Answering Shyam's African questions

[Guest guest]

Thanks Shyam for your comments. Yes, the Penguin has lost its way to South

Africa, and hence is also known as the " Jackass " Penguin. (The real reason

is that it has a voice like an ass.)

As for the questions:

The hippos did dive in at the time of clicking. You can make out their backs

in the distance, but you will need underwater vision to see them properly.

The trouble with wildlife photos is that you are given a 5 second period to

snatch your camera, focus it in the distance, search for the animal in the

magnified field, click the picture, scratch your head and then exclaim,

" Where? Where? " In the next 1 second, your wife gives you a tappu and

mutters " Idiot! " .

The huge animal that you see Swati devouring from the barbecue grill is a

goat. Like all Africans, it is of XXXL size. However, not in the picture was

Oxtail soup (very delicious but no meat), Wild boar (making us think of

Obelisk), and even Ostrich sandwiches. Ostrich meat was especially

delicious. Without any seasoning, it tasted spicy, and it is the only Red

meat with zero cholesterol. Yes! Despite being a bird, it has red meat.

Crocodile meat is a bit tough, and salty.

The people in our group did remark that when we read that our co passengers

were Shahs, we had decided to hide even our Garlic and onion flavoured

chips. But you Shahs eat everything except human beings. To which we

replied, " We do eat human Bhejas! "

The Sun City did have its share of bloated foreigners with blotchy skin and

drooping mammary glands. I was going to post their photos, but wanted to

spare you the agony. And photography in the Casino section is forbidden, so

no photos of casinos. We didn't have the guts to play in the casino, so we

just watched others loose Rands at the same speed as Tiger Woods gathers

girlfriends (Rands). In fact, in my whole life I have never seen so much

money spent on a Rand!!!!

Our trip was a last minute job to celebrate Yash's success. Thus we had to

take whichever company was offering us the best deal. No time to arrange a

self trip! As luck would have it, SOTC was the only group with a tour

departing in 9 days. In fact the other co tourists had been told that if two

more passengers did not join them, the tour was liable to be cancelled, so

our three last minute bookings must have seemed like a God send. All other

companies had tours from April onwards. In fact, we got our visas just 1 day

before departure. We packed all our clothes in one cabin bag each and rushed

to the airport. No check in luggage!

The tour itself was outsourced to ERM tours of South Africa, who were

supposed to give us local guides, but didn't. So we ended up escorting

ourselves all over South Africa. But the country was so fascinating that we

soon forgot that we didn't have a guide and set about enjoying ourselves. In

fact, our co passengers were so jolly that we kept giggling and laughing

throughout the tour (and of course, making fun of the other Shahs for their

'Soaping' addictiction, and others making fun of us, the Shahs for our

omnivorous appetite.)

However, they did arrange daily Indian dinners for us, which we hated. Who

wants to go to South Africa to eat Butter Chicken and Masala Dosa? An

ostrich sandwich is welcome anyday!

Kishore Shah 1974

PS: I hope Renuka has managed to unzip. I thought you didn't need to teach

married women that!!

To,Kishoreda

> Thanx for posting all the pics of ur tour of SA.

> Enjoyed seeing some new species of the animal kingdom..thru ur lovely

> camera work.

> Never knew,Penguins existed in SA.

> Thout,they lived only..on the ICY continent.

>

> But missed seeing the Hippo..in one of ur Hippo captioned

> collection,unless the Hippo decided to make a last minute dash into the

> water,when his pic was clicked..or perhaps I need to show my eyes..to an

> Eye specialist.

> Was curious to know,2 more things,Kishoreda;

> 1)What was that served,at Bakubung lodge?.

> Looked like an huge animal,a bore or an Hippo..on the barbeque grill.

>

> 2)Nothing Sinful...was seen in those pics..of SunCity,unless u have

> decided to keep them off,from this website.

> Unless u label Diamonds,as Sinful,for which I am sure,the Ladies,will most

> likely take offence.

>

> Lastly,Kishoreda,if u could please,kindly let us know,How U went about

> arranging this tour?.

> Meaning,was it THE KESARI(Aapli Marathi) Tours and Travels..or self

> arranged itinerary?.

> Bye

> Shyam(84)

>