August 8

{It looks as if I failed to publish my July 27 post from The Great Zimbabwe. I fixed that tonight.}

A very dull day today walking, walking, walking around Pretoria and its suburbs. It's a very ordinary city, which, I think, is to its credit. I saw no abject poverty as in Harare or Johannesburg. I saw a few White folks walking, more than in JoBurg but fewer than Capetown. I saw lots of wealthy White homes in the hills surrounding the city, all with their electric fences and barbed wire, just like Capetown's matching burbs. I saw a few homeless people sleeping on the streets, about the same number as I'd observe in a similar jaunt in Oakland. I saw thousands of hip young professional-looking residents living in neat high rises. In fact Pretoria very much looks like the city that Jerry Brown envisioned when he became mayor of Oakland: dense conglomerations of apartments and condo's that support restaurants and theaters and a vivid city life.
Today was my last full day in Southern Africa. I haven't had time to reflect on the past 48 days but perhaps I should begin that process.

My favorite places:
1. Bulawayo, Zimbabwe....a small city in a wrecked country yet somehow this place seemed more welcoming than any place I've visited in recent years. There's something about these small cities (Savankhet, Laos; Malatya, Turkey; Chichicastenengo, Guatemala; Cienfuegos, Cuba) that makes them inviting to me.
2. Capetown, South Africa....a wealthy tourist town with great weather, what's not to like.
3. Solitaire, Namibia.....population 12, with one bakery serving the best apple strudel in the world, camel rides, in the middle of nowhere.
4. The Okavango Delta, Botswana.....canoeing amongst elephants and crocodiles was fun.

Tomorrow it is on to New York.

August 6

My posts have been dull of late largely because I've been doing so much moving about. I'm too tired to put down anything thoughtful. Today is no exception. I spent a good day, but a full day, moving from Gaborone to Pretoria in South Africa. I think I'm going to like this place but for now all I could manage was to get here and find a place to sleep. I started at 7:30 a.m. with a taxi trip to the Gaborone bus depot. I found the minivan to Pretoria but it took four hours for us to get 12 souls to fill the bus. Once that was taken care of things went smoothly. The border crossing into South Africa was easy and we managed the trip to Pretoria in six leisurely hours. There's a spirit of comradery on those little buses that you don't get anywhere else.
I walked for about a half hour in Pretoria seeking a hotel mentioned in Lonely Planet. I never found the exact place but did stumble upon a decent bed & breakfast for $42/night. I expect to stay here for the remaining two days of my African adventures. I have some things to say about Botswana but I'm too spent to do it now.