Our African Adventure – Final Destination – Cape Town

After nearly two weeks on the road, our once-in-a-lifetime adventure was coming to an end as we approached the trip’s final destination, Cape Town.  At breakfast, our tour guides polled the group and laid out the options for that day’s activities.  The original interary called for several miles of bike riding through through the wine country of Stellenbosch, an activity that most of the group simple wasn’t prepared to accomplished.  After a quick vote, we decided on seeing the sights around Cape Town.  We drove along the famous False Bay coast, a beautiful area bounded on the east by Cape Hangklip and the Cape of Good Hope on the west.

False Bay was featured during recent TV episodes of Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, because of the large populations of Great White Sharks which over-winter here and feed on the local seal population.

The views as we traveled around False Bay were breaktaking.  We stopped here and there, snapping photos and marveling at the scenery while our guides explained that the Bay contained several wrecks of early sailing ships which had mistaken it for the deeper and safer Table Bay.  After several stops, we arrived at our first destination, Boulders Beach, and its colony of African Penguins.

As an avid birder, I had been looking forward to this sight the entire trip.  Also known as “Jackass” Penguins, due to their donkey-like bray, these remain the only species of penguin that I have seen in the wild.  The penguin colony enjoys protection as a national park, though the area is becoming more developed as home builders take advantage of the incredible views around Boulders Beach.

Here is a photograph of the small group of penguins shown above that shows just how close human habitation has approached their home.  The penguins seem undisturbed by all the activity, though, as hundreds of visitors also walk along a boardwalk built through their colony every day.

Our next stop was the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point.  We started with lunch in Two Oceans Restaurant, followed by a ride on the Funicular up to Cape Point Lighthouse.  The day was clear, breezing, and beautiful as we drank in the stunning panoramic views offered by the Point.  The sights and sounds of two great oceans lay before us as we talked with other members of our group about the experience.  Here I was, a kid who grew up in the last house on a dirt road in a small West Virginia coal camp, standing in a place that I had read about in grade school but had never dreamed that I would actually visit.

After a couple hours of exploring, we left Cape Point for our hotel.  On the way, we passed near replicas of the Cross of Vasco de Gama and the Cross of Diaz, two navigational beacons erected by the Portuguese government to commemorate Vasco da Gama and Bartholomeu Dias as explorers. When lined up, the crosses point to Whittle Rock,  a large, permanently submerged shipping hazard in False Bay.

After a long, adventure-filled day we arrive at our final hotel destination – the Tudor Hotel in Cape Town.  We spent the following day shopping, exploring Cape Town, and making final preparations for our long flight home.

Several months have passed since our trip, but the sights and sounds of South Africa and Lesotho are as real for me today as when I was there.   Any mention of my trip brings numerous questions from friends and colleagues, all intrigued by the thought of visiting places Americans rarely venture to.  Certain, my wife and I were extraordinarily lucky to have this opportunity and to experience a culture so different, and at times so familiar, to our own.   I can only hope that good fortune allows us to return some day.

Our African Adventure – Wine Tasting and Stellenbosch

Graham Beck

Our adventure continued with a leisurely day spent traveling to Stellenbosch with several stops for wine tasting along the way.  Stellenbosch is located one of the finest, and perhaps most beautiful, wine regions in the world.   We had meant to start the day with a swim at a local water fall. But it was a grey, cool day and swimming didn’t seem as much fun as visiting several vineyards.

We drove through several small towns along our route and it seemed everyone had a vineyard.  Some large, others small – but grape growing dominated the area.  Even with the clouds, the mountains made for incredible scenery.

I can say honestly that we tasted amazing wines at every stop.   Graham Beck, however, had the very best sparkling wine (champagne) that we tasted on our trip.  You can find several of Graham Beck wines here in the States, at least here in New Jersey.

We purchased several bottles of Arabella wines, another beautiful location with great wines.  The vineyard was surrounded by pastures filled with horses.  We’ve searched and searched for Arabella wines here in New Jersey, but with no luck.  We managed to bring home a couple bottles, carefully packed in our suitcases, and have held onto one – saving it for a special occasion.

