Route27

I have more or less packaged up our photos to a more managable 80 some shots in the Abridged album. The slideshow is embeded below. These are from our stay in Cape Town, Sodwana Bay, Kruger Wildlife park, as well Stellenbosh and Francehoek wine regions in the Western Cape.

Here is a short video of a rhino male taking an interest in our Range Rover and trying to decide whether to charge or not. The video doesn’t give this anmial justice in terms of size and indimidation factor.

Finally, I wanted to give this wonderful Big Game park accommodation a shout out. It was very well run, wonderful old colonial style and beatifull. The dutch prince who had a hand in starting the World Wildlife Fund used to stay here often and the palce I am sure saw its share of the Rhino Wars. Check out the amazing history and maybe some pictures on the site of Reilly’s Rock.

Thanks to Mark and Marla for their endorsement of the place for without them we wouldnt have had the pleasure of the experience, see below:

We are back from our amazing trip. Yes - it was fantastic. I would classify it as a top three trips we have ever taken.

Our travels took us to Cape Town, Durban, Sodwana Bay, Swaziland, Kruger, Franchhoek wine country and somewhere in between.

Of course we took way too many pictures. I have tried to condense it to this slide show - Enjoy!

If anyone is interested or has a lot of time on their hands, here are the source pictures that did not make the cut:

South Africa Cape Town
South Africa Table Mountain
South Africa Sodwana Bay
South Africa Kruger
South Africa Swaziland

My bags are packed, flights are checked, and we’re ready to go back to Africa. Can’t wait to ring in the new year in Cape Town.

Hope all goes well and check for photo updates on my Picassa site.

I found a quick pictorial slide presentation I put together last time I was there in 2003 with my good buddy Martin Spit. (Unfortunately this was put together with a lovely Microsoft product which only allows you to view this in ie)

Finally, since this post is going in the travel section, i wanted to give a good shout out to a great hotel in Bucaramanga, Colombia. - the HOTEL DANN CARLTON BUCARAMANGA. The folks there were super friendly, very attentive and gave everyone a five star service. Much better than most experiences i have had anywhere else. (There is also an awesome gym across the street… but maybe thats for another post).

After writing about two marathons, a 50 mile run, I just cant resist to announce another record, the marathon trip back home. For the record, this is the longest trip home I have taken so far, and as the cliché goes, I have taken some long trips home (Caveat necessary here - does not include Around the Trip World with Mara). Here is the breakdown of the planes, trains and automobiles:

Hour::Destination::Mode of Transportation
0:00::Boat::Davao, Phillipines
1:00::Bus::Airport
4:00::Cepbu Pacific::Manila
6:00::Jeepny (yes, I took it all by myself!)::Airport Hotel and back
12:00::Phillipines Airlines::Bejing
23:00::United::Washington DC
35:00::United::Washinton DC - Chicago
37:00::Cab home!

Glad to be home. It’s a good thing I didn’t get too settled in PH

Over the years Mara and I have visited some amazing places. We have stayed at a lot of wonderful hotels and have been welcomed by friends and people who are amazing at their hospitality jobs. However there are a few which especially stand out in our memories. I want to recommend and share some of these with you.

The first place on our list is a hotel which was strongly recommended to us by Alyssa Banta, a US photographer who for years had a second home in Delhi. She recommended this haveli in Jaipur saying its an ancient sanctuary and respite from the craziness of traveling through India. She was so right. This ancient governors place was up to western standards with a great mix of colonial and traditional service. The food was great, the variety of rooms they had to offer were fantastic (we stayed at a mini two level apartment with a balcony) and the pool the best city pool I have ever been to. The structure resembles MC Escher drawings. Highly recommended.

When in Jaipur, be sure not to miss this gem.

Samode Haveli
Jaipur, India
A HERITAGE HOTEL
reservations@samode.com
91-141-2632407