Hello Again

After we rested from our trip here we headed out to explore Cape Town. On Sunday Alfred our guide took us to Table Mountain. We rode a tramp up to the top of the mountain. What an amazing view from the top! We walked on a path that took us on loop around the top. After coming down from the mountain we were taken to Hout Bay. A small fishing town along the Atlantic Ocean. We stopped in Simon's Town for lunch on our way to a penguin Colony. The penguins are here year round. We also saw a southern right whale swimming in one of the bays along our way to the Cape of Good Hope.

We've Made It!

Hello Everyone,
Here we are in Cape Town. We arrived late last night. It is now 8:45 in the morning on the 25th. We are still a little confused with the time change. Our plane went from Dullus to Dakar, Africa for refueling then on to Johannesburg. By the time we reached Cape Town we had been up for about 31 hours with maybe 5 hours of sleep. We decided that it would be more comfortable sleeping in a box! It is beautiful here, we watched the sun come up and have a view of the world cup stadium. Our guide, Alfred will be picking up about 9:00 and take us to the cape to see the penguins. He will be our guide for the day. The weather is nice and sunny. We have some travel tips for you. #1 On international flights, you will need to scan your passport at check in. Note, it is not the slot in front of you but rather the clearly marked flat scanner. One of us who shall remain nameless needed help getting the passport out of the slot. Apparently we are not the first ones to have done this. #2 You really shouldn't dress identical unless you're on the Amazing Race! #3 In Johannesburg, beware of the guys in uniform trying to "help" you! All is good here and we are excited to get our day started. I will try to download pictures later. Karen and Mary Jo

Twenty-four Hours to Go!

We leave tomorrow morning and arrive in Cape Town at 9:10 on the 24th of July. Seems like we will be spening quite a bit of time on the plane! The weather is looking good. If computer technology is not working for us in Africa, I will post when we return on the 8th of August.

One Week from Today!

Hello Everyone,
One week from today we will leave for Africa! I have been checking the weather and so far for Cape Town, it looks to be in the high 50's low 60's with rain at the tip. At Zulu Nayla our second stop the weather has been in the low 70's. Zambia/Botswana our last stop is the warmest with weather currently in the low 80's. How does one pack for the variety of temperatures? We packed our educational supplies and have about 55 pounds between us. Most of the supplies will be delivered to the school in Zambia, so we will be carrying the supplies with us most of the way! We found large baggies at Target. I used them for my trip to China and found packing my clothes in baggies was ideal!

Supplies for Africa

We went shopping today for supplies to give to the schools we visit while on our trip. We stopped at Target and Learning World and had planned to go to Staples, as they had a back to school ad already, but we decided that we probably were going to have trouble with getting everything we got into our luggage! We got a variety of supplies including, educational posters, drawing paper, pencils, markers, world maps, crayons,colored pencils, sharpeners, soccer balls and pumps! We also have several story books to bring along. The photo I am posting is only for about 1/2 of the supplies. I reminded Mary Jo several times that we still needed room for clothes! It was fun to shop and can't want to see the kids and classrooms.

Twenty-one Days and Counting

We met with our trip planner last week. We have our tickets! All I need to do is pack. We are picking up supplies for the schools we go to next week. We have gotten a lot of good advice from our traveler friends. This week I went to Northwest Trek with my niece and got some practice taking photos of animals from a tram. I traded up and got a Nikon D90. I will be practicing a lot before our departure! So exciting!

One Month From Today!

Mary Jo and I leave for Africa one month from today. We meet with our trip planner tomorrow afternoon. Could this be any more exciting? I am ready, all I have to do is pack. Make sure to look at our trip itinerary.