The clouds never relinquished their hold as we finished our drive to Stellenbosch.  The scenery was still amazing, but I would have loved to see these mountains against a blue sky!

We arrived at our destination, the Stellenbosch Hotel,  late in the afternoon.   Stellenbosch is a college town, not unlike many other quaint college towns found here in the States, with plenty of shops to explore.  We spent most of the following morning shopping for gifts for making our final drive to Cape Town.

Reminiscing about Ginger Beer

Earlier this year, I ran out of steam while posting about my amazing trip to South Africa.  For those interested in our final stops,  I’ll add a few more posts and photos of our final stops over the next few days.  In some respects, this was a lost summer for me – or it feels that way.  I was busy, but not with the things I normally do.  No hiking, or birding, and very little photography.   Things are turning around though and a recent post on another blogger’s site reminded me of a really good day in South Africa when I enjoyed, for the first time, ginger beer.

Homemade ginger beer is an easy to make and special treat.  Like rootbeer, ginger beer can be produced as a soft drink and served to children and adults alike.  Shortly after returning from South Africa, I started searching the web for recipes.  I found a few, here and there.  And then I read this post on Jackie Hill’s The Slowvelder blog and could resist the urge any longer.  Jackie’s recipe is simple and easy to make and the results are amazing!

Start by grating about 2 – 3 inches of fresh ginger root into a container large enough to accommodate about 5 quarts (or 5 liters) of water.  As with all of the best homemade recipes, the exact amount of ginger to use will vary by your taste.  Experiment with more or less until you get the result you’re looking for – I enjoy the ginger beer that mildly sweet with a slight spicy finish, and this amount of ginger root does the trick for me.

Next, add the zest of a lemon.  Careful not to add too much of the white pith, which can be bitter.  After zesting the lemon, squeeze the juice into the mix.

Three cups of sugar are added to the grated ginger root, lemon zest, and juice.  Once again, you can experiment with the total amount of sugar – add a little more or less depending on your taste.  Toss in a handful of raisins with the sugar.

Add 5 quarts (or liters) of water.  The first quart of water should be boiling, which will help quickly dissolve the sugar and begin releasing all the wonderful aromas of ginger and lemon – your kitchen is going to smell amazing!

After the liquid has cooled to slightly warmer than room temperature, add a packet of yeast, cover, and allow the mixture to sit in a warm place for 8 – 12 hours.  I elected to leave mine overnight.

The mixture should begin to bubble during the fermentation process.  If your batch doesn’t bubble, throw it away and start over!  This was mine after a night in a warm room.  Next, scoop out the biggest chunks, and then pour the liquid through cheesecloth or a clean washcloth.  I use clean 2-litter soda bottles, filled to leave about 3 inches of head room, to continue fermentation.  Store them in a warm place, away from direct sunlight, slowly releasing the pressure once or twice a day.  Open the bottles very, very slowly or, alternatively, be prepared to clean ginger beer from all nearby surfaces and change your clothing - you need to trust me on this step!  The longer you allow the fermentation to proceed, the stronger (higher alcohol content) the beer will become.  Again, experiment until you get the taste you want.  I start tasting small amounts of my ginger beer after 24 hours in the bottle and refrigerate when I get the taste I’m looking for – refreshing, slightly sweet with a mildly spicy finish.  Refrigeration all but stops the fermentation process.

Now comes the best part – enjoy your chilled ginger beer over ice.  Add a slice of lemon or lime, or nothing at all.  Ginger beer should keep for about a week once refrigerated.  For me, this is a little piece of South Africa I brought back to New Jersey – for good!  The taste takes me back immediately to that incredible country.  Now, I need to find an authentic peri-peri sauce recipe!!

And, finally, thank you Jackie for sharing your ginger beer recipe. Some day I would like to share a glass with you after a day exploring the bushveld around your game reserve!

