South Africa so far
Current Location: Salty Crax, Table View, South Africa
South Africa
24 November 2008 – 16 February 2009
We crossed over into South Africa from one National Park to another; Mozambique’s Parque Nacional do Limpopo into SA’s Kruger. Needless to say the wildlife on the Mozambique side is a little on the small side, only seeing a squirrel cross the road in a fright.
We were at the end of the trip together with C and Ian and had to head back to Pretoria quite quickly, so we only had a few days to spend in Kruger. Our theory being we can always go back and check out the park thoroughly at a later stage. Being there in November was also not the right time of the year as it was quite green and lots of long grass, meaning that it’s more difficult to spot any wildlife.
Time was ticking and we headed to Pretoria where we stayed with friends and got pampered with great food and lovely showers. We dropped C and Ian off at the airport in Joburg and headed off on our own again towards Blyde River Canyon where we spent a week relaxing and enjoying the stunning mountain views and waterfalls. Feeling the need for a little more ‘time off’ we headed to Mtunzini just south of Richards Bay where Christine and Dudley kindly let us stay with them for the next few weeks to recharge our travel batteries. After a lovely Christmas and New Years with the Kelbe’s we thought it was time to get back on the road again and headed off to check out the Drakensberg, the tallest mountain range in southern Africa which borders Lesotho. Unfortunately the weather gods were not supporting us that week as it was mostly raining heavily and freezing cold. Luckily we had some days with clear skies where we could see the mountain tops surrounding us which were really stunning. At this time we got news from our friends Andy and Francoise from Zurich that they were coming to visit us in 2 weeks. Yippieeeeee!
We had arranged to meet Christine and Dudley in Sodwana Bay for a week of diving so that was our next destination, back up north east close to the Mozambique border. Our first dive was with the Ragged Tooth Sharks and I was a little nervous to start off with as we all had to lie on the sandy bottom while the sharks were swimming close by. It was the time of the year where the pregnant females all come to that spot for a few months, and apparently they do not eat anything for that time which was a little more reassuring. It ended up being an amazing dive and we carried on diving for the whole week. By chance we also bumped into Erik and Ellen on the beach and it was really nice to catch up with them for a few days!
It was now time to start the long drive down to Port Elizabeth. We left Sodwana early on January 24th and made it to Gonubie (just east of East London) later that evening. We picked up Andy and Fran the next day at the airport at PE and it was so nice to see them after such a long time! We drove to Addo Elephant Park where we stayed for the next 3 nights. We booked a few tours with the rangers and we saw some really amazing lion on hyena action one morning. The night drive (which is usually really good) was a little disappointing as we only saw spring hares and scrub hares, plus when we got back to the waterhole by the campsite there were 2 rhinos there and some mongoose running around our tents.
Next move was to Storms River Mouth at Tsitsikamma National Park where we stayed in a little cottage on stilts just by the ocean. The views were just amazing with the waves crashing against the rocks just in front of us. We even spotted a whale! On the way there however, we drove through small local villages which Andy began calling ‘Stattschiffs’ and there was a lot of ‘Oh my word’ from the back seat while driving through. We then found a lovely camp site in Wilderness just next to the lake where we treated our guests to Zebra Pâté – unfortunately it didn’t go down too well and there was a certain one that refused to try it... you can just imagine who... ;o), granted the smell was rather off putting, it apparently smelled like cat food, this is when we discovered a certain member of the group has tried and tested kitekat cat food. This was also the evening when as soon as the sun went down, Andy changed into long trousers and a sweater – although everything was tucked into each other to minimise possible bug entries and bites. Check out the photo and see for yourselves, then let him know on a scale of 1 to 10 how funny he looks. Andy the Bushman! ;o)
We carried on to Oudtshoorn which is in the Little Karoo – meaning that the landscape changes drastically once you pass over the mountain ridge. It was really hot and dry again like Namibia – lovely. We stayed in a lovely place called Cul de Sac and the owner was so interested in our trip that he called a local reporter who interviewed us! It was so strange! He only asked a few questions about how many km’s we had driven and from where, not where we were going or anything regarding our adventures. Very strange... I would imagine the article will be really incorrect, if we ever get to see it. In Oudtshoorn we visted the Cango Wildlife Ranch where we could spend a few minutes with a grown cheetah, 2 young cheetahs which we all did, then Andy and Fran also wanted to hug the tiger which they did with buckets of enthusiasm. PS. Andy was not afraid of the big cats but had a little ‘reaction’ to a wallaby...
