Where in the World are Dave and Elizabeth?

 There is still much to blog about — Capetown is one of the most beautiful spots in the world, I think. Namibia was fascinating, with its desert and oasis. But, I am taking a pause from the amazing places to talk about some fun happenings on the ship.  Here is my new look:  Just kidding!!  April 27th was Kings day in Holland, and our Holland America ship celebrated.  Sunday night was the farewell cocktail party hosted by Cruise Specialists, our travel agency. CS specializes in world cruises or otherwise longer trips, and they had three of their people — Keith, Suzy, and Tom — aboard to help us all along the way.  CS truly goes out of the way to make sure that their clients are happy, safe, and presented with opportunities for adventure.  Tomorrow marks twelve days to home!  See you soon! 

Hello from Ghana. Today is King Day for Holland, so the crew and lots of guests (even non-Dutch guests) are wearing orange.  Some just have a small amount; others are in orange from head to toe.  Tonight, there will be a celebration.    Earlier, Dave and I strolled through a dockside, makeshift market filled with dresses and  shirts in colorful patterns, beautiful wooden bowls and carvings, paintings, and Ghana’s famous beadwork jewelry.  Even though we didn’t venture far, we were ready to come in from the steam oven heat and the blinding sun.  One beautiful young lady who was selling at a booth was standing in the full sun.  She was sweating so that the grandmother in me wanted to fuss over her and fuss over her and get her into the shade.  But, I refrained from over mothering a stranger.  I saw a beautiful stool that I wanted, but couldn’t figure out how to get it home.  To ship it would probably cost more than to buy it.  Th...

I'm still trying to catch up on our adventures before we come to our next port -- Takadori, Ghana. While at Thanda, we went on six game drives.  We happened across two different lion kills in 24 hours.  Our guide had never seen two that close.  One was a lioness who had borne three cubs.  When she tried to return to the pride with her cubs, she was rejected as the pride didn't want that many extra mouths to feed.  So, she is essentially a singe mother raising three nearly grown boys, who are already sparring with each other, and a girl.  Whew! The second feeding we saw was the full pride.  We found them in a stupor early one morning after they had feasted the night before.  A couple of young ones yawned and stretched and went back for a snack before taking another nap. Here are some of the other animals we saw at Thanda.   We saw kudus, like those in the above photo, frequently.  Once, we happened along when two were strutting.  The...

 Everyone is sensing the end of our 128 day journey coming in less than three weeks!  Yesterday, we had an interesting journey from Walvis Bay inland to an oasis in the Namib Desert and then to a small city up the coast and back again. Now, I understand why an oasis is prized!  But, I’ll blog more about that later, as I still am catching up on Thanda.  On our second day at Thanda, we met at 5:00 AM for a quick morning snack.  We piled into our car at 5:30 and were off in search of game.  Like most places, Thanda is extra beautiful at sunrise.  We went back to a lake where we had seen a lioness and cubs, but they weren’t there. Our guide got a radio message that cheetahs had been spotted a long way west of us, so we high tailed it over there in the hope that we could see them.  They don’t show themselves easily, so our guide and tracker said we shouldn’t miss this opportunity.  At one point, we came across a journey of giraffes — my favorites....

 We are on our way to Maputo.  You probably know that Mozambique has just had a traged y. I am praying for the people there.   Over 100 people have died after a ferry sank.  Too many people had crowded onto the boat after hearing a rumor about a Cholera outbreak in their community.  Mozambique is indeed fighting cholera, and we have been warned to be careful about what we eat or drink there.  Even so, it seems that this rumor caused unnecessary panic. The ferry was hit by a tidal wave,  My friend sent me pictures of some of the beautiful doors in Zanzibar. Here are a couple: Love to all! 

The visas for Zanzibar are expensive for Americans, so we decided to stay on board.  Though it was predicted to be brutally hot, it ended up being rainy and somewhat cooler instead.  I have plenty to do to keep me busy, but I did feel wistful that we were not going ashore today.  Watching the Tanzanian Boys Circus perform on board was a consolation.   Did you know that Freddie Mercury was born and raised in Zanzibar? A lot of people who went ashore went to see his house.  A local museum has scraps of paper upon which he scribbled his lyrics.  Another famous person who lived here, albeit temporarily, was Dr. David Livingstone. The famous missionary believed that if he could discover the source of the Nile, people would pay attention to his quest to end the slave trade.  tutaonana baadaye! (See you later in Swahili) 

 Day 2 After twenty four hours of resting and sleeping his cold away, Dave woke up ready to walk.  I, on the other hand, felt meh and a little lightheaded. I couldn’t out my finger on anything specific, though, so I ignored my instinct that we should take a taxi to our planned activity: viewing the giant tortoises at the Botanical Garden.  Mr. Google sent us on a confusing route.  After we had gone out of our way in the tropic heat and equatorial sun, we found ourselves right by the store I strolled to yesterday.  We could actually see the ship from that intersection. Talk about walking in circles!  We met up with a couple who had taken a much shorter path to the intersection, and they looked as cool as if they had just been sipping juleps on a covered porch.  Google had promised an 18 minute walk. We had already used that up, but we still had a long way to go.  We crossed a busy intersection with no traffic lights.  On the other side, we cam...