All of the housing at the orphanage was red brick and very nice. Grounds were lovely and an open pagoda was in the middle of the grounds for picnics and performances. We had a box lunch in the pagoda after viewing the building and grounds. The children were clean and neat and school age children wore uniforms.

Of the 150 children seven do have AIDS and only a select few of the adults know who they are so none of the other children will shun them. The philosophy of this orphanage is to keep the children in homelike settings so each home has a mother and about 7 children ranging in age of 17 to 5 or 14 to 2 to make it resemble a real family unit.

After distributing the boxes to the 15 homes we were blessed with a performance by the children. As we were sitting in the Pagoda watching the performance Rose was visited by two brothers who cozied up and cuddled her during the performance. They did not want to leave her side. Rose just had her 80th birthday and is a very nice and savy lady. The photo is dark but it is worth noting.

I have so much to say and show you concerning my visit to the SOS Village that I have separated it into two posts. This post will cover “France” which is the section that SOS gives support to in order to keep families who are left together after the deaths of parents, mainly from AIDS. The second is an orphanage supported by SOS with about 150 children.

In general SOS is an international charity that supports children in need throughout the world. This particular enclave is mainly devoted to the children who are orphaned but have some family left alive to keep them and SOS assists them in many ways including legal problems, financially, emotionally, etc.

When we first got there these young men saw me with a camera and did the international sign that they wanted their photos taken. I love their poses. Note the housing in the background. This big yellow house which probably was owned at one time by wealthy people (as evidenced by the swimming pool) is the headquarters of SOS France and is called the white house. Obviously, there has been a new coat of paint added to it but no change of name.

The black lady gave a very emotional account of their assistance to the children of France and the lady in the background is the lady in charge of this enclave and the orphanage for SOS and does their fundraising in this area.

This adorable little boy was following his older brother and did he have an attitude. His walk and demeanor said I am here and notice me because I am adorable. The grandmother in this photo must have had two or three children die and she now is in charge of this group of cuties. Tom the CEO of CSI managed to find them a soccer ball and other goodies but the baby grabbed that ball and was not about to let go.

The housing varied greatly in not only the façades but also the state of repair. Of course, I had to show you all the house with the coca cola sign.

My fellow passengers on the bus were giving their CSI jackets away to the people but I knew I would freeze on the bus so I gave a new top away to this gal dressed in black. I had taken a pair of shorts and a sleeveless blouse with me in case it became hot but the weather held and never got above 72 degrees.

There was a sea day between Port Elizabeth and Durbin so I will cover that day together with Durbin itself. .There is so much to do and sometimes there are conflicts. My Suid-Afrikaanse Ete at the Pinnacle Grill was pre-scheduled when CSI changed their party date. So, never to pass up a free drink, I went to the early seating party (I normally go to the late seating parties.) before my feast at the pinnacle. This was great because I got to sit with people that I said hello to in passing and got to know people I was friendly with on a much more personal basis. I had previously mentioned my banker who loaned me money to complete a purchase in Peru. Well, here he is with his wife.

The SA dinner was fun. I again sat with Nana a Japanese lady traveling by herself and three other ladies
I didn’t know. We had a lot of fun especially when this lady in the middle could not make up her mind on which bracelet to choose from the gift basket of bracelets given by the Pinnacle staff . This situation brought peels of laughter and many comments. This lady was dressed like a million dollars and she couldn’t make up her mind about a free bracelet! I was given first choice and chose a gold and black bead-like number which coincidentally matched my African smock I bought after my SOS Tour. Please note the painting in the background. I could do a whole blog post on this painting. I will get a better shot of it and bring it up at a future date.

Sharon answered my question about the ship PA system so I looked up the word Tannoy. This is a UK trademark name for a PA system. I love her explanation for the word better than the dictionary. T’ANNOY.

Durbin is the largest city in South Africa and sprawls and sprawls forever. Many freeways and skyscrapers. They also have built a new stadium for the 2010 World Cup. I think I referred to it as the 2011 World Cup and that was wrong. Apparently there are six new or renovated stadiums being readied for the 2010 World Cup.

