We made it to the Zambezi Queen after negotiating three border crossings (South Africa to Zimbabwe by air; Zimbabwe to Botswana by bus; Botswana to Namibia by boat) – it was a long day of travel.

I have many, many photos to share, but connectivity is a challenge – T-Mobile has no coverage in Namibia, and the ship’s Internet is one 4G signal shared by all of us, so I will just post a couple of photos for now and save the rest for when I have actual connectivity.

I hope to be able to post a few photos every day, but I make no guarantees – this post has taken two hours to upload!

We saw our first giraffe on the way from Victoria Falls to the Botswana border. Everyone was excited, but our driver told us that on the return trip we’ll probably say “oh, just another giraffe”.

We saw our first elephants on the boat taking us from Botswana into Namibia. Our guide, Gibson, told us that by the end of the trip, we will just delete these photos because they really weren’t that good. We’ll see….

It took a long time to cross into Namibia. The border guard watched something different on the paperwork then our guide had expected. It got done, but it took a long time. You’re not supposed to take photos at the border, but these kids were playing near the border post and how could I resist?

Eventually, the border formalities were satisfied, and we were allowed to get back in the tenders and sail the two minutes to the Zambezi Queen. It was a welcome sight!

They welcomed us on board with a drink and food! It had been a long time since our last meal. The inevitable safety briefing followed, and the Queen started sailing down the Chobe River. It didn’t take long before we saw a herd of Cape Buffalo, the most dangerous of the Big Five.

Our trip director, Delia, had warned us that today would be a character-building day. She was right. But our reward was waiting for us here on the ship. We had a lovely sunset with a beautiful afterglow.

After a nice dinner, we sat down in the lounge to edit photos. We haven’t yet seen a springbok, but the barman tried to fill the gap.

This Springbok is made with Amarula Cream liquor and creme de menthe. I hope we’ll see the four-legged variety before we go home!

Our day started with a trip to Robben Island, which was used as a prison by the Dutch, the British, and the South African governments; its most notable prisoner was Nelson Mandela, and our guide today was his guard, Christo Brand.

We boarded the good ship Krotoa at the Nelson Mandela Gateway to Robben Island and were quickly on our way for the half-hour trip. They showed a very interesting video on the way out, giving the history of Robben Island since about 30,000 BCE and taking us right up to the 1980s. I did manage to pull myself away from the video long enough to enjoy the view of Cape Town and Table Mountain.

We boarded a bus to tour the island. Our guide was a man named Thabo (which means “Happiness” in Southern Sotho, one of South Africa’s eleven official languages) – he had come to work at Robben Island after it became a museum.

Robben Island, in addition to having been a prison for centuries, also served as a leper colony from 1846 to 1931; our first stop was at the Leper’s Graveyard.

All of the buildings used for the leper colony were destroyed after the colony was closed down except for the Good Shepherd Church.

The guards and their families worshiped at the Garrison Church.

We stopped for refreshments and enjoyed a great view of Table Mountain.

Then it was back on the bus to see more of the island; there were lots of birds and other animals in the veldt.

There’s been a lighthouse on Robben Island for a long time; the current lighthouse is automatically controlled.

One of the early prisoners on Robben Island was Sayed Adurohman Moturu, the Prince of Madura. He was exiled to the island in the mid 1740s and died there in 1754. The Moturu Kramat was built in his honor in 1969 and is considered a holy site for Muslims.

Thabo left us when we reached the prison.

We were joined by Sipho Msomi, who had been a prisoner on Robben Island from 1984-1988 (he was 22 when he was imprisoned); Christo had been assigned to his cellblock and the two of them had become friends during their time at the Museum.

Sipho pointed out some of the leaders of the anti-apartheid movement who had been imprisoned on Robben Island.

He took us into the cellblock and told us what life was like there. The prisoners had secret ways to communicate (including putting messages in tennis balls), and, over time, a little more freedom, including being able to compete in sports. Christo told us that the guards trained the prisoners they were guarding and bet on their teams!

“Petty apartheid” covered a lot of arbitrary restrictions on non-whites, and it existed even in the prison. Blacks were fed less well than Asians and Coloreds – but they had to work as hard.

Christo and Sipho told us stories of the interactions between guards and prisoners – fascinating and frightening, but also hopeful.

Prisoners could receive mail from the outside, but not much, and it was heavily censored.

Our final stop in the prison was a quick visit to Nelson Mandela’s cell (he was kept apart from the general prison population) for a photo op; Christo took the picture, but I still think it qualifies as a cell-fie.

On our way back to the dock to board the Krotoa for the trip back to the mainland, we saw a few World War II artifacts, like this pillbox.

When I saw this sign at the entrance to the museum, I was afraid it had been erected by the guards (much like the signs leading into Nazi death camps). I was happy to learn that the museum created it; everyone I met there was proud of the work that the museum is doing, and I was very happy to have gone there.

We returned to Cape Town and walked through the V&A Waterfront to meet our bus. Table Mountain was out in all its glory, and I couldn’t resist another photo.

