"Cape"tivated by Cape Town

So it’s official. I know have a new city in “Jay’s Top Five Favorite Cities in the World”…CAPE TOWN! Of course Sydney, Vancouver, Paris and Venice will still be in the top five, Cape Town now holds a special place for me.
After the 3 weeks of Safari in Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, my parents and I headed off to Cape Town for 9 days to enjoy some wine tasting and explore this dazzling city. What makes Cape Town such an amazing place is its stunning scenery…beautiful beaches all along the coast surrounded by a panoramic mountain (Table Mountain) sheltering it. The population there is also very cosmopolitan with an exotic mixture of native African, Indian, Malay, Dutch, English, French and Italian people passing their genes on to one another – the result is stunning. Of course, you can also imagine with all these ethnic groups mingling together for a few centuries, the FOOD is phenomenal! Coupled with the world-renowned S. African wineries that are just 30 min. away from the city, you’ve got yourself the right ingredients for a terrific vacation – kinda’ like instant oatmeal…just add water and you’re good to go. Oh, yeah, and the other great thing about Cape Town, and S. Africa, in general is that the US dollar goes a veeeery long way. Compared to the expensiveness of London and Paris, Cape Town is a budget traveler’s mecca.

On our first full day there, we rented a car and drove off to the famous wine region of S. Africa which was only about 30 miles away. In that way, it reminds me a lot of San Francisco, having such close access to world-class wineries. We spent the next 2 days in the town of Franschhoek tasting and enjoying some of the best wines that I have ever had…I had always known that S. Africa had some good wines, but honestly, all of the 6-7 wineries we visited were outstanding. The problem was having to decide which wines to buy and bring back home…I know, life is rough. You can check out some of the photos from the wine country and Cape Town below.








After that we drove to and spent the night near the town of Hermanus, which is on the way toward the Cape of Good Hope and is the southern most point of Africa. It is here where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans converge, and it is famous not only for its huge population of humpback whales, but also great white sharks! The next morning, I prepared myself for my Great White Shark adventure….SCAAAARY! After a hellish 3 hour boat ride out into the choppy open ocean and desperately trying not to throw up from the stench of the chum (fish guts and blood) and the intense sea sickness (4 people had to actually be taken back by another boat), we were rewarded with about 10 amazing sightings of huge great white sharks (about 12-15 feet long) passing right by our boat…it was a terrifying but also beautiful sight to see these predators so close to me. As I’m sure like many of you, ever since I saw JAWS as a young kid, I’ve had this great fear of sharks…but somehow seeing these magnificent creatures so close up enabled me to appreciate them as just another animal in glorious Nature. Of course, I was just relieved that I was seeing these massive flesh-eating predators from the safety of my boat and not in the water. The memories of seeing them (and the wrenching stench of the chum) lasted for days.







After that we headed back to Cape Town where we enjoyed 5 days of exploring this marvelously gorgeous city. Not only does Cape Town boast being a stunningly beautiful city, with great food, wine and gorgeous people, but everyone we met there were so civilized, friendly and pleasant…in fact, the entire them there driving and walking around, not ONCE did I hear anyone honk their car horn!

All in all, Cape Town is DEFINITELY a place that I intend to go back to again in the near future…and before I forget, thank you Lance, Mario, Pia and Iben for all your great advice on helping us plan our stay there!

Diving Head First
Fearlessly Into My 40s

OK, call me crazy, but as a testament to the very last official day of my 30’s, I decided to bungee jump over 300 ft. off the Victoria Falls Bridge. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Vic Falls, it separates Zimbabwe from Zambia and is one of the world’s most spectacular waterfalls - twice as tall and wide than Niagara Falls. Seeing the Falls for the very first time was a breath-taking sight. (see photos below)



Having done my first bungee jump in New Zealand about 8 years ago, I was certainly less scared sh_tless this time around…nevertheless, getting prepared to do the jump was still an exhilarating experience. I guess the part of me that decided to do the jump was to see if I could manage to overcome my fear…not just the fear of jumping, but as a symbolic gesture of releasing all fear from my life! As I have taught and said countless of times to people in my Yoga classes and private clients, when we can connect our breath fully and deeply with the core of being, there is NOTHING that we have to fear. As many of you have heard me say, the practice of Yoga is nothing more than the ability to stay connected to our breath in every moment in our life – whether that is a challenging Yoga pose or a challenging situation in our life. The power of the breath allows us to stay grounded and calm regardless of the external situations that may want us to react from a place of fear. I have always said that fear is nothing more that excitement without the breath! I suppose doing this jump was my own way of putting into practice everything that I value and hold to be true about the ability and power of the breath to enable us to embrace our fears.