Notice the difference between the other more arid areas of South Africa and the wetter area around Durbin. We had wonderful weather. Overcast and cloudy. Missed the rain which hit us after our visit to the SOS Village on the way back to the ship.

These ladies are very typical of rural South Africa and seen along the roads on my various tours.

Wow! What a photo op day we had. I have too many photos to post and I have to start eliminating some as they take so long to download. We started off with a tour of the city of Port Elizabeth and my first impression was this is not a pretty city and this city is what I thought Cape Town would look like. Sprawling. The only pic I chose for this part of the tour is the truck delivering coke machines to the new stadium being built for the 2011 World Cup. The stadium is big but not very impressive and I eliminated that pic.

We were then on our way to the Addo Elephant Park and arrived early so we took one of the loops with a watering hole before lunch. We saw warthogs, kudu, ostrich and a jackal but no elephants and I was beginning to get a little pessimistic about our chances. So I decided to at least take a photo of the watering hole and to prove to you there are elephants here I took this photo of the dung.

The elephant dung is very important and vehicles are asked to not run over the dung. The Dung Beetle takes a portion of the dung, digs a hole near a bush, puts the dung in the hole, then lays her eggs. The babies get their nourishment from the dung. The Dung Beetle is endangered but my goodness, I saw enough dung to handle a billion of those little guys. By the way they are not so little. I saw one and he or she was larger than a quarter.

Now I know this site is family friendly and I do not want to get into graphic descriptions but this photo tells all about the birds and bees. These tortoises were oblivious to their audience.

We then had a simple barbecue lunch which was quite good and I found an exquisite necklace and earring set which I could not say no to, and then we were on our way to another watering hole with much anticipation. You could feel it in the air and then it happened. ELEPHANT at 3:00. He went to the watering hole, drank and then splashed mud all over his head and back. This is to cool himself and to seal any wounds he may have so infections will not take hold.

We proceeded on seeing many kudu and hartebeest, ostrich, warthogs, birds, jackals and elephants. Then we saw this big guy walking along the road to a watering hole. He was magnificent and still handsome as he didn’t seem to be that old. Of course, I never have been good at guessing the age of an elephant. Now how can I say this as not to seem pornographic but his fifth leg was showing and he was leaving his scent to be followed by some sweetie. AND, she came on a run. This hussy was very cozy to him and I got this magnificent photo and many more. Notice the difference in coloring between the male and female. For those of you city folk the male is the one with the tusks.

We were not fortunate in seeing lion, live cape buffalo, leopards, or rhinoceros but did spot this dead carcass of a cape buffalo who apparently died of natural causes since there were no signs of slaughter.

There are actually nine photos I want to post and I will start with the must sees and end with the others so if nine do not post then it will be the extras of various animals mentioned.

There is not much to say about my next day in Cape Town as I again was on a mission. I did get my hair cut (straightened out after the cut on the ship), my eyebrows waxed but no manicure . I eventually did my own fingernails and will improve that job in the next couple of days. At my age maintenance is very important.

I was able to get some souvenirs and have a beer while I waited between appointments and the pharmacy. One of my inhalers was defective and I needed to get a replacement. Ever since the severe bronchial infection I got on the QE2 I have needed an inhaler for the asthma which ensued.

I do wish I had more time in Cape Town where I could have used the hop on hop off bus. The city is nothing like I pictured in my mind. It is wedged into a smaller space than I thought because of the mountains and the sea. I had to take two photos as I have a simple camera and couldn’t get the whole scene from the ship in one photo. The shuttle bus from the port takes you close to the Clock Tower which is between two malls; one small and one gigantic. The city has lots of high rises and very modern freeways and overpasses.

We had a lull in the winds and Captain Olaf was able to pull away from the Port around 11:00 pm last night. He had not been that optimistic previously when addressing us over the PA system (Do ships have a special name for their system?}. We are on our way to Port Elizabeth and I will be seeing the elephants tomorrow and more animals.