Our African Adventure – Klein Karoo and Outshoorn

Let me begin with a giant “THANK YOU” to WordPress for featuring my Tsitsikamma post on Freshly Pressed.  This is my second time – my first Freshly Pressed page featured my photos of the 2010 winter soltice lunar eclipse - and I am thrilled to have been selected again.  And thank you to everyone for your kind comments – it really makes my day to read each and every one of them.

We left Tsitsikamma early the next morning and made our first stop at an overlook for the Knysna estuary.  Knysna is home to the most endangered seahorse in the world, the Knysna seahorse.   On this particular morning, fog and mist shouded the area – hiding most of the majestic cliffs overlooking the ocean.

After a while, the fog lifted and we got our first unobstructed views of the estuary.  It was a beautiful sight looking down from our perch onto the town below.

Before continuing our trip, we stopped at the East Head Cafe for breakfast and to enjoy the views from sea level.  

Knysna was just a beautiful from the Cafe as it was from the overlook.  We could have spent the entire day exploring, but we had a full day of travel ahead and the road was calling.   We were traveling through Klein Karoo, or Little Karoo – a semi-desert area of South Africa.  Our destination was Outshoorn, the ostrich capital of the world!

We made several stops along the way – as their were plenty of overlooks and rest areas along our route.  The region offered many amazing mountain views and, if you were lucky enough to look down, some lovely flowers too.  I don’t know the name of this flower – it grew in several areas along our route – and was unlike anything I had ever seen at home.

Our next stop was Cango Caves.  We took the tour, which was very interesting as much for the interesting rock formations as for the language we heard all around us.  This was the first area of our visit to South Africa where Afrikaans was widely spoken.  Afrikaans is, for the most part, Dutch mixed with a variety of other languages and is the first language for nearly 15% of South Africans.

Our next stop was an ostrich farm.  Outshoorn is the ostrich capital of the world – because there are numerous ostrich farms in the area.  We toured the farm, learned about the history and techiques of ostrich farming, and watched as other tourist participated in an ostrich race.

We finished our day at Housemartin Guest Lodge in De Rust – enjoying an amazing dinner prepared by the Lodge’s staff and then retiring to some of the very best accomodations we enjoyed on the entire trip.

The owners of Housemartin seemed to have antcipated every detail to increase their guest’s comfort including this pleasant little surprise, a small carafe of muscatel we found in our room.   The night was warm and a light rain was falling.  We sat outdoors on our room’s small porch, talking away the hours with our fellow travelers and enjoying the scent of limes growing on the nearby trees.

Our African Adventure – Tsitsikamma National Park

I took a few days away from blogging to compete in the New Jersey Audubon’s World Series of Birding.  My team finished a respectable 25th in a field of almost 60 birding teams and, most importantly, had a great time.    Now, though, I would like to return you to our African Adventure. 

Our next stop was Tsitsikamma National Park, a stunning coastal park found on South Africa’s Garden Route .  We arrived in the early afternoon and, lottery style, picked our room keys out of a brown paper bag.  This was the view we enjoyed from our cabin!

The coast at Tsitsikamma was very rugged and consisted primarilyof large rock outcrops.  This created some spectacular waves, as the Indian Ocean battered against the coast.  If you look closely, you can see two people exploring on the rocks – gives you a sense of how large the waves are that came crashing against the shore.

This was the view as we relaxed and enjoyed a few drinks at an outdoor bar.  We hoped to take a boat ride up the river, but rides were canceled due to troubles with the boat’s engine.  So, we sat and enjoyed the view.

The next morning we were surprised to find baboons walking around our cabin.  They were exploring garbage cans, trying to break into cars, and generally making a nuisance of themselves.  A group of rangers came along in a truck and attempted to run the baboon back into the woods, with only limited success.  This young fellow watched the fun from a safe perch.

Later than morning we took a hike to the river’s mouth.  We had heard that there were suspension bridges that gave amazing views of the river and ocean.  This was our first view as the trail emerged from the bush.

