This post is absolutely off-topic, but so many of you have asked me about the trip to Africa that my wife and I undertook recently that I felt compelled to share a few photos and to give you a very quick idea of the highlights. We first spent 3 days in Cape Town (above) where I had a bit of work to do. Beautiful and very relaxed city where one could clearly walk around without worries. Unfortunately the wind prevented us from accessing Table Mountain or Rhobben Island, the prison where Mandela was detained for most of his 27 years of captivity. We did manage to visit the Muslim part of the city, though, Cape Malay (above).

We then drove from Johannesburg's airport to the small city of Pilgrim's Rest, which used to be a gold-mining city. It now centers mostly on tourism and the marvelously preserved architecture, the stounding sceneries and the friendlyness of its people made up for the long and complicated road we had to travel to get there. Unfortunately, as we were pressed by time, we were not able to discover the falls and canyons that surrounded the place and are among the most oustanding natural wonders of the region.

We were pressed by time, as we had to be by 15.00 the next day in the Kruger National Park to enjoy what would definitely become the highlight of the trip: the Bushman trail. If you go to Kruger, I would definitely recomend visiting the park by booking one of those two-days-three-nights walking trails throughout the park. You are protected and guided by two trained and armed rangers in a group of only 8 people and your group is absolutely alone in an area of more than 150 hectares. Compare this with the experience of the 3-hour drives in the park, packed in buses of 30 alaways-talking tourists and guided by rangers who are more interested in going home than in admiring any of the animals and you will understand our strong preference for this way of discovering the park. The trails are complex to book (as there needs to be at least 6 people for them to be confirmed and as they only go out on Sundays and Wednesdays) but they are relatively cheap and not reserved to extremely fit people (I am ashamed to recognize that I am an extremely sendentary person).

Throughout Kruger we were able to admire...

Impalas...

Elephants, giraffes, buffalos,....

... baboons...

... Kudus (my wife got "addicated" to Kudu dried meat - biltong - in Johannesburg)

... zebras, hypos,

But we saw the most impressive animals close by and personal on the walking trail, thanks to

the keen eye of our guides:

Elephants,

lions fighting against a hyena (we were on top of a rock and far away, of course, but close enough to enjoy the intricacies of the fight),

and a lepard... close by, very close by!!!

The last part of the trip involved 5-days in the country of smiles, Mozambique, where we spent some time relaxing on pristine beaches. As ever, we found out that it is in the countries that endured the worst hardships (30 years of civil war in Mozambique) that people seem to seize life with most optimism.

We then drove back to Johannesburg where I reacustomed myself to a bit of work. We loved the cultural mix and vibrancy of Jo'Burg that shares a lot of characteristics (including problematic ones) with one of the cities I love: Sao Paulo in Brazil.

I hope this report was short enough. I will now focus purely on Disney matters :-)