LOCATION: An airport hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa
WEATHER: Hot (80) in Victoria Falls; Cool (60) in Johannesburg

We had our last, and deliciously massive breakfast at Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, then chilled in the room until it was time to go to the airport.

Once we checked out of the room, we waited in front of the thatched roof hotel for our airport shuttle.

We are traveling now with one backpack each plus a murse for George and a purse for me. We watched this large tour group getting organized to split up – some to the airport and to some to another location. Everyone had huge suitcases. It was like a comedy. They were hugging each other goodbye, and the tour guide was instructing them on which bus to board. Then a lady came late, so they had to do the goodbye thing all over again. She got on the wrong bus. Confusion again. We are happy to be traveling solo.

We enjoyed a pleasant 2-hour flight to Johannesburg. We are staying at an airport hotel from which the Kruger National Park tour guide will pick us up tomorrow.

Not all travel is happy. We met a lovely couple on the Queen Mary cruiseship from England to South Africa. We were assigned the same table for dinner each evening, so we got to know them a bit. Later we found out that the man had a heart attack in Cape Town the night before their scheduled flight home to London. He is still in a Cape Town hospital recuperating from bypass surgery. Then, today another sadness. We overheard a Dutch lady at Victoria Falls airport on her way back to Amsterdam explaining to the ticket man that she had an extra suitcase belonging to her husband who died while in Victoria Falls. How traumatic!

DINNER: At an Irish pub in our hotel. We split a Cajun chicken burger – Wow – a mix of cultures – Irish, Cajun, South African!

BOOKS: “Conjoined” by Jen Sookfond Lee. A story about human bodies found in the freezer of a foster mother after she dies. 5 stars out of 5
“#1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” by Alexander McCall Smith. Part of a series of stories of a female detective in Botswana. I had read some of these books before, but will now read the series with more interest since it refers to a lot of Botswana culture and landscape that we have just experienced. 4 stars out of 5