10 days in Southern Africa

[zig]

Enjoying your report and I was also interested to hear about Airlink. I have a flight with them in April and hadn't been able to find out much about them and what to expect.

 

[NSun]

The next day's agenda was to transfer to a lodge in the Chobe National Park in Botswana. We had a driver take us all the way to the Zimbabwe border, 30 minutes from Victoria Falls. Then we crossed the border and had another driver take us the rest of the way. Entering into Botswana. we were told we had to take out our shows and 'clean them' to prevent foot & mouth disease, which meant running the soles of the shoes under what I thought was water. I cleaned mine, although the only one checking was our guide and he missed one of my companions' pairs - something we only realised after we crossed the border.

We were in an enclosed vehicle to start with, but then in an open vehicle for the second leg.







After another hours' drive, we went into the National Park. And while this wasn't officially a game drive, we saw a lot of animals on the way in. First of all, impalas - the most populous animal in the park and apparently the most eaten.



Then elephants on two separate occasions.







And finally a couple of giraffes.



We also got to see the lake bordering Botswana and Namibia, that would be the centrepiece of our drives as well as our cruises.

 

[NSun]

At our lodge we would have 2 drives and 2 cruises over the next 48 hours, not counting the drive out. But first, some pics of the hotel and our lunch on arrival.

 

[NSun]

Our lunch continued, followed by the rooms we stayed at. I had lasagne and a sundae.

















And here was our agenda for the next 48 hours all planned out.

 

[NSun]

Still Day 4, but by now it is late afternoon. Time for our first river cruise - we would have three. This wasn't as good as the game drives, but the first cruise was the best of the lot. We got on boats from a jetty at the bottom of our hotel. Just like our other hotel, we had another country bordering the other side - Namibia - and even though I wouldn't get a passport stamp, I would have evidence of being in the country in the form of texts from Vodafone.



We saw a herd of elephants about 500m down from the jetty, although we ended up taking off in the other direction.



We took off to this 'cove' that looked bare bones, but would provide us with a lot of animals in the coming days. There were always crocodiles and hippos around.





Eventually, we were joined by some elephants.







We were also pointed out some lions on a nearby cliff, although too far away to get decent photos. We would get a lot closer to lions on our game drive.



Another juvenile croc.

 

[NSun]

We were offered dinner when we got back but I was too full and tired. The next morning, 5am wakeup for our first drive - and it was the best 'official' drive of the trip.





Our first sighting was a herd of impalas.



We saw several baboons at various points.



And finally, lionesses.






We would end up getting much closer to lions on our next drive as well as elephants and giraffes. A few comments about the safari:
- You sit in an open Jeep that can be bumpy and potentially intimidating if you're so close to animals (and we would get very close to animals later on)
- There is a lot of sitting and waiting on Safaris, in hope animals might wake up and do something
- You might follow animal tracks to find them, ultimately in vain. Many of the best sightings come when you don't expect them.
- Dependant on the game lodge, you may have to share 'sights' with up to 7 other vehicles - this would happen later in the afternoon.
- It is ridiculous how often you get fed. A breakfast pre-Safari, a breakfast post-Safari, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. If you're a fitness junkie, you won't like getting fed so much, not to mention it is difficult to do a lot of exercise given any gyms may be limited and you need to be escorted at night.

 

[NSun]

Back to the lodge, had breakfast, then a workout at the gym. At 11.30am, it was time for a midday cruise. There was a lot less to see this time around, although we did see one elephant at that 'cove'.



Once back from the cruise, we stumbled across a family of warthogs on the property.









Then it was lunch time.



I had the chicken burger with salad and chips.

 

[NSun]

We went on a 'sunset drive' at 3.30pm. This drive ended up being fun - even though we saw less animals, we truly had quality over quantity.



Baby baboons are just so cute, especially when they cling to their mothers.





And then, the highlight of the safari. Getting this close to a lioness.



We stumbled across a herd of them, near where we came across lions earlier that day. We stayed for about an hour and watched them move from one sleeping spot to another, staring at antelopes on the horizon but not going for them.