After another terrific lunch (this one at Karibou in the Victoria Mall), we boarded the bus for a tour of Bo-Kaap, the former Malay Quarter of Cape Town. Our guide told us about its history and showed us around; today, it’s known for its brightly colored houses and shops, like these.

Our final stop for the day was at Table Mountain – specifically, at the lower station of the Table Mountain Cable Car. The cable car is closed for annual maintenance until the end of the month, so we couldn’t ride it, but we could see where it would have taken us.

There were a few people walking up or down the mountain trail (it takes about 90 minutes each way), but I was happy with the view from the station.

And then it was back to the hotel to pack and prepare for an early departure tomorrow for the trip to the Zambezi Queen.

We didn’t have to leave Stellenbosch until almost 11, so we took advantage of our freedom to wander around town a little bit and do a little shopping. And then it was off to our final wine tasting of the pre-trip at the Waterford Estate. The weather was still iffy, but we made do.

I liked this idea for reusing corks.

We were seated and our host, Dylan, poured the first three wines.

They call their tasting the SALT experience. It took place in two phases – the first paired three wines with small bites (salmon, beef teriyaki, and a pear tart), and the second paired three wines with various chocolates. It was interesting, pleasant, and I managed to restrain myself from buying any chocolate. Instead, we ordered wine to be shipped home (their shipping was MUCH more reasonable than Boschendal’s – $20 for four bottles instead of at least $100).

Waterford has some wildlife on their property – or at least some geese, and we couldn’t resist another photo. It’s much easier to like geese when you’re not living near them.

We left Waterford well-satisfied and returned to the bus for the trip back to Cape Town and the Cape Grace Hotel. We finally got to see the local mountains, Helderberg behind the main building and Simonsberg while we were driving.

Not everyone in South Africa is living well – we passed “informal housing” on the road, where people are jammed cheek by jowl. They have satellite dishes and electricity, but not officially.

Our hotel is at the V&A Waterfront, which, in addition to being a tourist area, is still a working waterfront, complete with dry dock.

The view from our room is very pleasant; once more, we did not make it to the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art.

There are rhinos all over the Waterfront to raise awareness of poaching and the threats to the species.

We went into the Watershed building with our friend Wendy – she took us to “Leather Pyrography” and showed us the piece they’d bought to have shipped home. The artist was hard at work on his next creation.

We met our Tour Director, Delia, who will take us through the next phases of the trip. Tomorrow morning, we go to the Cape of Good Hope – so much for sleeping late!

It rained all day today; fortunately, we spent most of the day in wineries enjoying a different kind of liquid.

Our day started at Cavalli Wine Estate; it’s an interesting place. The owners are interested in horses, art, and wine – all of the wines have horsey names (like Colt Cabernet Sauvignon), there’s an art gallery on premises, and of course there’s wine.

We tasted six wines at Cavalli, and I have to say we weren’t particularly impressed by any of them. The Unoaked Chenin Blanc and the Colt Cabernet Sauvignon were the best, and I’d happily drink either, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to find them.

The tasting room was surrounded by cellars containing wines for their restaurant (all their own label), as well as a room with the owners’ collection. They’re into big bottles.

The art gallery was interesting – the art was quite modern, in keeping with everything else on the property.

From Cavalli, we drove half-an-hour through Stellenbosch to Boschendal Wine Estate (founded in 1685, so it’s a newcomer compared to Groot Constantia, but still quite well-established by my standards) for lunch and more wine tasting. Much more.

We were lucky and there was a break in the rain as we walked to the Werf Restaurant. Our guide, Mark, explained that in Dutch times, one of the few permissible signs of wealth was the gable over the doors – a flamboyant gable with lots of decoration proclaimed that the owners were in the one percent.

The original plan was to eat outside, but the weather made that infeasible. Instead, we had the wine from the Picnic Under the Oaks tasting combined with the food from the Sharing Plates Menu.

I’ll let the photos of the wines speak for themselves – all of the wines were very good; the whites cost R69 (about $4.20) and would easily stack up with $20 wines at home.

The only red included in the tasting was their “baby Bourdeaux blend”, the Lanoy, which cost a full R80 ($4.80). It, too, was very good.

As a bonus, we got to taste their top reds (Manumission and Grande Syrah), which are no longer in their catalog but were available for about R700 ($42) each.

We liked the wine so much that a friend and I considered buying a case and having it shipped home – but the shipping would have cost about four times what the wine cost, so we gave up on the idea! Wine.com carries a few of the wines we tasted, so there might yet be some Boschendal wines in our future.

We left during another break in the rain and strolled across the parking lot to our bus. Boschendal is a very pretty place with lots of shops and restaurants on premises. If I lived here, I’d love to come back and explore it in depth.

On the drive back to the hotel, we got to see a tiny bit of the mountains surrounding Stellenbosch – maybe we’ll see more on the way back to Cape Town tomorrow.

We returned to the hotel and took a quick walk through Stellenbosch. There’s no load shedding planned tonight, which is good, because Dave Natale has scheduled tonight for our official Wine Tour cocktail party and dinner here at the hotel restaurant, and it’ll be much better if we can see what we’re eating and drinking!