This post will cover the first day we were in Cape Town (This is the correct spelling for my Dear Lord Kay who is ever the Professor and correcting my homework.).

We pulled into Port about 6:00 am in the morning and were told that it was quite windy which is not an unusual occurrence for Cape Town. I had a tour planned for Inverdoorn Game Reserve (my mini safari) and as I was walking off the gangway a gust of wind hit me and I was on my way down. Fortunately Joy (one of the cruise director’s staff )was nearby and she kept me from being blown away. She helped me to the railing and I still could not move because of the force of the wind. A portly man who was not particularly tall grabbed my arm and helped me to a sheltered spot where the wind was not as strong. He was a South African who was visiting his daughter, Renee, on the ship. He said I was in sustained winds of 48 knots and gusts even greater. Thank you to Joy and Renee’s father for their needed assistance. I still have not ate so much that I have gained appreciable weight to be able to navigate in such winds.

We then boarded the bus and the microphone didn’t work. Almost an hour later we were on our way. The winds and failed microphone did not bode well for our tour.

On the way out to Inverdoorn we were blessed with wonderful scenery of mountains, lush valleys and the grape growing area. South Africa has a major problem with illegal immigrants and these hovels are where they live next to the grapes. Not unlike the Southern part of the United States but with truly disreputable hovels. We then got to the dryer area called the Karoo and that is where the reserve is located
and this photo shows the general look of the Karoo.



After a wonderful buffet lunch and an ice cold beer we were on our way in open jitneys. A few ladies couldn’t climb into them and needed help. Not me as I am still agile enough to climb into most all the vehicles we have encountered.

The three lions are kept separate from the other animals and they were not close enough for a photo op but I do have some photos of distant bushes with brown lumps underneath them. The first really good shot I had is of this magnificent male giraffe. I have never seen such a large giraffe and even though we saw many males, females and babies this guy was by far the most impressive.

Herds of zebras, elands, springbok and a few kudu and oryx. Most are shy and will keep their distance but this eland, didn’t budge. He just stared at us for 15 minutes until we left. He didn’t. And, he wasn’t stuffed as he peed while we were taking our pics. We also saw cape buffalo (second most dangerous animal of the big five) but we were not able to spot the hippos or rhino. Ostrich, ibis, storks, hawks, eagles and many other birds were everywhere.

I was sitting in the middle seat in the jitney so I couldn’t get the right angle to get all four male cheetahs and the female in one shot without having too much shadow. This photo shows two of the males with the female in the front. What more could these guys want! Shade, water and a female in heat. We were there for quite some time and they didn’t leave and as a matter of fact, they settled back in and went to sleep.

We eventually headed back to the ship and about 20 miles away from Cape Town on a slight incline the transmission on the bus would not engage. They sent a mechanic who was able to correct the problem and we were again on our way. We got back about 2 hours late, no time to clean up for dinner so I changed my clothes, washed my hands and headed for my place where I ordered a double scotch on the rocks, splash of water, and a plate of snacks for dinner. It isn’t like I couldn’t miss a meal.

Today was Mariner Appreciation day and the CEO Stein Kruse is on board. The highlight of the day was the South African Braai (Br-eye) buffet dinner and the free drinks. A Safari Tent camp was built on Lido deck, African entertainment and photo ops with the likes of this guy. The decorations were fantastic what with an old truck with no wheels, carved animals, actual tents with tables and chairs inside and even great lounge areas with pillows. There was so much it would be impossible to post photos so you will have to use your imagination. This dinner was “kind of” like our dinner with Cunards’s rep at the convention center in Honolulu but done on a smaller scale on the ship. It couldn’t compare to that night but it was still spectacular and I had a lot of fun.

This bouquet with the horns is a sample of some of the unusual bouquets that we see on the ship. The little bouquet was sitting in my cabin as another gift from HAL.

This pilot boat was real close to the ship and I was able to get a great shot of it. I am glad it wasn’t one of those Somali boats with pirates on board. We are not going to the Seychelles because the pirates are working that area currently. We will be going to the Maldives instead.

