Out for dinner in Windhoek last Friday at one of my favorite restaurants. Then off to a show at the local warehouse theatre. We saw the jazz group Vivid Africa from Cape Town. They really reminded me what I like about Cape Town, a very multicultural group which played a variety of sounds from all over Africa. They had a nice fresh sound and put on a great show.

Dewi, Vj and I at the new El Portugal in Klein Winhoek. It's as good as ever!


Cyrlene's in town for the month then back to France. It's been great to have her back in the city!


Vivid Africa on stage.


I wanted to get some video clips of the show but could not make it happen. Luckily youtube has us covered.

Beautiful Indian dresses.


Lots of fun at the Canadian table. Many people thought (or hoped!) that the maple syrup was actually alcoholic and wanted to have a shot!


We had two fellow Torontonians in town during the event and they came and helped make pancakes and run the table. Thanks guys!








The Maasai Warriors of Kenya/Tanzania.


My friend Juan presents the Spanish table and made some delightful food.








Angola


Caprivian


Afrikaner


India


Indonesia


Malaysia

After two years of enjoying and indulging at the Polytechnic Cultural Festival I decided it was time for Canada to represent. We set up a table (I believe the first Canadian table in history!) and served up some crepes with real authentic Canadian Maple Syrup brought to me by my friends at Brock University. I also made up a big pot of Canadian Chilli; you know the really authentic Canadian version? The Chilli sold out in the first 90 minutes but we continued making crepes for about 3 hours.








Thankfully, Kim is an expert crepe maker! She worked tirelessly!








The real deal!

Rise and shine, time to go to Swakopmund.

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We took a day trip to the beautiful Amani Lodge just outside of Windhoek this past weekend. The lodge has lions, cheetahs and leopard on site and we arranged to go along for a feeding to see the animals up close.





Setting out the meat for the first feeding of the cheetahs. About 3 minutes after the meat was set the cheetahs came charging out of the bush for lunch.








Waiting for dessert, here the guide was about to throw down the back bone of a large buck. The bone is also a symbol of pride amongst the pack for the cheetah who gets to finish it.






Next up was the lions, which was a real treat. I have only seen lions once or twice in a game park from a great distance. Now we were literally 5 metres from them as they had lunch. We were up on a platform for safety.










Its actually the female lion which is the real danger in the wild. The females do most of the hunting and maintenance of the pack. I was lucky to get this shot of her. She was sitting just below us looking forward and I called her with a whistle. When this beast is looking right at you its really something. My heart was pumping.




As we were leaving the lion platform the female came below us and was really watching us as we went down the stairs back to the car. It seemed like she was tracking us and just waiting for one of us to slip through the cracks. What scared me most was how concerned the guide was. However we made it!

Finally the lonely leopard. The leopard lives by itself so we felt really bad for it.




Cacti


A great day with the cats!

Kimera Karuuombe-Markowitz has been crowned second princess in the Miss Namibia 2008 pagent. For many it was an upset but irregardless of the official result I am incredibly proud of Kimera and her tenacity and integrity throughout the competition. Without a doubt she is Miss Namibia to me. More pictures forthcoming.