Checking out Southern Africa

We're headed to Namibia, South Africa, Botswana and Zambia on April 23 to check out great places to visit, the best hotels, camps and lodges, and wine and food pairings for a group trip in May or June of 2015.


After a ghastly flight from Denver to Frankfurt to Johannesburg to Walvis Bay, Namibia, we'll be thrilled to finally drag ourselves into our rental car and head to a village on Namibia's Skeleton Coast where we'll spend a couple of days sea kayaking and touring the 2 national parks along the Coast, reported to be magnificent.  Will let you know.


From there, we move on to Namibia's splendid red dunes near Sosusvlei for 2 nights in a desert lodge where we expect to sleep on the flat roof of our "kulala", a canvas and thatched cabin overlooking the dunes (you can also sleep inside if the bugs bother you).  With minimal electricity, traffic, noise and pollution, the stars should be unbelievable and the sounds of the desert ever-present.


We'll return to Cape Town, one of the most beautiful settings in the world, to select the hotel we prefer for our trip next year and to visit the key tourist venues such as Table Mountain and Robben Island, Nelson Mandela's prison for 2 decades.  Next year, we'll add in a day of business visits to learn more about the political and economic life of South Africa and a boat trip to the seal islands, swarming with seal families and overwhelming you with their potent odors.  We'll drive in our rental car to Franschhoek, in the heart of South Africa's wine region and report back on South African wines and food.


Next to the enormous Okavango Delta of Botswana to check out 3 different types of camps.  Because the Okavango Delta is flooded during the rainy season and quite dry during the dry season, we wanted to see what the camps were like in 3 different ecosystems, along a river, over the water and in the savannah.  The wildlife is extensive in the Delta, so we're excited about watching the animals and birds on our boat and jeep safaris.  Hope to ply you with some wonderful photos.


Our final stop will be at Victoria Falls in Zambia.  These are spectacular falls, which we've visited before.  Next year, we'll expect to spend 2 days at the Falls to allow plenty of time to enjoy their beauty and the nearby town of Livingstone.


I'll be blogging with photos whenever internet access is available, so stay tuned for the sights and sounds of Africa and for an extraordinary Southern Africa trip next spring.