Sunday, May 7
it is only +4 outside here this morning at 0630. No wonder it is freezing in the room with the air conditioning working away. I searched the room several times looking for the thermostat but couldn't locate it because it is up quite high on the wall and is also the exact colour of the wall. You can imagine how stupid I felt when the maintenance person came up and walked straight to it. Oh well a little embarrassment in order to get warm isn't too high a price to pay.
I forgot to mention the art/craft market when I was discussing Soweto yesterday. The sellers were set up along the road outside of the second museum waiting for the tour buses. Like many such markets there were a great many copies of the same thing, not doubt mass produced but there also quite a number of original works, particularly serpentine sculptures. Some of the things were quite nice. I was intrigued and tempted by a number of small sculptures made from woven grass or reeds and probably would have bought a couple if it wasn't for the luggage problem. The sellers were all very friendly and not overly aggressive. Only one really tried to get me to buy something even after I told him why I couldn't. He started quoting me a price of 29 Rand, dropped it to 20 and finally to 10 (about $2.00 Canadian). I wouldn't have bought that one at any price but it was interesting to get a sense of how much one might reasonably bargain.
At dinner last night I was told that the term "Blacks" is not considered derogatory here but I am not totally convinced. I can't bring myself to use the term. My father always used it but never in a complimentary way so I will c0ntinue to avoid it whenever I am able.
One of last night's camera problems has somehow resolved itself but unfortunately it was not my big camera. Any slim hope I have for that one, and all of the lenses that go with it, now rest with David Cardinal the professional photographer who is leading the safaris in Botswana. I am not counting on anything. If he can't fix it and if I can arrange it I could leave an awful lot of weight behind here and pick it up just before I head home on May 29. If he can't fix it I am afraid that my photography efforts will diminish greatly as I don't have any additional telephoto lenses for the other two cameras. One should never get one's hopes up too high as Murphy's Law will jump up and bite you every time. Looking at the positive, I do still have two cameras and even if they go I will still have the experience.
Now onward to the repacking in preparation for the short transfer to "The Grace" a hotel in downtown Johannesburg where I will meet with the rest of the group this evening.
The Grace and the Group
Another first! A hotel that offers you a glass of sherry to sip on while you register. Pretty classy. I wish I could say that my luck was changing but sadly I cannot. When I got to my room and set up my computer once again I could not get power anywhere on one side of the room. Deja vu with maintenance people parading in and out. I think that I have finally determined that it is my power bar that is causing the problem when I try to use it without a transformer. So I won't be doing that again. We finally got all of that sorted out and I tried to access the internet but could not because the system wouldn't accept the user id and password. Only now did I figure out that because I was reading the password sideways I was using gracehotel19 when it should have been gracehotel9. From the side it looked like 19. Good grief!
Continuing the classiness of the hotel even the toilet paper roll is sealed with a seal labelled "The Grace". The room is small but nicely appointed and comfortable. The elevators are painfully slow. Overall it feels as if I am in someone's mansion from the early 1900's. Service is great and the staff are most helpful and attentive.
I went for a walk through the Rooftop Flea Market and managed to find some clippers so there won't be the Wild Man from Borneo look forthcoming after all. LOL I didn't see a great deal that really caught my interest but then it was only a cursory overview. One thing that did catch my eye was the spices but I won't take a chance bringing those back trough Customs. I didn't see any luggage there so will have to look somewhere else if I decide to buy another suitcase for the return trip. For lunch I had some grilled beef and rice and then some prawn chop suey. I don't know if it was lunch of last night's dinner at Lesedi but something is affecting me in a way I won't bother describing. Immodium time I think.
When I got back from the market I had a short nap, got up and got ready for the group meeting. My information said that we were to meet in the lobby at 6:20 for a 6:30 meeting. Apparently I missed something because at 6:00 I got a call saying that the group was waiting for me in the board room. Strike one. I apologized of course but one of the leaders (Steve) said they decided to start early because everyone was here. In the course of the individual introductions I mentioned my main camera problem and David Cardinal agreed to have a look it. He did but doesn't know what the problem is though he is trying tonight to recover any images left on the disk. Plan B is that I will leave the camera with the people here who will take it Nikon to see if it can be repaired quickly. Plan C is to see if I can get a loaner or rent a body somewhere. After discussing these options I came upstairs to drop off my book and use the facilities and was here less than ten minutes. When I got downstairs I was told that they had just left. Obviously no one counted heads. They had to be called back to pick me up. Strike two! The group meeting was ok but I found it rather intimidating as I seem to be the least experienced of the group and only one of two for whom this is the first trip to Africa. Some have been on four or five safaris with this group before and so form a bit of an inner circle. So far I don't feel as if I am going to fit in very well. I will be sharing a tent with a professional photographer and one of the group leaders (Dana) whom I have yet to meet. That could be very instructive or.... There is a couple from near Kelowna, a couple from Florida (his name is Gary), a single guy (Sam) from New York City and that is as much as I can remember at the moment.
We ate dinner at a restaurant called, I think, The Meat Company. It is a huge place with at least four levels. I was hoping that we would eat outside but no such luck. We went four floors underground! It was very busy, very noisy, very slow and inefficient. The food was tasty but so heavily spiced that it was difficult to tell what you were eating because all you could taste was marinade or spices. I had an appetizer of carpaccio of springbok and a main course of Ostrich. I originally ordered an appetizer of Kudu but they were sold out so had to switch to the springbok. It took forever to get the food and the orders came at different times for everyone with some people waiting until almost everyone else was finished. Before the meal a staff member came around with a pitcher, a bowl and a towel and you had to hold your hands over the bowl while she poured water over them. Another first.
We received news tonight that the camp we supposed to go to tomorrow was completely destroyed by a windstorm yesterday so we will be staying at a hastily constructed replacement that wont have the luxuries or services that we would ordinarily have had. The tents will be on the ground instead of raised and in place of flush toilets there may be holes in the ground. Obviously they are scrambling to get things set up for our arrival tomorrow afternoon. My luck continues.... It can only get better.... Now there is a real case of optimism! Listening to David Cardinal talk about all of the things you have to consider when photographing wild life I feel even more like a rank amateur than I did before. Add the camera problems and my self esteem has taken a severe nose dive to be sure. Oh well on we trek....
Up bright and early tomorrow morning ready to leave the hotel at 7:30. This will definitely be my last connection for the next two weeks. With luck I will be able to connect on the 21st before I leave for Namibia on the 22nd.
Stay tuned.