Stellenbosch – 28 May 2021 – South Africa

Editor note:

Another article from Tom Allin – World Traveler.  I know some of us  Harrison County travelers should see what real travelers do.  

By Tom Allin

We are back on the road but without the 4Runner.  We packed last night, had breakfast, packed the rental car and began our drive to Franschhock with a walking tour stop scheduled for Stellenbosch and a lunch afterwards.

Other than the light rain it appeared to be a good day – don’t you hate optimistic people.

OK — light rain, a rental car that is low to the ground rather than our high 4Runner, first time driving in South Africa and my memory has blanked out several other issues that may have had led me to be slightly stressed.  But I had Nancy, my navigator and entertainment director, in the right hand seat so let’s get on the road.

I don’t remember any wrong turns.  For the most part the highway driving was easy and the highway was well signed.  The highway was well maintained, hell I wish I-20 in Texas was as well maintained as the highway out of Cape Town.

Maybe we made one or two wrong turns, but it didn’t take us to long to find downtown Stellenbosch and most importantly a parking space – a head in parking space!

 We paid the city parking attendant and began walking towards Stellenbosch on Foot.  As you probably guessed from the name it was a company that provides walling tours.  Drops of rain were falling but I not going to say it was raining but more like a drizzle.

Use the links below to read Tom’s complete story

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Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens – 24 May 2021 — South Africa

Editor note:

Today I received this email from Tom Allin – World Traveler.  He forwarded photos and a story.  I know some of us  Harrison County travelers should see what real travelers do.  

By Tom Allin

Today was a day to stretch our legs and begin our self-education on South African plants.  We arrived at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens by Uber a few minutes before 9:00 am and left a little after 3:00 pm.  We did stop for lunch.

Let me begin with why we are here.  Seven years ago, when putting together our Drive Around the World one of the things to see on my list were the world’s best Botanical Gardens.  Nancy and I both enjoy flowers, plants, cactus, succulents, trees, where they grow and botanical gardens.  You would be hard pressed to look at any list of the world’s best botanical gardens and not find Kirstenbosch on the list.

Today was a day to stretch our legs and begin our self-education on South African plants.  We arrived at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens by Uber a few minutes before 9:00 am and left a little after 3:00 pm.  We did stop for lunch.

Let me begin with why we are here.  Seven years ago, when putting together our Drive Around the World one of the things to see on my list were the world’s best Botanical Gardens.  Nancy and I both enjoy flowers, plants, cactus, succulents, trees, where they grow and botanical gardens.  You would be hard pressed to look at any list of the world’s best botanical gardens and not find Kirstenbosch on the list.

I am going to get the scientific stuff out of the way early.  South Africa has over 140 of the 200 natural orders of plants in the world and over 25,000 species of flora, including a floral kingdom found nowhere else in the world.  The Cape Floral Region Protected Areas is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is recognized as one of the most special places for plants in the world in terms of diversity, density, and number of endemic species.

In short, South Africa’s is one of the most unique flora locations in the world.

Use the links below to read Tom’s story

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Editor note:

Today I received this email from Tom Allin – World Traveler.  He forwarded photos and a story from a friend.  I thought that some of us  Harrison County travelers should see what real travelers do.  

Tom wrote:

Go to Fotolink in the email below.

We met Thomas in the middle of nowhere in the mountains of northwest India.  He and his wife were driving east and we were driving west.  We went by each other and then both of us put on the brakes and jumped out to talk.  We probably saw less than 20 vehicles on the road/trail that day.  I have no idea how he was able to drive his Man truck on the road we had just completed, too big for the road.  

They are from Switzerland and have been exploring Africa for at least the last 2.5 years – the pandemic didn’t slow their travels down.  We met them four years ago in India.  He is an amateur photographer — I think some of his photos are very good, and there are lots of photos.  Some pretty wild men hairdos from Namibia where most of the photos were taken.  A few photographs from South Africa.

---

From: Thomas Morf  

Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 2:44 AM

To: Esther Morf 

Subject: 44 Travel report Namibia

dear friends

A long time has passed since the last travel report. In the meantime we are in South Africa and at the end of the month we will definitely be leaving Africa.

We hope you are well and wish you all the best.

Best regards

Thomas&Esther

Fotolink (note: this is a very big file and can’t be downloaded on a slow internet but the links to the story will work fine)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3prmb5r236cjf50/AACXP173m3p8LYN1WG0ckUcUa?dl=0

Use the links below to read Thomas and Esther’s story

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Texas Travel – January 4, 2022

from  Only in Your State

This River In The Mountains Of Texas Just Might Be One Of The Most Picturesque Spots In The World

Texas is full of immense beauty, but nothing is comparable to that of the stretch of the Rio Grande that runs through Big Bend National Park. It’s blue, peaceful, absolutely breathtaking, and a must-add to your travel bucket list.

If you’ve never been to Big Bend, you probably didn’t know that the Rio Grande carved its way through the towering mountains many eons ago.

A truly breathtaking sight, the water is an oasis in the middle of a vast desert, the lush greenery on the riverbank contrasting starkly with the surrounding arid environment.

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iExposed Us 

P.O. Box 721

Scottsville Texas

75688

Texas Travel – January 12, 2022

from  Only in Your State

17 Underrated Places In Texas To Take An Out-Of-Towner

Let me set the scene for you. A family member or close friend is flying in from, I don’t know, Germany (aka they know nothing about Texas aside from stereotypes), and you’re freaking out trying to decide where to take them to really show them what our state is all about.

