show and have lunch. We will also stop at Ramskof Nature Reserve.

Then it is off for Bushman’s Kloof. These two nights are full board.

On the 7th, we head for Springbok. Along the way and in Springbok are many items of interest. Skilpad and Knersvlakte. I’m not certain we will have much time since we will probably stay for the late morning brunch at Bushmans. Where to eat in Springbok seems to be a little of a mystery. The Springbok Lodge and Restaurant seems to be the place. Oh well, we will see where (if any) the flowers are blooming. We may take a late lunch in Kamieskroon.

After Springbok, it is on to Nieuwoudtville. We will try to stop in VanRhysdorf at the succulent nursery. After we check in at Papkuilsfontein, we will check to see what are out options but possibilities is the Aloe Forest, Knersvlakte drive back to Van Rhyns Pass. We will also have our tour with MacGregor.

On the way back to Cape Town, we will drive back through the Biedouw valley and over Pakhuis Pass. We will be back tracking some of the way that we came to Bushmans Kloof.

Once in Cape Town, we will have 5 days. First day may be off to Worcester and Paarl. Sunday may be to Harold Porter’s Garden. One day to Stellenbosch or Franschhoek. One day to the Cape Point. Of course, one day to Darling Flower show and the flower areas around the cape.

Whoa! I’m tired already.

WBW#12 – Chatter Creek Clifton HIlls Vineyard Syrah 2002

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Chatter Creek
For the first year anniversary of Wine Blogging Wednesday, Lenn suggested we Drink local, Real local. That is definitely not very hard for me to do even here in western Washington state. Woodinville the home of several wineries including Chateau St. Michelle, is located just a short 10 miles away from my home.

My wine tasting group had a special tasting this month of a small winery in Seattle, Chatter Creek, which is just a tad bit farther (11 miles) than a few of the wineries in Woodinville. I know I’m stretching the rules a little but I decided to highlight this winery for this month’s tasting.

Several members of my wine group happen to know Gordy Rawson, the wine maker/owner of Chatter Creek. He makes his wines in his garage in Seattle and they have been there for tastings. Gordy has been involved in wines for over 20 years including almost 10 years experience at Columbia Winery as Cellarmaster. He started making wines at home and eventually started his own winery in 2000. The Seattle Times had a good piece on Gordy in February 2005. You can also read how he got started at his New York distributor, Voss Selections. Recently he opened a tasting room in Woodinville.

After looking over a list of Chatter Creek wines, we decided on a Rhone themed tasting. Our group was very excited to taste his single vineyard Syrahs side by side. Syrah is a “hot” varietal here in Washington State. The Walla Walla area is especially good as is the area around Yakima. I have always been surprised to find that the Rhone varietals do well here in Washington. I thought Washington was too far north until I compared the latitude of Walla Walla (46 degrees north) to the Rhone valley (43-44 degrees North). The latitude is much more similar than some of the Shiraz areas of Adelaide Australia which are at 34 degrees south.

We started the tasting with the 2004 Viognier ($15). A great summer wine with floral tones and the flavor of a crisp apple. Next we tried the 2004 Grenache. It is light in color and body but with good fruit and strawberry flavors typical of a Grenache. Another good sip for the summer.

Both wines were perfect warm ups for the three single vineyard Syrah wines. We started with the Lonesome Spring Ranch 2002 Syrah. The vineyard is located in the lower part of Yakima valley in a warmer region of the valley. This wine got good marks in the June 2005 New York Times tasting of Washington State Syrahs. It had good fruit but not as much spice as I like in a Syrah. It would be good choice if I wanted a more fruity flavored Syrah. Notes from the winery:

This was vintage that produced very concentrated fruit. The wine shows this with its deep purple, hugely extracted color. Blackberry, Sage, and white pepper creep out on this somewhat shy nose, opening with time in the glass. Racy acid at the attack propels this richly extracted well-balanced classic Syrah, with black plum, blackberry, cassis, and rosemary, elements across the palate. Firm tannins hold the experience in balance without being austere. The long balanced finish hangs on until finally giving way to a silky hint of toasted nuts.