So as I stood there on the tiny 3x3 ft. platform that jutted out from the bridge, the one thing that I focused on I was overlooking the 300 feet drop below me was my breath. The last thing I remember yelling out to the world as I glided off the platform was the powerful declaration, “I have NO MORE fear in my life.” And so with one final full breath, an incontrollable laugh and huge smile on my face, I leaped fearlessly into the abyss and into my 40s!

ps - AND if Bungee jumping wasn't enough, I also decided to fly over the Falls in a open air microlight plane for half an hour. Soaring over the Falls like an eagle was MAGICAL!

Take a Walk IN the Wild Side

One other very memorable event that I did on Safari was to do a morning walking tour through the Savannah. This is actually more dangerous than it sounds – at least when you are driving around the Safari parks, you at least have the safety of a sturdy and elevated jeep that can drive off if there’s any danger. The only thing that separates you from some hungry predator are the 5 bullets in the rifle the ranger is carrying (pic of me with ranger below). Needless to say, we were ALL on the lookout for lions, leopards, cheetahs and hyena – not only to photo them, but to avoid being breakfast! Luckily, we didn’t run into any.
















It was really a humbling and nerve racking experience not having the safety of a vehicle, but just walking in the vast openness of the savannah spotting elephant, baboons, warthogs, puku and antelope – it put all of us on the same playing field. Walking with the animals around us was a great “equalizer”, as we humans were just another species to them and not mad driving tourists. One thing that was somewhat disquieting to see was the freshly eaten carcass of a buffalo - just glad it wasn't mine! The day before, we had seen a pride of lions feeding on the same carcass. Luckily the kitties were no where in sight - WHEW!



As I watched my parents in front of me walking in single file (as was required by the guide) with one guide leading and the other with the sole rifle picking up the rear, I couldn’t help put imagine us being transported back a million years ago. There were no signs of modern civilization around us at all that made it feel it like we were in the 21st century. It really felt like we were a family of primitive hominids making our way through the African savannah. For a brief instant, I could actually relate to the fear and trepidation our ancient ancestors must have felt doing this in the birthplace of man over a million years ago – it still gives me goose bumps imagining it!

Smiles and Laughter in the Face of Poverty

The one thing that never ceases to amaze me when I travel to many of the developing countries around the world over the years is the genuine smiles and good nature of the local people despite living in the grip of desperate poverty. While on our safari we had a wonderful opportunity to pay a visit to a local village and elementary school. As most of you that have traveled a lot to developing countries know, the great majority of the people on the planet live very differently than you and I do. Lack of clean water, no electricity, no toilets and poor agriculture are just normal for them in their life. When you add on top of that the AIDS epidemic and infectious tropical diseases such as malaria, TB, typhoid etc., it is no surprise to learn that mortality rates are so high and life expectancy is so low here in Africa.

The number of orphans here in Zambia is staggering as many of their parents have perished from AIDS. The leader of the village where we visited (her photo below) was an elderly woman and sadly stated that she had lost all three of her adult children and was left to raise all the grandchildren on her own. On a very funny side note this woman was once crowned Miss Victoria Falls 1961 and proudly displayed her sash in her hut. When we asked what her adult children had died of, you could visibly see her discomfort in admitting that they had passed away from AIDS and instead said they all died of TB. Her body language though gave away the truth. Pia and Iben, the two Danish friends that I am staying with here in Lusaka, even said that all of their male staff (gardeners, security guards) are all infected with HIV.









Although education re. HIV/AIDS is improving in Africa and around the world, there are still many Zambians that don’t understand just how exactly the disease is acquired and there still exists a strong stigma against those who acquire it. What is most distressing is that many Zambians (and I’m sure this applies to many other places) still hold the belief that HIV/AIDS can be cured by using local tribal superstition and magic, one of the most alarming of which, is having sexual intercourse with a young girl…I later found out that young boys are also targets. As outrageous as this practice may seem to us, in the minds of many indigenous cultures, HIV/AIDS (and disease in general) are considered to be the invasions of a negative energy or an evil force that can be released by giving away the evil energies to and receiving the pure and innocent energy from the child. This aspect of tribal medicine is something that I have read about and heard off in many of my travels and studies where a young child is forced to have sex with an infected patient in the belief that the child’s purity can somehow transmute the negative energies of the disease. Fortunately the government is becoming aware of this practice and there are billboards up in downtown Lusaka (the capital of Zambia) that shows a picture of a young girl with the line, “Sleeping with me does not cure AIDS!” Even with strides in education, there is sadly still a long way to go to stop the advance of the epidemic.

The hour that we spent at a local village school was such an incredible time. I was very delighted to learn that many (if not all) of the Safari lodges and camps in Zambia support a local village community and school paying teachers, buying books, uniforms and supplies, as well as sending one student from the village school to college with a full scholarship. With the exorbitant rates that these Safari lodges charge tourists for staying there, it’s good to see that some of the profits are going back to the community. I also found out that getting work at one of the local Safari lodges is the MOST sought after job by many Zambians. The average Zambian only makes $2 a day, and an employee at a lodge can make as much as 10 times that amount. What generally happens is when some one in a family gets a position working at one of the lodges, they wind up supporting the entire extended family.















Anyway, getting back to my school story. We got a chance to pop our heads into a 2nd-grade class, which is the age when students begin to study English. It was a pleasant surprise to see these kids’ faces burst with excitement and joy the moment they saw us come into the class…I thought all pandemonium broke out. After the teacher finally made them settle down, they began their lesson. As sad as it is to say, most of the kids in this rural school village actually read and spoke better English than some 7 year olds in the US. (okay, more American bashing – sorry) As we left the class room, I had literally about 50 kids all around me wanting to shake my hand and have me take their photos…again many of these kids were orphans and seeing the joy and laughter of these children in the face of such tragedy and hardship truly made me feel deep respect for them as I felt connected to my humanity and a tremendous sense of love and joy within myself.

CELEBRATING THE BIG 40!

Wow…what an amazing way to commemorate my 40th. After having spent a week in Botswana (LOVE the place) and a few days in Victoria Falls, we were off to continue our safari in Zambia. Our first stop for three nights was this totally remote bush camp called the Kulefu Tented Camps The word Kulefu actually means "a place very far away"...and rightfully named. Just to give you an idea of how remote this place is it takes 9 hours to get to the nearest town by car! Fortunately, there is a make-shift dirt airstrip where people can use. The camp itself is situated on the banks of the Lower Zambezi River that divides Zimbabwe and Zambia (or as the locals call it the Zimbos from the Zambos). It's actually a temporary mobile camp that is open only during the dry season and has the ability literally to pick up and move to a different location, if need be. It's amazing to think that even despite the temporary status of the camp you are living in luxury in the complete wilderness - very much reminded me of the film "Out Of Africa". (see photos below)

Such a stunning place …what it made it even more incredible was that including the three of us, there was only one other person there. The camp itself can only accommodate 12 guests, but it felt great to have the whole place practically all to ourselves. Even enjoyed getting to do some Yoga on the deck overlooking the hippos and elephants!










The beauty of being right on the banks of a river was that you got to see all the animals not from a car, but by canoe, which made it all the more exciting...and dangerous...we almost got our canoe cap-sized by a group of disgruntled hippos. On a side note - more deaths on safari are caused by hippos than by any other animal. Even though they are vegetarians, they are VERY territorial and will attack anything that gets too close. If the hippos themselves don’t kill ya’, the hungry crocodiles that wait by the shore certainly will – and trust me they were eagerly waiting on the banks!











The first night we had arrived was on the actual night of my birthday…apparently the managers and staff at the camp already knew and had organized a surprise dinner for the three of us. They set a beautiful table (complete w/ linen table cloth, china and fine glassware and private waiters) on the banks of the river and began to serve us a fantastic five-course dinner including a rich chocolate mousse cake (my favorite). For the occasion I also carried with me for the duration of the safari an expensive bottle of French champagne that I lugged all the way from London and a box of Godiva chocolates from LA (THANKS, STEVE – they were great!) that we thoroughly enjoyed with our dinner.

Talk about a surreal and memorable experience…here we are under a beautiful African night sky full of a million stars and the Milky Way (no outdoor electricity at this place) enjoying a gourmet meal in the savannah when a pair of HUGE male hippos only 20 feet from us in the water below start fighting and make a commotion in the water…but what made it even more memorable was being chased away by a great big Bull Elephant (photo of him above) that got a liiiiitle too close to our table for our taste…I guess he musta’ wanted a sip of our nice champagne. Still in the middle of our dinner the manager at the camp urgently came over and instructed us to get up very slowly and leave the table to a safe distance…of course, the first thing I do is not grab my camera, but the still half-full bottle of champagne and chocolates…no way in hell is a 4 ton African Bull Elephant gonna’ take away from me my Veuve Cliquot and chocolate :)

All in all a VERY memorable way to celebrate and mark the passing of my Big Four OH!

THE JOY AND ANGUISH OF MAMAS AND THEIR BABIES

On so many of our animal viewing drives, we were privileged to marvel at many sightings of the youngins’ hanging out with the herd – on many occasions we saw baby elephants, giraffes, monkeys, hippos, zebras, lions and antelopes tagging alongside their mamas. It was so touching to see. My favorite had to be on our elephant back safari ride. Many of these elephants were rescued as orphans from the wild when their parents died from being hunted by poachers (sad, I know). There is a company in Zambia that allows you to ride the elephants as you wander through the savannah spotting animals. The beauty of this is that many animals are less scared of elephants as they are of loud jeeps, and you get to see animals even closer.

The elephant that my parents were riding gave birth to a baby about 2 years ago, and it was always close to Mama as we spent the next couple of hours on the backs of these gentle giants. My parents made the mistake of feeding the baby, named Chackalacka, some food at the beginning of the journet, and for the entire trip they had to put up with the baby elephant raising it’s trunk every five minutes asking for more food – such an adorably cute sight. (more photos of us on our elephant safari and baby Chackalacka below)

On another occasion we marveled at seeing a huge family of about 100 elephants with nearly 10 babies, an entire family of giraffe with five babies and a pride of lions with 3 cubs. On a very sad note though, on one of our morning drives, we came across a group of baboons. Upon hearing the sound of our jeep, they started to run away. What was strange though was watching a female baboon take its baby in one of its hands as it ran away. Normally, baby monkeys will either jump onto the backs or hug the belly of the mother for protection, so seeing the female monkey suddenly grab the baby monkey in its hand was very unusual. Our guide then told us that the baby baboon was dead! The mother baboon out of grief will carry the baby with her until it begins to decompose in the vain hope that the baby will come alive again. What was so heartbreaking to see, though, was watching through our binoculars the mother baboon cradling the baby, kissing and caressing it as if refusing to believe that her baby was dead. Two other female baboons even came to the mourning mother trying to assist her. It was such an emotional site to behold, and it just goes to show how universal the grief of losing a child can be - the tremendous anguish that a mother experiences when losing her child spans both the human and animal kingdom.

Happy Hour on the Savannah with the Locals

For those of you have never been on a safari, this ain’t nothin’ like the week when you were 10 on your Boy or Girl Scout summer camping trip where you roughed it for a week in damp and musty sleeping bags, made your own tent, took cold showers and cooked your meal of canned beans and frozen hot dogs over a fire that you had to make yourself. I guess when you’re paying the kind of money you do on one of these safaris, you are “roughin’ it” in style and luxury (see photos).




Many of the bushcamps are mobile camps that are ready to move from place to place between the dry and rainy seasons at a moment’s notice. What makes this even more remarkable is that you’re in the middle of nowhere in remote (and I mean remote) Africa and you’ve still got hot water, real toilets, porcelain bathtubs, luxurious wood furnishings and get fed 3 gourmet meals a day of amazing food. An actual day on Safari at one of the bushcamps goes like this –

5am – wake up call
5:30 – breakfast
6 - 10am – morning drive spotting animals (this is when the animals all go to the watering holes)
10am – second breakfast while actually on the drive…there you are sipping tea and eating biscuits in the middle of the bush with elephants and lions off in the distance
11:30 – full on lunch
12:30 – 3:30pm – siesta time for both us and the animals (it’s too friggin’ hot to do anything else – temp. get to high 90’s)
3:30pm – afternoon high tea and pastries
4pm – afternoon drive
5:45 – sundowners of cocktails, beer, wine and snacks again on the drive as you get an awesome sunset as animals make their way back again to the watering holes…check out the photo above of us enjoying happy hour with the locals
7pm – more cocktails and finger food at the lodge by the fireplace
7:30 – full on 4-course dinners served by waiters on fine linen and china
8:30 – after dinner drinks by the fire
9:30 – lights out and start all over again the next day

Boy, between first breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, sundowners and dinner, I think I know what it feels to be a Hobbit…all you LOTR fans will get the reference.

I have to admit that after 14 days of this, it really got to be an exhausting schedule…yeah, I know life is rough when you're on vacation, huh.