There were three bridges all together, suspended across the river and along the rocky shore.  We spent an hour or so exploring and hiking along the shore before heading back to our cabin.

We encountered this fellow on our way back through the bush.  This is a Rock Hydrax, a close cousin to the elephant.  These little fellows were usually found in large packs, appeared to be very social with each other, and would stare (unblinking) at us as we walked by.

After our morning hike, a group of us headed out for some lunch and shopping.  We picked a small outdoor cafe and enjoyed our first taste of ginger beer.  This homemade drink was cold and refreshing – really hit the spot.  We wandered from shop to shop and eventually ended up back at our cabin, tired and happy from our wonderful day at Tsitsikamma.

World Series of Birding – A Fundraising Appeal

Dear Friends,

 

I have joined with a group of my fellow citizen scientists to compete in this year’s “World Series of Birding”, a state-wide competition to identify as many bird species as possible in one 24-hour period throughout the State of New Jersey (USA).  More importantly, this competition provides us with an opportunity to raise funds for New Jersey Audubon Society (NJAS) and their important environmental conservation missions. 

 

You can learn more about the World Series of Birding at http://www.birdcapemay.org/wsob.shtml. 

 

Our team, the Uncommon Nighthawks, is competing and raising funds for the NJAS Citizen Science program!  So that you may learn more about our team, a team bio appears below.  There are two ways that you may donate to this important cause – you may pledge a fixed dollar amount or you may pledge an amount that is based on the number of bird species our team identifies.  We hope to identify between 150 – 180 bird species during the 24 hours of the competion.  All of the money raised, 100% of the funds raised by our team, are devoted to NJAS citizen science programs. 

 

Won’t you take a moment now and complete a pledge form?  To ensure that your donation is properly credited, write the words ”Donation for the NJAS Citizen Science progam” across the top of the form and make your check out to “New Jersey Audubon Society –  Citizen Science Program”.  Completed pledge forms may be e-mailed to the team captain, Gregory Cantrell at gregory_cantrell@yahoo.com or to Nellie Tsipoura at nellie.tsipoura@njaudubon.org.  Contributions should be mailed to  Nellie Tsipoura, Ph.D, Director of Citizen Science, New Jersey Audubon Society, Scherman-Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary, 11 Hardscrabble Road,Bernardsville, NJ 07924

 

 

Team Bio  – Meet the 2011 Uncommon Nighthawks!

 The 28th annual World Series of Birding, North America’s premier conservation event, will be held on Saturday, May 14, 2011.  This event has changed the birding landscape and raised over $8,000,000 for bird conservation. Every species found – every dollar raised preserves and protects critical bird habitat.

A small group of Citizen Scientist, the Uncommon Nighthawks, is competing and raising funds for the New Jersey Audubon Society’s Citizen Science program.  This year’s team is comprised of a mix of scientist who oversee these important programs and citizen scientist volunteers. 

 Dr. Nellie Tsipoura coordinates a number of studies that involve an army of volunteers throughout the state of NJ to monitor bird populations. In addition, she directs NJ Audubon’s urban ornithology research. Current ongoing projects include a study on foraging habitat use and behavior of egrets and herons in wetlands of the NY/NJ Harbor, as well as a seasonal migrant shorebird survey along coastal New Jersey. In research, Nellie strives to bridge measures of bird ecology and behavior with measures of habitat loss, pollution, and other human disturbances, and their potential effects.

Nellie earned her Ph.D. from Rutgers University for work on eco-physiological and hormonal aspects of wintering and migration in shorebirds. She has over 25 years of experience on bird ecology, behavior, and population biology on a variety of bird species in New York, New Jersey, Washington, Virginia, Georgia, Venezuela and Mexico. Prior to joining the NJ Audubon staff in 2004, the majority of her work involved ornithological research for non-profit organizations including National Audubon Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Wildlife Conservation Society. She has published numerous articles on shorebird ecology, heavy metal contaminants in birds and horseshoe crabs, as well as the effects of oiling on birds. She is also the co-author of the Harbor Heron Conservation Plan.