Next destination was Franschhoek for a tad of wine tasting. We found a lovely cottage to stay in called La Bourgogne for R1050/night, we all thought the accommodation was stunning though Andy was not impressed with the bathrooms, think there was some dust behind the toilet or something, and was tormented by the fact that the windows wouldn’t close properly and the cottage got doomed to death as he slept so badly because of a hundred apparent bugs. Fran was really keen on doing wine tasting on horseback, so off we went the next morning and got on our respective horses, sans Milan who checked out the town instead. We rode through the lovely vineyards and the rugged terrain. Our first wine tasting was at Rickety Bridge where we were given 40 minutes to taste 5 wines of our choice. A little too short and at the end the riding guide had to come and collect us as we were spending too much time tasting and buying wines... It was a lovely winery and the wines were really nice! We ended our horse riding with another tasting at Mont Rochelle where Milan met us for lunch. In the evening we had booked a table at Haute Cabriere where we had a fantastic dinner and, yet more, wine :o). Haute Cabriere is an award winning south African restaurant, Andy swears that Milan’s (marinated by Louise) cooked on the braii beef fillet was better than their Haute cusine.
A week had gone already and we headed to Cape Town. Fran called a place in the Cape Quarter (De Waterkant) just by chance to check the price and it was amazingly good value and an excellent location! It was a very cute little townhouse with two floors and a terrace on the top with great views over the city. Plus it was walking distance to everything around – perfect! The remaining week we walked around V&A, ate lots of kg’s of prawns, lots of kg’s of ribs, lots of burgers and fish and just enjoyed the café’s and good restaurants. Andy and Fran managed to do a helicopter ride over the city and Camp’s Bay which sounded great. We checked out the District Six Museum which was really interesting and we had a guide who had lived in that area of the city when he was little, but in 1966 it was declared as a white area and the authorities moved all the blacks and coloureds to the Cape Flats and bulldozed the area.
We also went to Robben Island one morning which is where Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years along with many other black and coloured political prisoners. The prison itself is nothing special but the tour is done by an ex-prisoner which brings a very personal touch to the whole experience. Andy and Fran finally decided to do a Township tour which turned out to be very interesting and we’re glad they saw that part of South Africa as well. With only a few days left we spent one day out on the peninsula where we went to Cape Point, Cape of Good Hope and visited the penguins at Boulders Beach. We spent nearly the entire week calling Table Mountain about the cable car running or not, it seems that even though it was built by the trusty Swiss as soon as there is a slight breeze they shut it down and go home for the day. We finally managed to get up the mountain on the Saturday morning; this is where we tried to test Andy’s fear of heights by tempting him with an abseil over the edge, as expected we failed, maybe next time.
Unfortunately their 2 week holiday was finished already, time went so fast, but it was lovely to catch up with ‘home’ again. Thanks guys for a great 2 weeks!
After they left we spent 5 days in Simons Town close to the penguins and mostly spent time on the peninsula hiking and taking photos of the views and the penguins. We are currently in Table View (Saltycrax Backpackers) which has a beautiful beach full of kite surfers. Tomorrow we will head a little north to extend our visa’s which expires in 10 days and then also visit Paternoster.
South Africa
24 November 2008 – 16 February 2009
We crossed over into South Africa from one National Park to another; Mozambique’s Parque Nacional do Limpopo into SA’s Kruger. Needless to say the wildlife on the Mozambique side is a little on the small side, only seeing a squirrel cross the road in a fright.
We were at the end of the trip together with C and Ian and had to head back to Pretoria quite quickly, so we only had a few days to spend in Kruger. Our theory being we can always go back and check out the park thoroughly at a later stage. Being there in November was also not the right time of the year as it was quite green and lots of long grass, meaning that it’s more difficult to spot any wildlife.
Time was ticking and we headed to Pretoria where we stayed with friends and got pampered with great food and lovely showers. We dropped C and Ian off at the airport in Joburg and headed off on our own again towards Blyde River Canyon where we spent a week relaxing and enjoying the stunning mountain views and waterfalls. Feeling the need for a little more ‘time off’ we headed to Mtunzini just south of Richards Bay where Christine and Dudley kindly let us stay with them for the next few weeks to recharge our travel batteries. After a lovely Christmas and New Years with the Kelbe’s we thought it was time to get back on the road again and headed off to check out the Drakensberg, the tallest mountain range in southern Africa which borders Lesotho. Unfortunately the weather gods were not supporting us that week as it was mostly raining heavily and freezing cold. Luckily we had some days with clear skies where we could see the mountain tops surrounding us which were really stunning. At this time we got news from our friends Andy and Francoise from Zurich that they were coming to visit us in 2 weeks. Yippieeeeee!
We had arranged to meet Christine and Dudley in Sodwana Bay for a week of diving so that was our next destination, back up north east close to the Mozambique border. Our first dive was with the Ragged Tooth Sharks and I was a little nervous to start off with as we all had to lie on the sandy bottom while the sharks were swimming close by. It was the time of the year where the pregnant females all come to that spot for a few months, and apparently they do not eat anything for that time which was a little more reassuring. It ended up being an amazing dive and we carried on diving for the whole week. By chance we also bumped into Erik and Ellen on the beach and it was really nice to catch up with them for a few days!
It was now time to start the long drive down to Port Elizabeth. We left Sodwana early on January 24th and made it to Gonubie (just east of East London) later that evening. We picked up Andy and Fran the next day at the airport at PE and it was so nice to see them after such a long time! We drove to Addo Elephant Park where we stayed for the next 3 nights. We booked a few tours with the rangers and we saw some really amazing lion on hyena action one morning. The night drive (which is usually really good) was a little disappointing as we only saw spring hares and scrub hares, plus when we got back to the waterhole by the campsite there were 2 rhinos there and some mongoose running around our tents.
