Life’s a Journey Not a Destination
15,768 kilometers of our own driving; 8 countries; 250 kilometers for Karen and Eliav by 3 ambulances; 650 kilometers for Avi and Avital by the generosity of 2 sets of strangers. It is hard to believe this adventure is over … Read More
Sunset on the Savanna
This week we saw our last sunset, and sunrise, over the African bush – a bittersweet feeling. It has become a running theme, every evening (whether while helping me braai, walking to a restaurant, cruising down the river, looking out … Read More
The Mechanics of the Bush
A good bush mechanic can jerry-rig almost any mechanical system to keep it running but the electronics taking over control of modern vehicles are something else. On our drive from Francistown to Khama Rhino Reserve we were privileged to experience … Read More
A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery
Zimbabwe is like a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a vest. The conflicting messages are everywhere – the scout trip spending Heroes Day visiting Cecil Rhodes’ grave (the namesake for the country their heroes defeated), the overgrown pasture … Read More
Wild Africa
6 police roadblocks, 3 stops, 2 attempted fines, zero money exchanged hands in 200 kilometers from Victoria Falls to Hwange – welcome to Zimbabwe. The first ‘fine’ was actually in Victoria Falls when the police pulled me aside to inspect … Read More
Smoke on the Water
Victoria Falls is a true wonder of the world – a wonder in international marketing. Sure, the falls are beautiful but no more spectacular than many others we have seen and less spectacular than several (my favorite to date being … Read More
Into the Wild
We were on our way back to Horseshoe Lagoon for sundowners to conclude a very productive game drive when Karen saw ears sticking up in the grass. What’s that Avi? My eyes immediately knew what it must be but my … Read More
Antifragility
Even before Taleb coined the term, me and my colleagues at CEB were trying to teach the same essential concept to CFOs and Chief Risk Officers – the idea isn’t to merely build a risk management program that can survive … Read More
Rare & Endangered Conservation Efforts
Avital locked in on it from day 1 – we could not leave Africa until she saw a pangolin. Sure, I encouraged here to pick her ‘must find’ animal – but was it really fair for here to pick what … Read More
On the Road Again
Our injuries are on the mend and we can’t wait to get on the road again, goin’ place that we’ve never been. Karen is recovering well after her surgery, I picked up our Toyota Hilux (it’s not a Defender, for … Read More
Kindness of Strangers
It could have been much worse, maybe given the nature of the accident it should have been. It all happened so quickly – a slight application of the brakes, car starts to slip to the right, maneuver to avoid the … Read More
The Other Grand Canyon
After crossing the Mata-Mata border into Namibia we traveled for 100 miles over red dune after red dune seeing not a single other soul until a lone San tribesman rode towards us on a bike in his out of place … Read More
The Lost Kalahari
Wave after wave of red sand dune inconsistently covered with low-lying thornbushes and camelthorn trees broken only by the occasional dry pan or riverbed; marred only by the industrial towers of mining operations, miles of fences and the grazing cattle … Read More
Interlude – Spas, Science and Sand
We are taking five days to cover the nearly 1500 kilometers between Kruger and Kgalagadi. It isn’t the most elegant routing I have ever done but was a necessity due to the dates I could book some parks later on. … Read More
The Art of the Game Drive
The ability to spot animals in the wild is a skill that can be developed. I happen to have a natural knack for it and have been lucky enough to travel with some of the best guides around who helped … Read More
Swazi Amusement Park
From early on in trip planning Avital was looking forward to Swaziland – she thought its name sounded like it would be an amusement park. In many ways she was right, when South Africa restricted amusing delights like gambling and … Read More
Zulus, Beaches and Rhinos
Eliav is taking to South Africa well, he proudly wears his Springbok uniform ($1 in a Durban street market), chokes down red meat at every meal (literally, I had to perform the Heimlich on him) and insists on his sip … Read More
Diamond Mines and Mountain Passes
A range of 5 to 12 hours to cover ~200 kilometers – those are the estimates I was given for the trip. The ‘good’ road, the A3, from Katse to Thaba Teska and then on to Mokhlotong I already knew … Read More
The Lesotho Highlands
While Avital and Eliav went with the lodge children to recruit village kids for the Sunday matinee showing of The Lorax, I engaged in the traditional Basotho activity of working with the lady at the kiosk to carefully cut a … Read More
Elephants on Parade
Our first self-drive safari could not have gone better. Though Addo lacks the huge herds and wide open savanna of some other parks we will visit we still had amazing encounters with the wildlife. We saw the big ones from … Read More
Our First Braai
We had our first opportunity to braai over a wood fire – we had steaks last night, tonight its boerewors. This was just one of many firsts for us over the last few days, our first gravel mountain pass, our … Read More
Meet Aardowlf – Our Summer Home
Let me introduce you to Aardwolf, she is the closest we have to a home for the next few months. It’s pretty amazing the number of dimensions I have to get used to to treat her right – I drive … Read More
1 Day Later – The Adventure Begins
The day plus of travel to Cape Town was remarkably unremarkable. By my calculations, the 26 hour trip door-to-door was 14 hours longer than Avital and Eliav’s previous record. Yet, they were amazingly good – no meltdowns, no notable misbehavior … Read More
Avital’s Summer Vacation
In one week I’m going to Africa for the summer, my first trip out of the Americas. I am excited, but at the same time have some fears I hope to overcome. My biggest fear is screaming when I see … Read More