Day 21 - To Cape Town

Sun. 21st Sept

The last day of our trip, and once again I have weird dreams going back a long time to when I worked as the Chief Dispatcher at LMC.... I get up, shower and meet the group for breakfast at the late hour of 8.  Bob elects to stay in bed and then pack before coming for breakfast.  Judy and Chris have elected to sit by themselves again as I believe they have had some argument with Misheck, our guide.

After breakfast everyone says their Good-Byes, and I must confess to knowing that I will miss some of these people, and their humour as you start to bond over the many dusty miles we have put on over the past 21 days.

We finish packing, Bob pays for our meals and drinks for the past 2 days (149 US) and the 4 of us get on a shuttle for the airport. On our way to the airport we come across a bunch of baboons along and the road so we slow so I can take some iphotos of them. It is 15 each for the shuttle and after we get there it is not that long a wait before we board our plane and take off for Johanessburg, or Jo-burg as the locals call it.

The flight to Jo-Burg is 2.5 hours long and we have a meal on board. Somehow we got the last 2 seats in business class which was kind of neat. There were curtains behind Bob and I and we were offered drinks before the plane even took off. We were given a choice of our meal and I noticed that the economy class people got no meal. 

At Jo-burg, which is a large airport and we have to go thru customs into South Africa, retrieve our bags, go thru customs to leave South Africa and then wait by the boarding gate for about an hour before our plane leaves.

It is 6 PM when our plane leaves and it is soon dark outside, although we can see the setting sun for some time as we climb to 30,000 ft.  We will also have a meal on board which is being served as I type this, trying to bring my blog up to date.

We land in Cape Town, get our bags and then get a van to take us to the Protea Breakwater Lodge where we had stayed before.  It costs 350 Rand for all of us and I give the guy a 100 Rand tip as we arrange for him to pick us up tomorrow at 3 for our flight back home.

As we are driving to the lodge, I turn back to Tim and mention that it seems like we have been out in the bush for the last 3 weeks. I feel this way because suddenly we are on nice paved roads, surrounded by traffic, lights and we have A/C in the vehicle as well. Tim laughs and agrees, as he had been thinking something similar.

Once in our rooms, Tim, Mike and I go down to the bar for a drink while Bob elects to stay in the room and re-pack again as he has big concerns about his weight on the plane.

Back in the room, Bob has the TV on and we watch it for awhile before drifting off to sleep.