Call of Africa - Cape Town, Babylonstoren and Okavango

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The wedding was beautiful of course - the MC was a black guy, but wore a kilt to match his friends. He said it was his first experience and he found it quite liberating.

 

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Food was very harvest style, with colour coded fruit/salads and meat and fish and followed by an extensive dessert buffet. Only the red salad is shown, as Mr FM failed in his duties - his pathetic excuse being that people kept moving the platters.

 

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Next day was back to Cape Town - as we had the car and the day was OK, we decided to drive down to Cape Point on the peninsula. We became lost at one point and discovered this beautiful vista of flowers.

 

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We dropped the car back at the airport and one of the Ellerman House drivers took us back to our lovely hotel. Some more pictures of it - just fell in love with the staff and the hotel. Wish the weather had been good enough to enjoy the gardens.

 

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Ellerman House is very proud of its wine cellar. The hotel is a private hotel, for guests only, but the wine cellar is pretty self contained, so they can host wine tastings there without impacting residents. There is a brandy tasting area as well and a wall that has soil from many different wine areas.

 

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The next day we were off to Robben Island. First was a bus tour of the island and information on its history as a Leper colony, as well as a political prison. A tortoise held us up for awhile.

 

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After the bus tour you are met by an ex prisoner who takes you around and talks about his experiences. Our guy was an activist during the Soweto uprising. This really resonated with me, as Soweto was the catalyst for me to leave. I no longer felt I could contribute to change and I couldn't stay in a country that shot children. So I left with my back pack to wander from Israel to Greece to Thailand and finally ended up in Australia. At about the same time he would have gone to Robben Island to begin his imprisonment. He seemed to really believe in reconciliation and the rainbow nation, but you have to wonder how, after what he experienced...

There seemed to be a bit of tension between him and the younger guys, but we couldn't quite work out what.

 

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The next day was still awful weather and the cable car still closed, so we did the hop on hop off bus. This is great - good commentary and a number of routes. If the weather had been nice we would have gone to Kirstenbosch, but instead did District 6, the Fort and Bo-Kaap.

 

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That night we went to Bo-Kaap Kombuis. The hotel had suggested Gold, which has a 14 course degustation from many African countries as well as dancing and drumming. I thought it sounded fun, but Mr FM refused to contemplate anything so touristy.

The Bo-Kaap Kombuis was most enjoyable with stunning views and Malay food. A huge amount of food, came to $40 for both of us!

 

[drron]

There is a big display of Clavillias - never heard of them but everyone seemed very enthusiastic about them

Natives of South Africa but readily available in Australia.We have had them in most of our gardens.Here known as Clivia-named for the Duchess of Northumberland whose maiden name was Clive.

 

[craven morehead]

After organising to get an iron and board in my room, Mr FM and I set off to explore.

Mooi fotos !!

 

[Flying mermaid]

Natives of South Africa but readily available in Australia.We have had them in most of our gardens.Here known as Clivia-named for the Duchess of Northumberland whose maiden name was Clive.

I have to admit I am very ignorant of names - we used to wander around the nursery and pick things that looked pretty and plant them and so learned some....

 

[Flying mermaid]

Back in civilisation and the internet! To finish off the Cape. The cable car had been closed pretty much every time we tried to do it. On our final morning we awoke to a sunny, windless day. We were only flying out at 2pm so plenty of time! Fortunately Bantry Bay is quite close to the cable car station and I already had online tickets, so we ubered to the cable car and 3/4 of an hour later we were at the top. I would recommend the online tickets, as it shortens the queue timing and the queues tend to be very long.

The whole process is quite efficient. The only unnerving part, is that the floor rotates during the ascent! While this is great form one point of view, as it allows you to see all aspects of the view, you can't hold onto anything. I had positioned myself right at the glass and was clutching on hard to the railing, but had to let go and balance looking out. While most of the time there is glass, not always.....

I wish we had had more time to walk - it is a national park and there are some extensive trails.

 

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After a quick uber back to the hotel, we made it to the airport with enough time for a brief visit to the slow lounge - every bit as nice as the one in Joburg.

Food and service was good as usual on Comair - they really could do with some new planes though!

This time we had a flash bed at the Intercontinental - I did manage to bump my head on the post when getting up in the night!

 

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Next morning time for one of the Intercontinental's terrific buffet breakfasts before heading over to the airport. We had left our two suitcases and most of our clothes at the Intercontinental - they are happy to store free of charge if you are staying there at both ends. We had 10kg of clothes and 13 kgs of camera gear.

Business Class had been full, so we had no lounge access, but given our debacle last year when we missed our flight to Nairobi, we were just as happy to sit at the gate and wait. Lunch in economy was actually quite nice and it was a pleasant trip to Maun.

We had a very lively Immigration person on entry to Maun and had a nice chat with him. He was struggling to get the computer to cooperate and thanked us at the end for being patient - apparently sometimes people yell at him when the computer doesn't work

Wilderness Africa met us on the other side and we were quickly loaded on a 12 seater Caravan for the trip to Vumbara Plains in the Okavango. Maun was bone dry and there was a great contrast with the Okavango. Vumbara Plains sits in a 90,000 hectare private concession and shares the concession with a couple of other camps run by Wilderness. You only ever get one or two other vehicles at a particular sight, so makes for a very intense experience.

 

[Imw]

loving your report.

 

[Flying mermaid]

After landing we were met by Chris who was going to be our guide for the 3 days - he said we were going to be alone in the vehicle which was terrific. It is not that we are anti social people, but it can get difficult if there are conflicting interests.

On arrival there was a nice snack waiting for us with some divine chocolate cake. We had had a bit of a game drive on the way to Vumbara Plains and then had time to settle in before dinner. When on Safari you eat a lot! The schedule at both Vumbara and Kings Pool, was a wake up call at 5:30 am with breakfast at 6. Then a game drive until around 11:30 with brunch on return (stop for coffee and snacks at some point). Afternoon tea at 4pm, followed by an afternoon game drive or Mokoro trip. Broken by sundowners and snacks at some point. Back around 7:30 with drinks and canapes at the bar and the dinner. Have put on 3kgs and looking forward to more self restraint on our return!

I loved the indoor shower - the floor had a drain on 4 sides and you could stand there looking at the view and listening to hippos. There was an outdoor shower, day bed and plunge pool, but it was too hot in the day to use them and you weren't allowed outside after dark, but it looked very pretty.

 

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Dinner the first night

 

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Next morning was a stunning sunrise - it really was that red and the hippos were very active. After a quick breakfast it was off to find some animals

 

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We hadn't seen very many hyenas, so that was our first request