The Cohen-Frankel Safari: The Inlaws Have Landed

Hi all,

In December, after much anticipation and planning, Adam's parents, Judy and Stan, flew from Morgantown, West Virgina, via some crazy route involving Europe and much sought after business-class seats, to South Africa to visit us. It was a great way to end our first year over here.

Showing few signs of jet lag, we quickly shuttled them out to Lucy's school (the American International School of Johannesburg, Pretoria Campus) for Lucy's end of term festival celebrating all the places the kids are from.

Her class did a march of nations. Lucy demonstrated America's fondness for informality by wearing red, white and blue in the form of t-shirts and shorts. (It was the height of summer, mind you.) Her good friend Emelie, marching in front of her and representing Sweden, took it a bit more seriously. (Rumor has it her costume came from IKEA and included cryptic instructions and an Alan wrench.)

Here's a map of where the kids in Lucy's kindergarten class are from. (Three more joined in Jan for the second term, including a girl from India and another from Japan, and one American, her friend Kennedy, left. The diversity is great, but it's also hard to see kids that Lucy likes leave for home or onto new posts.)

Another day in Pretoria we toured Freedom Park, a very interesting collection of buildings, monuments and outdoor spaces that (according to the brochure)"...narrates the story of South Africa’s pre-colonial, colonial, apartheid, and post-apartheid history and heritage, spanning a period of 3.6 billion years of humanity, to acknowledge those that contributed to the freedom of the country." (See its site.)

Lucy takes charge of plotting our route around Freedom Park (which sits atop a hall overlooking Pretoria).

The protea flowers were in bloom. This is the national flower and a dramatic one at that. (It reminds me of fancy flower arrangements at bar mitzvahs of years past.)

Noah shows off his pride for his adopted nation

Judy admits to being slightly jet-lagged. "What time is it? I love this place but can I take a nap now?"

We follow a boardwalk that loops around the hilltop, overlooking the city.

We get a great view of downtown Pretoria with the stately Union Buildings in the back.

These buildings house the South Africa's president office, so they're like the White House (except the president doesn't live there). They were featured early in the film "Invictus" when Francois Pienaar (Matt Daemon) goes to visit Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman).

We also spot the new high-speed train, the Gautrain, that travels between Pretoria to Johannesburg and also to the airport. (I still haven't ridden it--tsk, tsk--but it's getting great reviews. Unfortunately I've heard the ticket price is too high for many South Africans to afford.)

Lucy took this picture of the boys in her life.

Go South! (Off to Cape Town)

The Cohens aren't ones to sit still, though here I caught them in the act -- sharing a South African hard cider while looking out at Cape Town's Table mountain.

Lucy practices her tai chi

Noah enjoys the beach, with a clear view of Table Mountain at left,
and Lion's head (the pointed peak) and Signal Hill (far right mound) at right.

No trip to CT would be complete without going up Table Mountain. We were lucky to have a number of clear days because often the mountain is covered by low lying clouds which locals call the "table cloth."

The gondola slowly turns as it travels upwards, giving you a 360 degree view of the city.

Here's a view of Lion's Head. You can see Robben Island off to the "mid right" (left of the three cables), where Nelson Mandela and other freedom fighters were jailed during Apartheid.

The Safari ventures skyward.
(Noah practically stole this balloon from another kid. He was definitely more interested in it than the view of Cape Town.)

Lucy makes a new friend

Where the heck are you taking us?!
(We hiked around the top of Table Mountain for a bit, but it was hot up there.)

Adam convinces me to walk down the mountain, while the grandparents and Lucy return via the gondola. I'm not sure why it looks like I'm going to chuck my camera bag at him, but it might be because I predict my future aching knees.

As we start our descent, Noah decides this is the perfect time for a nap.

Later that day, we struggle to get Lucy out of the water as twilight descends.

Noah tries to befriend a dog we meet by the beach.

But then quickly moves on to practice his Superman moves.

Judy - "Stan! Grab Noah for Pete's Sake!"
(The shabby view from Stan and Judy's hotel room.)

Noah works more on his Superman moves.

Another day we drove up to Stellenbosch, one of South Africa's noted wine growing regions. (It's about a 30 minute drive from Cape Town.)

We check out Asara, a really beautiful winery. Our friends liked this place so much, they named their daughter "Asara." (Hmm... Maybe we should have gone for "Mogen David Cohen-Frankel."

That night we ate a restaurant with live music and a huge buffet with South African and other African-influenced dishes. While it's a tourist place, for sure, it's got a lot going for it. It's set up as a collection of small areas, many under tents, where you can eat and the kids can run around.

One day Adam went with Judy and Stan to tour Robben Island and I took the kids to the Cape Town Aquarium. Lucy tried to find Nemo.

Back at our apartment, the kids watched some kids program in Zulu. Neither seemed to mind.

Cape Town Mermaid

Another day we headed out to the peninsula and stopped at Muizenburg Bay, which is known for its painted beach huts. Sharks unfortunately "graze" on surfers fairly often, but the water's so cold we mostly stuck to the sand.

Of course we had to introduce Judy and Stan to the local African penguin population.

Noah tried to talk one into coming home with us.

The whole gang at Boulder's Beach (home of the penguins)

Mother and Son

Later that day we headed out to the Cape of Good Hope, which is part of a beautiful loop you can drive in a day from Cape Town. It really is spectacularly beautiful.

Stan embraces South Africa's native flora.

Judy, "What?! Leave me alone. I'm hiking! "

Lucy and I decide that we'd like the CDC offices to move to Cape Town.

Lucy leads the troops back up the hill.

Ad and I on a stop along Chapman's Peak (a windy road that makes its way back to Cape Town).

We then ventured out on the Garden Route, a scenic drive from Cape Town heading east several hundred miles. We landed in Plettenburg Bay, where we rented a house for a few days.

The house had quite the view, but was also wonderfully dated, including carpeted bathrooms.
(But, believe me, we weren't complaining.)

We could always count on Stan and Judy to supply a great lunch.

One day Lucy, Judy and I checked out "Birds of Eden", apparently the largest "free-light" aviary in the world (at 5 acres). It has birds from all over the world, many of whom were taken in as pets and then abandoned or donated to the aviary.

South Africa is considered a bird watcher's paradise.

South Africa's national bird, the Blue Crane. Quite a stately fellow.

Another day we hiked part of the Otter Trail in Tsitsikamma National Park. (There is no shortage of great hikes around this country.)

The varied terrain and proximity to the water (yes, Lucy asked if she could swim) made this a really interesting hike. (I blew up this picture a bit in hopes of wooing you, gentle reader, to come visit.)

Noah shows some early skills as a rock climber.

I'm often amazed at the variety of plants. Here I spotted some wild calla lilies growing about 10 feet off the trail.

Local fauna

Baby and mother squirrel monkeys

We visited a place called Monkey Land, a monkey sanctuary created to rehabilitate and fee previously caged primates. You take a guided walking tour through the facility and come across 150+ monkeys of several different species. Just imagine Noah going crazy over this.