Author: Kristine

We arrived in Pretoria on Saturday around noon. We met my nephew, Danny and is wife Maria Jose. They brought us to his new company and factory, The Diplomat’s Dog. He is basically making fresh, good quality dog food. We met his mom, Maria Eulalia there and then drove to Danny’s house.

They invited friends over for a braai, which is a traditional S. African bbq. It was a lovely time.

We woke up early to head out to sight see in Johannesburg. We went to Constitution hill where Nelson Mandala was imprisioned. After this we went to Soweto township and learned more about uprisings by youth and saw Madela’s house and then ate traditional S. African food. Then off to the Apartied Museum. We all learned alot and can’t believe this happened while I was in college and then raising our kids.

More random pictures.

We started the day with our driver and family friend, Raymond at 830 this morning. He has driven my parents, brother and his family around S. Africa.

First we drove to Table Mountain to ride the tram up to the top. Once up there, weather permitting, you will see Capetown and the ocean and other mountains.

We saw a dassie and a sign saying to stay away. They look like marmots but are actually distantly related to the elephant!

After Table Mountain we drove the road on the coast to Cape of Good Hope. Beautiful drive. We stopped at an ostrich farm just to see the ostriches in the field. There were also signs on the road, to Not feed the baboons!

Raymond dropped us off and we walked mostly down hill about 2 km to see the views.

This is a wild ostrich in the park. He/she was just resting next to the road.

We then drove to Boulders penguin colony to see African penguins. These are the only penguins in Africa. They are very cute especially when swimming and then getting out of the water and waddling up the beach.

Raymond said to watch for baboons and we finally saw one on the street picking through garbage. Baboons seem to be like in the states when the wild bears come into the city rummaging for food or garbage.

After lunch we went to a great restaurant and I ate prawns and Mike had yellowfin. Everything was delicious.

It was a full day and we got back to our hotel around 515.