Postscript

Although our flights were booked on United Airlines, they were all subbed out to other carriers. So, we flew from Cape Town to Heathrow on South African Airlines, from Heathrow to Newark, N.J. on Continental, and from Newark to Toronto on Air Canada. It appears that our luggage may have become confused during the exchanges. Mardi and I received our checked luggage yesterday (Saturday), three days after our return. Ethan's bag has also now been located but is not here yet - they are trying to make arrangements to have it delivered. Since this is a holiday weekend, who knows?

I think the problem occurred in South Africa where the ladies at the gate reprinted our tags because there was an error on the ones we had been given when we checked in. However, I would like to blame Continental because they were the ones who misplaced my luggage on my trip to Peru.

One other note: Ethan bought a rugby ball in Hazyview (near Kruger) with South African Springbok logos. When we got to the airport in Nelspruit for our flight to Cape Town, security would not let him take an inflated ball through as a carry-on. We had no pin to deflate it so we had to destroy the bladder with a screwdriver so that he could at least come home with a souvenir. The flight stopped in Johannesburg and as we went to our gate to change planes, lo and behold they were selling the same balls - blown up! And we were past security. No problem taking them on the plane according to the sales person, but to be safe, we bought one that was not inflated.

Hi Dad, Thanks Gram

About 34 hours after we were dropped off at the Cape Town Airport, we delivered Ethan into the arms of his dad. A long slog - South African Air to Heathrow, London; Continental to Newark, N.J.; Air Canada to Toronto; three hour layover between each flight - which ended with our checked baggage probably located in Texas. Certainly makes the laundry decision easy!

The picture on the lower right shows Greg congratulating Ethan for ordering Ostrich for dinner on Tuesday night. I had Ostrich as well while Mardi tried the Springbok.

We had a wonderful time in Africa. Were well treated, no sign of crime although we were somewhat insulated and in reasonably good neighbourhoods. There are certainly "slum dog" communities but we didn't go in them.

Weather as reported was excellent, although a cold front and rain rolled in while we waited for our first flight on the way home. Mosquitoes were not a significant factor, but Ethan got a couple of bites while trampolining in the evening. Two more days of pills should erase any risks.

Ethan was a joy to have on the trip. He played cards with a skill beyond his years (caught me wasting wild cards more than once), was most cooperative and polite, really impressed one of our guides when he ordered salad, and was competitive at golf (outdrove Grandma a couple of times). He has an eagle eye and often picked out game before our guides saw it.

Thank you to all who followed our trip blog. I hope it was entertaining.

This will likely be our last post to Ethan's African Adventure. I can now work on the job of restoring my e-mail which I accidently disabled a few days ago when I was having connection problems on the net. And over the next few weeks we will put together an album of the trip for Ethan to show to his friends and family.

Kruger was awesome and Cape Town and the cape itself were fantastic. Saw lots of wildlife.

Calla Lillies

Calla lillies grow along the side of the road and in gardens much like the orange day lillies do in Ontario. Most attractive.

Lunch Stop

We enjoyed a tasty meal at this coffee shop and antique store. The food was invariably good in Africa and the service, while not always prompt, was polite and friendly. Prices were quite a bit cheaper than Canada, given the quality of the food and service and the ambience.

"Any Last Words Guys?"

That was what our guide asked before he sent us on our way across the gorge on the first zip line. A really exhilarating activity for our last day in Africa. We started part way up the mountain and travelled on seven zip lines to the bottom, following ravines and crossing waterfalls and an aqueduct. On one of the lines they recommend that you bring yourself to a complete stop and dangle about sixty feet above the rocks, while “enjoying the view”. An interesting experience.

Goodbye to Cape Town

We check out at 7 a.m. and drive two hours to go zip-lining. From there it's back to the airport for our lonnngggg flights home. Including time zone changes we will be in transit for about 30 hours (don't tell Ethan, he'll go nuts!). So it will be Wednesday night, Ontario time, before we publish our final posts. Talk to you then.

Wildlife On The Cape

Along the way we added to our list – Elan, Ostrich and the African Penguin. There also used to be black-maned lions on the cape but they’ve long since vanished.