You’re completely justified in your panic – after all, our state is huge. It can be overwhelming just deciding on the next family vacation when you’ve lived here your entire life!

But your worry ends here. We’ve gone straight to the core, leaving off well-known tourist traps and delving into the nitty gritty, no frills, true essence of Texas that will leave your visitor pleasantly surprised. Here are 17 totally underrated places in Texas to take someone who’s seeing our great state for the very first time.

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iExposed Us 

P.O. Box 721

Scottsville Texas

75688

By Tom Allin

I can’t help myself. Even though we saw the Ice and then the Fire I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to borrow a Pat Benatar song title for my own blogging title. So, some pictures of fire and Ice in reverse order of the song.

Even though we were traveling Iceland in early May and everyone was telling us how lucky we were that the weather was so great we still saw lots of ice and drove through rain, hail and snow on two different days.

This is Dettifoss Waterfall.  If it looks like it is moving in the photograph it is the waterfall.  Pretty much everything else is ice including the ice on the other side of the railing and the icicles on the railing.  Roughly a two-mile round trip going down and then back up that includes 240 stairs and rocks covered with snow or ice.  Nancy was the smart one and after about five minutes turned around to save her legs for the remainder of the day.  I on the other hand not being smart made the trip down just so I could experience the freezing waterfall mist blowing into my face while trying to take a photograph.

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Imlili – April 5, 2021 – Dakhla to Imlili and back, Morocco

By Tom Allin

Yesterday was a day of taking it easy and trying to de-sand ourselves, and our clothes, luggage and the 4Runner. As for de-sanding; we made progress and hopefully someday soon we will say goodby to the sands of the Sahara.

Today we are taking another drive into the desert. However, this drive will be with Martina not Nico and she will do all the driving. Nancy and I will be passengers.

Martina is a knowledgeable guide: (a) a Doctorate degree in Ocean Biology, (b) enjoys the outdoors, (c) has lived in Dakhla for six plus years, and (d) enjoys people. She discussed tourism, government programs, the issue of the Sahrawi independence movement, birds, oceans and of course the desert.

The primary destination is Imlili. Not the very small village but the Imlili sebkha. A sebkha is a depression with a salted bottom. The Imlili sebkha is characterized by small saltwater pools with fish and is approximately 12 km long and 2.5 km wide and 10 km deep. It is 15 km east of the Atlantic Ocean and if you know this area there are several trails to drive – I didn’t see trails but Martina said we were on trails.

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Essaouira Fishing Port – March 29, 2021 – Essaouira, Morocco

By Tom Allin

First thing I did this morning after making my morning check to confirm I was still breathing was to go to the parking lot to retrieve an item or two we had forgotten to unload yesterday. On the way back I stopped In Essaouira’s Moulay Hassan Square for a cup of coffee.

The square is huge and as you can see: empty. Essaouira has morphed from a fishing port into a tourist center during the last twenty years. However, being a year into the pandemic and Morocco still limiting Europeans and others in visiting plus the mandated closing of all restaurants at 8:00 pm has brought tourism to a standstill.

Nancy and I spent 30 minutes or more looking for the perfect café for an American egg and black coffee breakfast. When our search turned up nothing we sat down at a café, ordered eggs and coffee, and sat back to enjoy the morning.

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Essaouira – March 28, 2021 – Drive from Marrakesh to Essaouira, Morocco

By Tom Allin

After three days of taking, it easy at the Al Fassia Hotel in Marrakesh it was time to become explorers again.  We are doing nothing tough today after a pandemic caused layoff of one year.  We have a less than four-hour drive to Essaouira and I have already made hotel reservations with a hotel with parking.  Oh, to be so naïve.

We leave the hotel, drive out of Marrakesh, stop for gas, and hit the open road.  It didn’t take but a few minutes to again become comfortable with driving in Morocco.  Something new to contend with: it seems there is a police check point every 20 or 30 minutes that require us to come to a stop and either we are waved through or we have to pull over to show our passports.

As we entered a small town the policeman waves me over.  I put on my mask, roll down the window and the officer says, “Texaaasss, you are from Texaaasss”?  I say, “Yes, from Texas”.  He is smiling (no mask), we fist bump through my window and off we go.

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Casablanca – April 18, 2021 – Casablanca, Morocco

By Tom Allin

Today was Sunday and no one was working on transporting our 4Runner from Morocco to South Africa.  We decided to go bathing suit shopping.  Nancy and I both thought we had left bathing suits in the 4Runner when we left Morocco last year at the beginning of the pandemic.  We returned to Morocco and the 4Runner to find no bathing suits.  The front desk suggests the Marina Mall, grabbed a taxi and off we went.

It was maybe a 15-minute ride that cost about $2.50 – we over paid.  The mall was two floors with two U.S. small medium sizes store, a large grocery store, 30 small shops and a dozen eating establishments.  Took us less than 45 minutes to see everything including maybe 10 women swimsuits and to head for the door.

Took a taxi to Hassan II Mosque.  This is the third largest mosque in the world – and was closed, no tours.  This is the one tourist attraction that Casablanca claims and it wasn’t open to the public.

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