Next move was to Storms River Mouth at Tsitsikamma National Park where we stayed in a little cottage on stilts just by the ocean. The views were just amazing with the waves crashing against the rocks just in front of us. We even spotted a whale! On the way there however, we drove through small local villages which Andy began calling ‘Stattschiffs’ and there was a lot of ‘Oh my word’ from the back seat while driving through. We then found a lovely camp site in Wilderness just next to the lake where we treated our guests to Zebra Pâté – unfortunately it didn’t go down too well and there was a certain one that refused to try it... you can just imagine who... ;o), granted the smell was rather off putting, it apparently smelled like cat food, this is when we discovered a certain member of the group has tried and tested kitekat cat food. This was also the evening when as soon as the sun went down, Andy changed into long trousers and a sweater – although everything was tucked into each other to minimise possible bug entries and bites. Check out the photo and see for yourselves, then let him know on a scale of 1 to 10 how funny he looks. Andy the Bushman! ;o)
We carried on to Oudtshoorn which is in the Little Karoo – meaning that the landscape changes drastically once you pass over the mountain ridge. It was really hot and dry again like Namibia – lovely. We stayed in a lovely place called Cul de Sac and the owner was so interested in our trip that he called a local reporter who interviewed us! It was so strange! He only asked a few questions about how many km’s we had driven and from where, not where we were going or anything regarding our adventures. Very strange... I would imagine the article will be really incorrect, if we ever get to see it. In Oudtshoorn we visted the Cango Wildlife Ranch where we could spend a few minutes with a grown cheetah, 2 young cheetahs which we all did, then Andy and Fran also wanted to hug the tiger which they did with buckets of enthusiasm. PS. Andy was not afraid of the big cats but had a little ‘reaction’ to a wallaby...
Next destination was Franschhoek for a tad of wine tasting. We found a lovely cottage to stay in called La Bourgogne for R1050/night, we all thought the accommodation was stunning though Andy was not impressed with the bathrooms, think there was some dust behind the toilet or something, and was tormented by the fact that the windows wouldn’t close properly and the cottage got doomed to death as he slept so badly because of a hundred apparent bugs. Fran was really keen on doing wine tasting on horseback, so off we went the next morning and got on our respective horses, sans Milan who checked out the town instead. We rode through the lovely vineyards and the rugged terrain. Our first wine tasting was at Rickety Bridge where we were given 40 minutes to taste 5 wines of our choice. A little too short and at the end the riding guide had to come and collect us as we were spending too much time tasting and buying wines... It was a lovely winery and the wines were really nice! We ended our horse riding with another tasting at Mont Rochelle where Milan met us for lunch. In the evening we had booked a table at Haute Cabriere where we had a fantastic dinner and, yet more, wine :o). Haute Cabriere is an award winning south African restaurant, Andy swears that Milan’s (marinated by Louise) cooked on the braii beef fillet was better than their Haute cusine.
A week had gone already and we headed to Cape Town. Fran called a place in the Cape Quarter (De Waterkant) just by chance to check the price and it was amazingly good value and an excellent location! It was a very cute little townhouse with two floors and a terrace on the top with great views over the city. Plus it was walking distance to everything around – perfect! The remaining week we walked around V&A, ate lots of kg’s of prawns, lots of kg’s of ribs, lots of burgers and fish and just enjoyed the café’s and good restaurants. Andy and Fran managed to do a helicopter ride over the city and Camp’s Bay which sounded great. We checked out the District Six Museum which was really interesting and we had a guide who had lived in that area of the city when he was little, but in 1966 it was declared as a white area and the authorities moved all the blacks and coloureds to the Cape Flats and bulldozed the area.
We also went to Robben Island one morning which is where Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years along with many other black and coloured political prisoners. The prison itself is nothing special but the tour is done by an ex-prisoner which brings a very personal touch to the whole experience. Andy and Fran finally decided to do a Township tour which turned out to be very interesting and we’re glad they saw that part of South Africa as well. With only a few days left we spent one day out on the peninsula where we went to Cape Point, Cape of Good Hope and visited the penguins at Boulders Beach. We spent nearly the entire week calling Table Mountain about the cable car running or not, it seems that even though it was built by the trusty Swiss as soon as there is a slight breeze they shut it down and go home for the day. We finally managed to get up the mountain on the Saturday morning; this is where we tried to test Andy’s fear of heights by tempting him with an abseil over the edge, as expected we failed, maybe next time.
Unfortunately their 2 week holiday was finished already, time went so fast, but it was lovely to catch up with ‘home’ again. Thanks guys for a great 2 weeks!
After they left we spent 5 days in Simons Town close to the penguins and mostly spent time on the peninsula hiking and taking photos of the views and the penguins. We are currently in Table View (Saltycrax Backpackers) which has a beautiful beach full of kite surfers. