After crossing Africa from Dakar to Nairobi at the end of January, we headed south to South Africa. We spent a week in Johannesburg, then two weeks in Capetown. One of our goals was to see the Cape of Good Hope. We made it all the way to the farthest Southwestern point of Africa, and then we turned around and started traveling up to Europe. Along the way, we stopped in Windhoek, Namibia and Gaborone, Botswana before shooting up to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. I post a lot of pictures that capture some of our memories and some of our deepest impressions. In the captions you will find commentary to explain where and what touched me about the photograph. I faced a quandary trying to choose the best photos with the strongest impressions out of so many we took.
When we all wanted pictures with the Nelson Mandela statue, it was a lot more fun to take together with strangers than individually.
The Johannesburg skyline as we cross from Newtown.
We celebrated Chinese New Year at a restaurant in Sandton north of Johannesburg.
Capetown from our hike up Table Mountain
And I got a chance to bicycle in the cape.
We both thought back to growing up in small towns studying about the explorations of Vasco Da Gama and Bartolome Diaz not knowing that one day, we would see what they saw.
Meteorite displayed on the street in Windhoek.
Out in the noonday sun at the Botanical Garden in Windhoek checking out Quiver Trees and other desert flora. (notice my shadow falls between my shoes.)
After getting really lost driving in Windhoek, we found the wide open roads.
From the Braamfontein district of Johannesburg, we explored Constitution Hill with museums and galleries reflecting on Apartheid.
On our way to the central square of Pretoria we found a Museum with a whole trunk of petrified wood.
From a distance these workers in colored hats looked like part of a modern sculpture.
We spent an amazing eight hours in the front row on the upper deck of a bus from Johannesburg to Gaborone.
Looking North from Gaborone as I hiked back to our Hotel from Downtown.
Looking South from Gaborone as I hiked from our Hotel over to Downtown.
“God Runs Africa” claims the T-shirt sold by this vendor in the downtown open air mall of Gaborone.
One of many stray cats we met on our travels. This one had adopted the Guest House.
Our guesthouse back in Johannesburg had a pomegranate tree with ripe fruit.
Misplaced Map Case 