This will be the last post from our “Experience Southern Africa” Intrepid tour. We’ve ended where we began: Joburg. Alan & I are now going to Mozambique on our own before our second Intrepid tour, “The Garden Route” begins in Durban in a few days.

This batch features our second brewery tour, but was distinctive in that the very earnest and knowledgeable presenter explained the economics of how farmers are trained to grow hops and barley at the same time co-existing with elephants.

This was the first of two, back-to-back long driving days. The neon sign was from a mall restaurant where we stopped for lunch. And below is the whole group at a bushy bushy stop…

We set up at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary campground, then were picked up by two safari trucks to drive through the park. Given the dryness, the animals do not venture far from a water sources, and I suspect their movements are quite predictable.

Immediately we found a large mother and child (white rhinos v. black which we did not see) at a spot near a bush restaurant. Their dung is not as tidy as the elephants, but more centrally located…! We drove out to a pan to see more at a distance, but that and the angle of the sun made them tough to see.

Next, we went to a particular “hide” next to a pool of water and watched. First, another mother and child walked in to get a drink (the baby was still on milk but didn’t fuss about getting num-nums). Then came three elands, the largest of the anteloge (as big a large horse or cow). It was a magnical moment…

On the way back our truck got a flat, so we all piled into the other truck (I hanging off the back), and made it back to our campsite. The next morning we were on the road again, crossing the not-so-mighy Limpopo River from Botswana back into South Africa…

Once again, thanks to our Whats App group, I have a bunch of photos from my fellow travelers to share…

That last long road trip was a doozy. I started feeling sick toward the end, and made into the hotel room in time for two horrific barf sessions accompanied by my own Limpoopoo River. It came on fast and set up camp, and now, three days into our stay in Mozambique, Alan got it too. (Probably from a couple fellow travelers who’d been afflicted previously.

Not only did I miss our last dinner together that night, but I missed the bike ride in Soweto the next day – something I’d been most interested in (having protested against apartheid in college, seen Nelson Mandela at the LA Coliseum, and followed African politics since my days in Togo. So, I’m borrowing a few more pix from Alan to show part of what I missed…

As I finally publish this post, we’re at our second spot in Maputo Mozambique, both recovering from illness, and grateful to have slowed down a bit. Still trying to work out an island experience, but it seems to be off season hereabouts. Stay tuned for those particulars…