Pappas

While I've been is South Africa, just about everyone I speak with warns me to be careful. Don't go out at night, don't carry your camera when walking on a public street anywhere, don't get into cabs unless you're very sure they're legitimate - or you will be robbed. Another comment I've heard several times is that a lot of the Johannesburg crime is caused by an influx of people coming in from Zimbabwe. Here is a link to an article by a Zimbabwe journalist regarding the issue.

http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=772&cat=5

Indoor car shopping at Mandela Square

One klick from my hotel - not a bad walk in daylight

Leaves falling outside hotel

Fall is everywhere

Waiting for my Delta flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg and thinking about Africa

Back in the '60s when I was a teenager, I loved to read stories by Robert Ruark. He wrote for Field and Stream and wrote many books about hunting and fishing. He always made you feel the mystery, excitement and beauty of the outdoors, and I could well imagine myself out in the woods with the "Old Man" learning the ways of the wild. Here's a link to a short bio and an excerpt from his book The Old Man and the Boy. http://www.ncwriters.org/services/lhof/inductees/rruark.htm .

But his account of his Safari to Africa Horn of the Hunter http://www.amazon.com/Horn-Hunter-Story-African-Safari/dp/1571572635/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-3619153-9514442?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179517117&sr=1-1 has always stood out in my mind. Ruark had actually hired as his guide the same guide Ernest Hemmingway had used. Hemmingway, Ruark, and an African Safari were pretty heady reading for a teenager / US Marine in 1964.

Leaving the wilds of Buffalo Grove behind

Desperately searching for signs of human life or at least a trail leading out of the Buffalo Creek flood abatement area. This area is so desolate one can barely hear the cars and trucks as they migrate down Arlington Heights road.