 

[NSun]

The next day was our last day in the park and we were due to fly to Cape Town via Johannesburg. But, we had one final river cruise. We saw very few animals other than baboons and hippos on the shore, although the sunrise was great.

 

[NSun]

Then we packed our stuff and set course on the 30 minute drive to the airport. Half of this was through the park, although we only saw impalas this time.



We made it to Kasane Airport 2.5 hours before departure.



There were so few staff there that people got away with walking out of the gate (briefly).





Sorry for the lack of photos on the flight. Another Airlink Embraer, other than the fact we got stale sandwiches, nothing else to report.

We parked at a remote gate in JNB so we got some good views getting bussed over.





Stamped back in to South Africa, then re-checked our bags for the domestic flight to CPT.



Once again, no pics and little to report from the flight to CPT except we ended up missing our remote gate and had to go back onto the runway again. At least my companions had ordered a chauffeur to our hotel - over in Camps Bay.

 

[NSun]

We stayed at a place called Central Villas, a couple of blocks away from the beach.









Got up at 6am the next morning. As someone who'd never been to Cape Town before, I expected the heavy clouds meant it was going to rain - but it didn't.

 

[NSun]

During the day I went to a work conference. It wasn't one I would've otherwise gone to but thought I might as wells because I was in town at the time. Won't share much about the conference but had an interesting drive in and look around the Waterfront at lunch time.

 

[NSun]

For dinner that night, we went to a place called Zenzero that was right by Camps Bay Beach.

I had a Cosmopolitan, lasagne as the main and ice cream to finish. My companions shared an oyster plate. I didn't eat that as I strongly dislike oysters, but was impressed with the presentations.

 

[NSun]

Plan for the next day was a tour down to the Cape of Good Hope. We ended up also stopping by Simons' Town for lunch and Boulders' Beach Penguin Sanctuary. But first, a morning walk where I actually saw some blue sky this time around.





It was about an hours' drive down to the Cape. My eagerness to see it was going to Cape Leuuwin last year in WA and wanting to see another of 'The Great Capes'. It was a beautiful drive down.

 

[NSun]

First of all, we reached Cape Point which has two lighthouses, one new and one old. The old one has become a major tourist attraction with souvenir shops and a restaurant on site not to mention a cable car to the old light house.













This angle is facing west.



And this one is East, looking over False Bay. The Cape itself (in the next post) is the most Southwestern point of Africa, but not the most Southern. That is actually Cape Agulhas which you can't even see in this pic - apparently another 4 hours drive away - but even Betty's Bay and Pringles Bay which are in this pic are more southern.

The reason why the cape is even a big deal is because it was perceived to be the point where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. In reality, the exact point fluctuates between here and Cape Agulhas dependant on weather conditions.

 

[NSun]

The Cape of Good Hope itself is another 15 minutes drive away. On the way, we saw an ostrich.







And here we are

 

[NSun]

On the way back to Cape Town, we made two stops. The first was at Simon's Town for some lunch and a walk around. We had lunch at a place called Saveur that was right by the water. This could easily have been the restaurant of some prestigious yacht club back home, only without crowds and better value for money.







I went with a strawberry smoothie and then a beef burger.






Our 'guide' let us have another half an hour after this to look around town.

 

[NSun]

Then we got back in the car for another 10 minutes and went to a Penguin Sanctuary at Boulders' Beach.














I hope this last picture gives you a taste of how touristy this sanctuary is.

 

[NSun]

On the way back to Cape Town, we went a longer route, on the other side of Table Mountain and nearly into the CBD. We saw a few interesting sights including some apartment blocks that had an interesting history in the apartheid era and a couple of universities, although didn't get pics of them. The pictures I did get were good.



The next couple essentially look over the bulk of Cape Town proper - all of it other than Downtown.






Peak hour traffic.

 

[craven morehead]

We crossed into South Africa with 40 minutes in the flight to go, flying right over Durban.

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And landed. Great to see 747s again. Immigration took 15 minutes but at least our hotel for the night was a 5 minute drive away - the Emperor's Palace casino.

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Thunderstorms hit and went quickly, so went for a swim in the pool and had it all to myself.

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Very nice digs. I need to get back to RSA it's been 15 months!