The second Syrah was from a vineyard a bit farther north; Jack Jones Vineyard 2002 Syrah. This vineyard has a very different soil. The soil is made up of stony gravel soil that does not hold a lot of water. The plants struggle more in this terroir. The wine was very different from the first wine although both were made in the same manner. You could definitely tell the effect of the soil. The wine was more minerally and more interesting. I enjoyed the mineral flavors along with more chocolate. It was a nice contrast from the first wine. The tasting notes from the web site:

The 2002 vintage was a concentrated vintage and this is a big wine. The wine starts a bit shy but opens with time in the glass with a savory nose dominated by bay leaf, rosemary, ripe blueberries, and fresh roasted coffee. A warm, weighty attack is full of blackberry, black plum, grilled meats, dark chocolate, and mocha notes. A high glycerin, almost creamy, mid-palette unfolds to a lingering, sexy cocoa, port-like finish.

The final Syrah was my favorite, Clifton Hills Vineyard 2002 Syrah. This syrah was made differently from the first two and has some Viognier blended in. To me, this was the closest to the style that I like. It had a lot of spicy flavors along with chocolate, coffee and berry fruit. It won a double gold at the 2005 San Francisco Chronicle Wine competition. I bought a bottle of this one. The tasting notes from the web site:

The 2002 vintage was a concentrated vintage and this is a big wine. One look at this wine and you know you’re in for a ride. Dark ruby with a purple edge, it appears viscous in the glass. The nose is a savory mix of cedar, citrus, and berry. As it opens, you begin to experience nutmeg, allspice, and coffee. A warm, weighty attack is full of blackberry, black plum, grilled meats, dark chocolate, and mineral notes. A high glycerin, almost creamy, mid-palate unfolds to a lingering, sexy cocoa, port-like finish.

It was a very nice evening spent tasting some great wines. It was lovely having the opportunity to get to know the wine maker and learn how the wines were made.

Namibia Itinerary

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After three weeks in Western Cape and Northern Provinces of South Africa, we are off for Namibia.

Depart Cape Town – Windhoek – Waterburg
We arrive mid-day in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. We will pick up our Auto Europe rental from Avis and head off for Waterberg Plateau. We will be staying at the rest camp in the park. Here is a link with more pictures.

Etosha
Etosha is Namibia’s largest game park. It was highlighted in a Living Eden special on PBS. Etosha is what has led us to Namibia. Etosha is a bowl which has pools of water (pans). This watersource attracts a wide variety of wildlife from lions to giraffs to wildebeests to zebra. We will spend three nights here at the middle camp – Halali.

Erongo
From Etosha, we head to the coast. This is a long drive, much of which is on gravel. We decided to split the drive and stay at the Erongo Wilderness Camp.

Swakopumund
On to the coast and the town of Swakopumund. Here will we have an oppotunity to see welwitschia mirabilis; a strange and unusual plant. We are staying at the Brigadoon.

Sossusvlei
From the coast we head back inland and south to Sossusvlei. Land of the sand dunes. We are staying at the Desert Homestead for two nights. We hope to visit the dunes and the namib desert region.

Windhoek
One last night before leaving in Windhoek. It will give us a chance to organize ourselves and make a leisurely drive back to the major city. The last night will be spent in Hilltop House.

Windhoek – Johannesburg – Atlanta – Seattle
From Namibia to the Northwest of the US and home.

Mt. Rainier

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I just started trying out Flickr. I’m mainly using it to post pictures for the NW hikers board but it is fun.

South Africa Itinerary

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I realize that I haven’t really detailed much on what our plans are for our trip. So here goes.

Depart Seattle – Atlanta – Johannesburg – Capetown
We are leaving on an overnight to Atlanta with a 4 hour layover before catching the flight to South Africa. From there we transfer to Capetown.

Cape Town
We arrive in the afternoon. We will either take a taxi or a shuttle to our hotel, Metropole Hotel. I found it listed in the Time Out guide book for Cape Town and it looked great. I booked three nights and they have taken one night as deposit. Very responsive.

We will probably arrive there after dark. We will relax a bit and eat dinner in the hotel. I don’t know if we will be able to go out for a walk or not. We will spend the weekend in Cape Town. We won’t have a car so we will are planning on taking an the ‘topless’ tour which an on-and-off tour bus. This will allow us to see some of the major sites within the bowl area such as Victoria and Albert Waterfront, Camps Bay and Table Mountain. We may also take a taxi one day out to Kirstenbosch garden for a day.