Dr. Kristin (Mylecraine) Munafo received a B.S. in Environmental Studies from the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from Rutgers University. Before joining New Jersey Audubon, Kristin worked as a postdoc at Ohio State University, studying population genetics of migratory and resident Canada Geese, and as a Research Biologist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, studying grassland birds.

Kristin joined New Jersey Audubon in 2008, and is currently a Project Coordinator for the Grassland Citizen Science project. This project is a cooperative effort between NJ Audubon and the NJ Endangered and Nongame Species Program, designed to monitor the abundance and distribution of grasslands bird populations on private lands enrolled in incentive programs, as well as assess the effectiveness of these programs. She is also involved in a variety of other Citizen Science projects, including the statewide Nightjar survey, and the Harbor Heron survey in the Meadowlands and Raritan Bay areas, as well as a variety of breeding and migration surveys in urban wetlands.

William Margaretta, President of the New Jersey State Safety Council, has been an avid birder for 35 years and a volunteer member of the Citizen Science program since 2005.  Bill has participated in numerous projects involving grassland, piedmont, and pineland habitats throughout the state.  In addition to his involvement in Citizen Science program, Bill is a volunteer member of USGS Breeding Bird Survey and participates in the national Audubon’s annual Christmas Bird Counts.

Thomas P. Smith is a retired science educator who is has been actively involved in outdoor pursuits for many years.  He has hiked and camped in many areas of the country and participated in an Earthwatch expedition to study tropical rain forests in Panama.  He is a volunteer with the NJ Audubon Society’s Citizen Science program conducting studies on grassland birds and herons.  He is a member of the Stream Monitoring Team from the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association in central Jersey sampling the water quality in Peddie Lake, Hightstown for the past six years.

Steve Mattan is a manager in software development for PayChoice.  He has been birding for approximately ten years, ever since becoming “curious about some little yellow birds I saw on a family vacation.”  Steve is an active volunteer for NJAS’s Rancocas Nature Center and participates in several Citizen Science programs.  

 Gregory Cantrell is the Assistant Director for Environmental Health & Safety at Princeton University and a Citizen Scientist volunteer since 2006.  Like other team members, Greg has participated in numerous grassland, piedmont, pineland, and nightjar surveys throughout the state, Heron nesting surveys for the NJ-DEP, has participated as a volunteer in the USGS Breed Bird Survey and the Christmas Bird Count.  In addition to being an avid birder, he enjoys numerous other outdoor activities including nature photography, hiking, and the study of unique plants and animals found in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens.

Our African Adventure – Addo Elephant National Park

Our next stop was Addo Elephant National Park, established in 1931 when only 16 elephants remained in the area.  There are now over 550 elephants living in this protected habitat, along with lions, buffalo, rhino, hyena, and a variety of antelope and zebra.  We arrived in the early afternoon and took a ride through the park.

Our first ride through the Park was very successful – we found ostrich, zebra, and elephants – lots and lots of elephants.  We remained safely in our vehicle as the majestic creatures walked right by our windows.  Apparently, the animals don’t associate people with vehicles, or visa versa, and we were able to get amazing views.

We took a night-time ride through the park and got our only looks at hyena.   It was very dark and this was our best photo of them as they ran back and forth by our vehicle.

We were up early the next morning for an sunrise ride through the park.  We didn’t know what to expect, but the Park did not disappoint.

Lions were just finishing a nighttime meal and were relaxing right next to the road.  Yes, we were really this close!  As we looked around the vehicle, we also found several jackals circling the kill.  They were waiting patiently for the lions to retreat to the bush so that they could rush in for a quick bite.

Addo was an incredible experience – lots of animals and beautiful landscape.   The South African national park system can be proud of their efforts here to not only save the elephants, but also create a protected habitat for several other species of animals.

