Millers World Cruise 2025

April 11 We’re enjoying 2 sea days with 65-70* temperatures and low key activities. Unfortunately, our ship’s weather news suggests temperatures of 108* in Luanda. We have an easy excursion planned, but our other activities may be limited….perhaps to Angolan beer. Angola is similar to the countries that we’ve just visited, but different. It was…

April 7-8 We have an atlas that belonged to my Dad. I believe that it’s from 1918. With some study, I might have been able to name the countries of Africa…French West Africa, Belgian Congo, Portuguese Angola, German South Africa, French Equatorial Africa, Italian Somalia….all results of “The Scramble.” Now, we have 21-23 countries in…

April 5 We arrived on a sunny morning in the shadow of Table Mountain. In the US it’s Liberation Day; here, it’s a normal Thursday. Our excursion was a relaxed drive to a winery and visit to the town of Stellenbosch. The setting was great and the wines were good. Stellenbosch is an upscale university…

April 3 We’re looking forward to Cape Town, but my feelings are mixed. We have two trips through the countryside to visit wineries on our 2 days there. It was voted the number one city in the world to visit in 2014 and 2023. The setting is beautiful with Table Mountain and the coastal features. And, plenty…

April 1 Gqeberha is South Africa’s 6th most populous city and 3rd largest port. While the area hosted hunter-gatherers as many as 10,000 years ago, it was settled by the British in 1820. A railroad was constructed to move goods from inland farms and factories in 1875. At that time there was trade in mohair,…

March 31 (day of visit) As we prepare to depart from Durban, the Captain announced “the Stowaway Search,” something that occurs in every port in this area. We’re not aware of any “extra’ passengers”, but we wouldn’t know.  Like several South African ports, East London appears to be desirable as an entre to see wildlife…

March 30 (10,578 miles from The Dalles) Durban is South Africa’s 3rd largest city with 4.2 million people. Of course, Vasco de Gama sighted it, but it was first settled by Europeans…British…in 1824, It was a trading post focusing on ivory. The Zulu king granted the land for the settlement. When it was determined that…

March 29 10,568 miles from The Dalles Our excursion: I visited South Africa during apartheid in 1970 and we went on a number of safaris with Maddy and Jackson about 20 years ago  Think about a country that began with 574 separate tribes numbering as many as 15 million. Then taking their lands, killing most…

March 28 10,446 miles from The Dalles I’ve always thought of Mozambique as a mysterious southern Africa country that I would never visit. After stops in Mombasa and Nosy Be, it feels that we may already have seen it. Developed as a trading area on the Swahili coast, it appears to be a different country…