3/5 thru 3/6

Today, we visited the Kirstenbosch Gardens in Capetown. Such a beautiful place with thousands of plants, trees and shrubs from all over SA. We took a guided tour on a "golf cart" and it was so informative. I took many beautiful pictures of this very beautiful place. We then drove on to Veldrift, on the way to Springbok in the Kalahari Region. We are now in the Northern Cape, on the Atlantic Ocean. We had lunch at Sunset Seafood in Veldrift. We had mussels, a seafood potjie (seafood cooked in a black iron pot) and hake thermidor (fish) with a cheese sauce. It was so good and the entire meal was only $24. We drove through mountainous, rocky, desolate, but beautiful scenery and arrived at Springbok (120 km from the Namibia border-the place in which Angelina and Brad Pitt had their baby) around 7:00 p.m. We found a nice two bedroom chalet at Kleinplasie Gastehuis for only R460 ($70) for the night. We ate dinner at the Tauren Steak House. We had two steaks and beer-Doug's was a 1 1/2 lb (750 gram) T-Bone for only $12. Total bill was only $30. We also used the computer at the restaurant office to check our emails. Out in the middle of nowhere, there are only so many Internet resources! It was amazing how it felt like any small town in the USA, but instead we were in the middle of nowhere in South Africa! The landscape in this area looks very much like the Australian outback. The population of Springbok is 10,400. The name of the town is also the name of a deer-like animal called the springbok. In the springtime, this area has thousands of flowers in bloom in the desert and people come from all over SA to see the spectacle.

We left Springbok on Tuesday morning and headed toward the Namibian border to Port Nolloth on the Atlantic Ocean. At this small coastal town, they dive to the ocean floor for diamonds. Lonely Planet mentioned to be careful of buying phony diamonds offered to you in this town and that government agents were stationed here to arrest you if you did try to buy a diamond. Only DeBeers of Africa can buy raw diamonds and the prices are fixed. I think Doug took me to the one place on earth where they didn't have any souvenirs! We drove across the Kalarhari region (a barren desert) to Grobershopp. We had lunch at a nice restaurant along the way-Vergelegen Guest House. By the way, our credit union cash card is now working. We found out it was the bank machine, not our card, that didn't work. So, we have been able to get all the money we need in Rands from ATM machines across South Africa. We drove hard today and late into the night. We found a small B&B outside Grobershoop called Grape Vine Guest House. Two rooms for only R400 ($55) and very nice. We weren't too hungry and nothing was open in the small town except a small grocery store. The guest house offered us steaks so we bought some rolls to make sandwiches and potato chips. The staff at the guest house prepared more for us than we wanted-salad, sauces, etc. They were very hospitable. We sat on the patio, under the stars til 9:00 p.m., chatting with the lady who owns the B&B and another guest. We learned the opinions of both of these Afrikaners regarding SA politics, but we soon moved on to other topics and enjoyed a good meal in the countryside under the stars.