Our African Adventure – The Wild Coast

The morning after our amazing dinner in Malealea dawned cloudy and cold.  We had an early breakfast, by candle light, and headed off for our next destination – the Wild Coast.  After nearly 10 hours and several hundred kilometers (the last 70 of which were on a dirt road), we arrived at the Mazeppa Bay Hotel in time for dinner and bed. 

With no planned activities for the day, we set off the following morning to explore. Our hotel was set among a large grove of banana palms and was a beautiful sight from the beach. 

The Indian Ocean was a beautiful sight in the morning sun. Karen and I removed our shoes and waded along in the surf.

We had been warned that we would not have the beach to ourselves and that the other beachgoers out did us in both size and numbers. We found them almost immediately – cattle – lots and lots of cattle shared the beach. We found them almost everywhere as we hiked up and down the beach. While we didn’t have any problems, a couple of our travel mates reported a less-than-friendly bull had taken exception to their use of a beach and had, ummmmm, encouraged them to move on.

We spent most of the morning exploring a rocky island not far from the hotel. It was a beautiful location accessible only by a swinging bridge.  To get to the main part of the island required passing through a large boulder field. It was slow going but the views made the trip worthwhile.

 

Looking back toward the hotel from the highest point on the island – beautiful!

We noticed several fishermen along the way. Only later did we learn that the Mazeppa Bay was known for outstanding shark fishing. Later in the evening we would meet several folks who were there just for the fishing, and the bar had several photos of large sharks that had been taken just off coast.

We were in search of smaller game and spent most of the day exploring several tidal pools found among the rocky shoreline. The coast reminded me a bit of Maine, with large boulders and rocky alcoves – and tidal pools everywhere.

As we walked back to the Hotel, passing through the Banana Palm grove, we noticed movement in the trees. We were being watched closely by Vervet monkeys - a small family lived near the Hotel and we would see them jumping from tree to tree or, at times, running along the grounds.

Mazeppa Bay was a beautiful location and having a free day with no planned activities was just the right touch.  We settled in for the evening tired and a little sunburnt, but very relaxed and happy.

Our African Adventure – Dinner in Malealea

Our last night in Malealea we were invited to a villager’s home for dinner.  We joined most of our fellow travelers at sundown, flashlights in hand, for the walk to his home.  Arriving in total darkness, we startled a young horse that was sleeping near the hut as we nearly stepped on him.   The tidy hut was small and had ten chairs, neatly arranged in a U-shape, occupying about half of the available space.  A bed occupied the other half.

The hut was dimly lit and it was difficult to make out faces in the candle light. An old man sat by the door, who the villager introduced simply as his father; he then left the hut to fetch our meals, which were being prepared by his mother and sister in an adjoining hut.

The old man warmly welcomed us to his village and asked if our stay had been pleasant. He was 90 years old, he told us, and wanted to share some of the history of his people. He pointed to his blanket and told us that white men had first brought “soft blankets” to his village as a gift to the chief. The chief liked the blankets so much, as they were softer and warmer than the animal skins his people wore, that he told the white men to bring more blankets for all his people. They did and now everyone had soft blankets and didn’t need to wear animal skins anymore.

Soon, the villager returned with our meals. He gave each of us a small white bowl that held boiled chicken, wild spinach, and papa.  Spoons were passed around the room and we ate in silence.  When the old man finished with his meal, his son carefully removed his bowl and gently cleaned his hands with a warm, wet cloth.  He coughed a little (a cold, he told us) and resumed his story.  Long ago, there had been cannibals living in the mountains around his village and the people were afraid.  The first chief, a wise man, sent a messenger to the cannibals and asked them to come speak with him.  When the cannibals arrived, the chief promised that if they stopped eating his people and moved into the village, he would give them all the beef they could eat, forever.  The cannibals thought about this for a while and then agreed to move to the village.  The chief kept his promise and gave them cattle and land.  And so the cannibals’ descendants were still living in the village to this very day.