Tomorrow we will be at Cape Town and I have a tour one day and a free day the next. My next post will cover both those days.

One of the things that stand out in this area of Africa is the absolute desolate and dry looking coastline. I always think of plush areas right up to the ocean but look at this coastline. This photo was taken near Luderitz but Walvis Bay was the same.

Namibia in general seems very safe but obviously there must be some problems since this Security Firm in Luderitz does advertise “armed response”. All of Namibia is filled with minerals, diamonds and uranium so mining operations are quite close to the cities.

Maurice, Peggy, Marcy and I did a walk about in Luderitz which is very small. Peggy has a tendency to pick up small children along the way so I took this photo at the port. As we were leaving she spotted a young lad of about 10 or so selling his art work. She haggled with him for awhile and got him to reduce it from $20 to $10. Now this precious piece of art work can only be described as hideous. I hope I get a photo of it when she places it in the white elephant sale at the end of the cruise. The frame is made out of dried muscle shells and there is a dried crab in the middle of the board . Only Peggy could buy this sort of thing. She, of course, likes helping children out but will not give them anything if they beg. This young entrepreneur made her happy.

My purchases so far in Africa are not quite so exotic. I am finding the prices are great here and I THINK I AM BUYING TOO MUCH. Hopefully I can get my purchases off the ship and into Rachael’s SUV when she picks me up. I have not found that to be the case in South America so I didn’t buy much there. I believe I will be TOTALLY BAD here since I am finding great buys.

It did feel good to get off the ship after such a long voyage with out a landing. The weather was great and didn’t get over 80 degrees even out in the desert. A nice steady breeze prevailed. We didn’t see any springbok which are suppose to be prevalent in the area but it was on the menu at lunch. I had stuffed calamari thank you very much.

The desert was very interesting with huge dunes. I thought you might want to see my desert fashion statement. This weird looking plant is a tree. This is the female and there is a male plant also. The red wasp is the pollinator and the only water this tree gets is from the fog which rolls in at night and dissipates in the morning.

We did help the water situation somewhat. The holding tank for the bus lavatory sprung a good size leak and streamed down the aisle and under the seats. Now, I have no problem rolling with whatever happens on tours etc. but I don’t know of any other bus drivers that come equipped with a mop!

The cities of Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, Namibia are mostly new cities. No high rises but newer buildings. The German influence is very evident in this country. There is a distinct middle class here that really surprises me. The housing developments could be located in the states. Even the poorer housing is not that bad. Block houses and not corrugated tin and cardboard hovels. Cities in South America should make a trip here to see how it is done. I can think of other countries in the Orient that should also visit Namibia.

It was PARTY TIME last night. MARDI GRAS. I saw people dancing up at the
Crows Nest that I don’t think had been there before. The decorations were spectacular and the costumes some wore were unique to say the least. Gerta’s was weird as you see a photo of her dancing with a host dancer. Peggy’s vest had miniature lights. That is her with our friend Marcy. Marcy is the lady I told you about that is 85 and looks like she is 75. Esther had a comical wig that actually was red but in this photo it shows up purple.

Both ships are equal in their decorations for theme nights but I believe the Amsterdam is better in the crews costuming. I think I will post later a whole series of photos of their costumes which are spectacular. Too much happening at the present so that will be a post for a run of sea days.


I danced up a storm last night and danced with Melvin and Maurice and also with two of the host dancers several times. I have my dancing legs and skill back but I notice I do tire a lot sooner.

I mentioned that others have vested me with a designated place at the Ocean Bar so I am posting more photos than normal to show you where that designated place is and my two favorite bartenders, Ogie and Marc. Notice Ogie is holding a fifth of Ballentines for the photo which is my scotch of choice. He did tell me that they were about out of it so he has ordered a good supply for the future.

Tomorrow we will dock at Walvis Bay, Namibia, and this is our first port of the Dark Continent. It is also the first time we will see land in eight days. Even though I enjoy sea days it will be nice to walk on land again.