Bushmans Kloof
We will pick up a car from Avis on Monday. We rented through AutoEurope and got a good deal. We will drive to Clanwilliams and on to Bushmans Kloof resort. This is the splurge for the vacation. We will be there on our 30th anniversary. We choose this location because it does have several options for flora tours in addition to wildlife and Sans native rock art. We will spend two nights. The service has been outstanding. We filled out a form detailing our interests and preferences down to what type of pillow we preferred. I totally expect to be pampered.

Springbok
We will travel on to Namaqualand or Namkawaland for the spring wildflower bloom. Wildflower blooms in the desert are always chancy. So much is dependent upon weather. I found a site that is reporting the wildflower blooms – Die Honnehok Chalets. Earlier in July, it looked like it might be a spectacular bloom. But fickle Mother Nature has changed her mind and there may be little in bloom for us.

We are staying at Mountain View Guest House in Springbok for four days. The owner has been great to work with. Originally there was no room available for the last day we wanted to day. I went ahead and made reservations elsewhere. But they had a cancellation and contacted us to see if we would like to book the additional day that we originally wanted. Of course, it was yes.

We will first check to find out where the flowers are blooming if at all. We will do some drives to see the flowers. Two places on our list are Goegap and Skilpad Nature reserves. We also have booked a full day tour of the Richtersveld National Park with Virosatours. This is to see succulents and the remote desert corner of South Africa. The trip will take a full day leaving at 7am and getting back around 9pm or later. The trip will be via 4×4.

Nieuwoudtville

From Namaqualand we will travel back south to the border of the Karoo to Nieuwoudtville. This area is known for its outstanding bulbs. We are staying at Papkuilsfontein for three nigths. We have arranged a tour with Neil MacGregor at Glenlyon Farms. The owner has been outstanding to work with. She has giving us very detailed information about the area, what to see and helped us to arrange our tour.

Cape Town

After our tours of the flower lands, we will return to Cape Town for six nights. We are staying at Clarkia Guest Cottage in Newlands. Arranging this rental has been rather informal. It does look like it will be very convenient for accessing the highways and a good location. The owners are near-by which is also a plus.

During our stay, we hope to tour the cape, visit the Harold Porter National Garden at Betty’s Bay, visit the Karoo Desert Botanical Garden and the wine regions.

Then it is off for Namibia for eight days.

Africa in a month!!

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So much for best intentions. I have not been keeping up this blog.

It is just a bit over a month before we depart on our trip to South Africa and Namibia. All our accomodations, flights and cars have been reserved. I am alternating between calm anticipation and nervous panic.

I’ve bee practicing with my camera. I got the Canon 20D digital SLR. I had the Elan 7 SLR with several lens so I decided to go with the Canon instead of switching to the Nikon. It was tough decision since I think I like what I have seen from Nikon but having lens and familiarity with the camera is a big plus.

I already had a 28mm, 50mm and 90mm macro lens. I originally thought I could just purchase a body but I really didn’t understand digital SLRs. I did not understand the crop ratio which is what the sensor sees which changes the size of the lens by 1.6. This means my 28mm wide angle lens was now a 45mm lens.

I tried our my lens on a trip to Mt. Rainier and realized I really missed a wide angle and I was willing to try the zoom. I ended up turning back my body-only kit for a kit with a 17-85 zoom lens with image stablization (IS). I also bought a 75-300 IS lens.

I’m like a kid in a toy store. I shot a bunch of flowers with the macro and I’m in heaven. I struggled so much with the Canon G2 trying to take closeups. I really shake a lot when I’m shooting and a good percentage ended up fuzzy. Also the colors were really bad. Now at least 90% are good.

Now to practice and learn about the camera. A great site for informatino about Canon is Bob Atkin’s site.

I also highly recommend Kenmore Camera. The prices are competitive and the service is excellent. They have a two week trial period. I was able to try out my body-only and decide to switch it to a kit with the zoom. I also had a problem with my macro lens. I had all my receipts and took the macro lens in for factory warranty repair. No problems. They packed it up and shipped it back to the factory. Four weeks later it was back in working condition. All this for no charge. I’ve bought three different camera systems from them and I am a happy return customer.