Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa - Feb. 20, 2014

What a fabulous day! Our plan was to visit Table Mountain, take the cable car up to the top and then walk back down the mountain on one of the steep trails—about a 2 hour hike. By the time we did exercise, had breakfast and dressed, it was 11 am. We boarded a bus and followed the very scenic Victoria Road, M6, to Camps Bay. There we caught another bus that took us to the foot of Cape Town's iconic Table Mountain, one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world. In 1966, then President Nelson Mandela, declared Table Mountain, "a Gift to the Earth." The height of Table Mountain at its highest point is about 3300 feet. We walked the half-mile upwardly steep and winding road leading to the cable car station. Then we took a trail across the remaining hillside as a shortcut for the rest of the way. The rugged trail taught us that going down the mountainside might not be very fun or very safe. At this point, we decided to purchase a round-trip ticket on the cable car and forgo the return hike down.

We did just that and boarded the cable car with 63 other people and flew up the 3600 feet of cable to the top of the mountain. There, besides being very windy and cold, the vista was spectacular. We could see Port Elizabeth, the enormity of Cape Town and the Victoria and Albert Waterfront, Duncan Dock, Cable Bay, and Cape Point where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans blend together. We could see the range of mountains called the 12 Apostles and Chapman's Peak across from Hout Bay. We could clearly see Lion's Head and Lion's rump, aka Signal Hill. We were so glad we took this excursion! And we are so thankful we chose to ride the cable car back down!

When we finally left the mountain and made our way back to Camps Bay, we had a late lunch of grilled calamari and salads at ZenZero which sits across the street from the picturesque Camps Bay beach.

After lunch the sun had come out brilliantly. The waves coming in simply shimmered. People were out on the beach in crowds. We walked over and dipped our feet in the beautiful but icy Atlanta Ocean. We guessed the water temp to be about 40 degrees, but all I can say is that in the few moments I was in the water everything on me shriveled. We rinsed the sand from our feet and then found a big rock to lie back on and purely enjoyed the sun, the air and the sounds for a little while. It absolutely was a lovely day, a gift from heaven.

Before I close, I have had a few moments of reflection on our times in the bush. I did not think of all these things while we were there, my head was swimming so. But there are a number of observances and learnings I must share. Otherwise, some of the very best things may be left out. I will try to capture some of these thoughts in the last few blog entries yet to come.

I think one of the first things that moved me was the fact that Maasia people in Tanzania live using old ways. They do not have running water and don't want it. They, the women, must carry water from a watering hole to their camps not only for the people but also for their livestock. What a tremendous, time-consuming, back-breaking job this must be. Maasai huts are made of sticks, cow patties and mud with thatched roofs. The floors are packed dirt. They sleep there on mats and they cook inside the huts as well but there is no chimney. Smoke comes out the door. Stan talked about this curiosity with one of our crisply uniformed guides in Botswana. The guide chuckled and said, "in my home in my village we don't have chimneys either. In the morning we make a fire to boil the water. The smoke forms and the children start to cough which means time to get up." He added. "Yes, we understand chimneys. But my grandfather did it this way, my father did it this way and I do it this way." They cling to their old ways with love.

The other thing I want to add today is that in all our discussions about the animals and in the photos we took, it almost appears that the animals are tame, like zoo animals. This is absolutely not the case. What we saw were animals in the wild. Sometimes animals are easy to find and then again sometimes they are desperately difficult to spot. We never saw a leopard. And yes, when spotted however, the animals will sometimes allow a vehicle to drive in fairly close, and as long as the animals don't feel threatened, all is pretty well ok. But not one person can exit the vehicle. Not one extraneous sudden sound can be made. These are wild animals that can take your head off in a flash. They are indeed wild and this is their home.