http://iowabookgal.com/family-fun-and-shopping-local/ June 26th. When we woke up this morning there were monkeys in the trees playing by our car, and playing seems to be the right word: they seemed to live perfectly unserious lives, wrestling with each other, pulling each other’s tails, running up the trees and then back down them again as if energy were […]
Category Archives: African Journey
Monkeys.
14-Jul-15On Safari.
13-Jul-15have a peek here It’s hard to hide behind a tree if you’re an elephant.
Under the Stars at Addo.
13-Jul-15June 25th. We drove in the declining evening from Jeffrey’s Bay to Addo Elephant National Park, getting a bit lost in the outskirts of Port Elizabeth, but eventually arriving. And now we are here, at the main camp, staying in a plastered mud hut with a thatched roof and nice detailing – safari chic, they […]
Pride and The Idea of God.
12-Jul-15“The neighborhood of the Game Reserve and the presence, outside our boundary, of the big game, gave a particular character to the farm, as if we had been the neighbors of a great king. Very proud things were about, and made their nearness felt. The barbarian loves his own pride, and hates, or disbelieves in, […]
Down to the Indian Ocean.
09-Jul-15We stopped in Jeffrey’s Bay, a surfing town. We saw our first white waitresses here – all others had been black. Afterwards we went down to the Indian Ocean – a cool day, and not ideal for swimming, but we just stood there on the beach, letting the water wash over our feet, and looked […]
The Big Tree of Tsitsikamma.
08-Jul-15The area around Knysna on the African coast is unusual, because it supports true forest: the majority of South Africa is savannah, whether grassy savannah in the interior or the bushy savannah they call fynbos at the Cape. But this was real forest, and even where the original forest has been cut down, there are […]
Meditations on the Leo-pardus.
07-Jul-15While here in South Africa we have been wondering how to name the things we see here, in Latin; and one of the difficulties has been cheetah. We did not know, offhand, the Latin for cheetah. The scientific name, right now, is acinonyx, from the Greek: onyx is nail or claw, -kin- is move or […]
Walking With Cheetahs.
07-Jul-15June 25th. Another long, full day of incredible experiences. We arrived at Tanikwa, and after a little waiting but very little to-do (signing an indemnity form releasing them from all responsibility if we get maimed by the animals), we were led to the cheetah enclosure. As we approached it, walking along a long fence, a […]
Knysna.
06-Jul-15June 24h. We arrived late, coming from Cape Town, and are now in Knysna (pronounced “nize-nuh”), a holiday town on the Indian Ocean. As usual, there is no one here; winter in a seaside town. What is more, the South Africans seem to shut down at night: for sure in the hotel industry it is […]
Racism, Wimbledon, Sexuality
13-Jul-15I read this morning the New York Times’ piece on women’s body image which has stirred up some controversy – how Serena Williams’ physique is excellent for tennis, but certain professional tennis players or their coaches were quoted saying they didn’t want such a body, because it made them seem or feel less feminine and […]