Finally, he thanked us for coming to his home and for sharing his food.  He was old and tired, but also very happy that black people and white people could sit together and share a meal.  He was confident that we were more alike than different and that our children would enjoy a prosperous future, together.  We left his home, one by one, as his warmly took our hands and wished us a safe journey.

It was a moonless night and there were no lights on anywhere in the village .  We looked up to behold the Milky Way stretching across the sky from one horizon to the other.  It was breathtakingly beautiful.

The small and large Magellanic Clouds were high in the sky, as was the Southern Cross.  We stopped and marveled at the sky – none of us had ever been in a place that had no light pollution.  We were seeing the sky the way our early ancestors had seen it, before the Industrial Revolution and electric lights destroyed the night sky.

We walked back to the Lodge – flashlights pointing forward while we all looked up – and said our “good nights”.  The generator was still running, so a small group of us stopped by the bar for a night cap.  We raised our glasses in a toast to the first chief and his wisdom in dealing the cannibals, and then marveled at the changes the old man had experienced in his life.  Soon, the generator was turned off and we returned to our huts in darkness.  I lay in bed that night trying to absorb the events of the evening and began thinking about how similar we all are, no matter if we live in urban New Jersey or a small dark village in Lesotho.  We live our lives –  have children and hope and dream that their lives will be a little bit better than ours.   We share meals with friends, a drink or two, and, if we’re really lucky, sometimes we notice the wonders of the night sky.

A small footnote – unlike all other posts on this blog, the photos used in this post are not mine, but publicly available images found on other websites.  I used them in hopes that they would help illustrate the mood and wonder of that evening in ways that my words cannot.

Our African Adventure – More About Malealea

In my earlier post, LeKuo had given our group an informative tour of his village.  We returned later in the day to visit the village’s preschool and the Bathoso Cultural Museum.  LeKue had explained during our earlier visit that all children attended preschool, beginning at age 2, and then moved on to elementary school at age 6.  The government provided seven years of schooling, after which parents were expected to pay for any additional schooling their children might receive.  Our group leader, Emma, added that this was very common throughout Africa – costs associated with education beyond elementary school were the responsibility of a child’s parents and only those who could afford it received a high school education.

The children here were as interested and amused by us as we them. They smiled and sang songs to us in both English and their native language, Sotho.

As we left the preschool to continue to our next destination, we noticed the older children walking down the road, singing loudly and carrying large heavy bags. We learned through our guide that the children were busy planting a garden at the elementary school and the bags were filled with the manure that would help fertilize their crops.

We continued through the village, finally arriving at the Basotho Cultural Museum. We waited as our guide went off to fetch the Museum’s curator. We waited several minutes until she arrived and gave us a brief tour of the buildings and small displays scattered about the grounds. She talked about native plant used for food and medicine, including aloe used in water to settle an upset stomach and a similar plant, called pig’s ears, that could be applied to itchy skin.

This was a talisman used by early tribes people to protect the village from lightning or other severe weather that could damage buildings, destroy crops, or kill livestock or people. While the tribes people practiced a form of Christianity now, many still believed in the power of these traditional religious objects to protect them and similar talismen could still be found near homes throughout the village.

Here she modeled animal skins that were traditionally worn by men to protect them from the cold while they tended their herds high in the mountains. She explained that animal skins are now only worn by young boys who were participating in the rites of passage to adulthood.

As we walked back to the Lodge, we encountered a young man dressed in traditional Basotho fashion. He is wearing a blanket, peaked cap (woven to resemble a mountain peak), and gum boots. Several of the men throughout the village, including those who worked at our Lodge, dressed in this fashion.

We arrived back at the Lodge and stopped at the local coffee shop for a relaxing cup of coffee and to discuss everything we had just learned and experienced. A group of young men (members of a local church choir) sang for Lodge’s guests as the sun sank toward the western horizon.

Later that evening, we planned to return to the village one last time for dinner – and for an experience that I will remember forever.