Our Three-Week Adventure in South Africa 1
Why South Africa?
A little over three weeks ago we left on a long-planned trip to South Africa with our two eldest granddaughters. I don’t post comments or images when we travel so I’m going relive our trip and share that with those who are interested now that we’re back home. You might ask why I’m sharing this trip on my sketching and painting blog. The answer is two-fold. One reason is that I don’t have a blog dedicated to travel. The other is that this is the first trip I’ve taken where photography wasn’t front and center for me. Rather, my camera gear was minimal and my hope was to do more sketching than photographing. I did manage a dozen sketches, so I figured this was a good place to share our trip experiences.
Going on a safari and visiting Cape Town, South Africa, have always been on my wife’s bucket list. Since our eldest granddaughter did a six-week university-related course and work experience in Cape Town two years ago, the idea of checking off one of Mary Ann’s bucket list items and taking our Dabney granddaughters on a big trip in celebration of Caroline’s graduation from the University of Virginia was very attractive. The moving target, of course, was COVID and whether we could travel. All four of us have been vaccinated and South Africa, though not in the best of shape relative to the pandemic, is relatively safe and is welcoming US citizens who can show a negative test result for COVID.
Mary Ann planned the whole trip. She worked with a travel consultant local to South Africa whom was recommended to us by friends who had used her. Anya Visser of Pembury Tours (#pemburytours) did an outstanding job for us! Our guidance to her was that we wanted to spend one week in the beautiful city of Cape Town then visit vineyards for a few days and stay at a game reserve (read: ‘safari’) for a few days. That would be our week two destinations then for week three we wanted to return to Cape Town. Caroline loved her time in Cape Town and wanted to show it to us and take us to the markets.
On May 29, 2021, the four of us drove to Dulles International Airport outside Washington, DC, and began our South African adventure! This was to be the first international trip my wife and I will have taken since visiting Germany in 2018. Since then my interest in sketching and painting has overshadowed my interest in photography. I took minimal photographic equipment on this trip, a real first for me in some time! I did take a sketchbook and drawing and painting tools but ended up doing the dozen paintings I did on the trip using my 2018 12.9 iPad Pro (3rd gen). Over the next few weeks, I’ll share our experiences, some photos and the paintings I did. #pemburytours #southafrica #southafrican #capetown
