Saturday,
November 25th.
I
forgot to mention yesterday that when I was flying over South Africa
it was immediately apparent that I was back in a country with much
more developed infrastructure. There were multiple lane highways,
street lights, bridges, and overpasses. None of which I saw in
Madagascar. I could see that most of the roads were paved, but while
flying over Madagascar I could see that most of the roads were dirt.
The countryside and farms also looked much more organized.
That
is not to say that South Africa is a true first world country. They
have a different set of problems, some of which will no doubt become
apparent in the next few weeks.
Today
was a hang around in the Holiday Inn hotel room day. It was a cold
(14 degree), rainy day. I had the included buffet breakfast, which was amazing! Such a variety of really edible things, so much better than the last month. I had cereal for the first time in a long time. Then I got the blog caught up, sorted photos, read, did a Sudoku, e-mailed, watched TV
and at 3:00 had to change rooms where I met my new room mate. His
name is David, he's 33 and from Switzerland. We talked for a bit and
then at six we went down to the lobby to meet our new Intrepid guide,
Jay and our group of 13 (or 14) people. There are three other
Canadians (one from Toronto Danforth and a couple from Vancouver),
one Australian, one German, two Swiss and I think the rest are
British. He collected our particulars and then told us the few things
we needed to know. We are leaving at 5:00 am as we have a 600 km
drive ahead of us. After the meeting we walked around the corner and
had dinner at Nando's chicken restaurant while Jay left to enter our
insurance particulars in his computer. We got to know each other a
little bit and then we all turned in in preparation for the early
early start. I hope it's warmer tomorrow.
It
was interesting to listen to Jay. Obviously he has had some negative
feedback and told us up front that if we don't see many animals, if
we don't see the big 5, if the weather isn't great, if it rains and
our tents get wet and if we have to drive all day – it's not his
fault. It's amazing what some people will complain about and
unfortunately I guess the guide is easy target. He also told us this
is a trip of over 6000 kilometres, so obviously there will be lots of
driving. The truck will be a smaller version of the big overland
vehicles I've been on before. So away we go. (Too bad we are leaving before the buffet breakfast).
It
is nice to be back in an English speaking country, and I like the
South African accent.
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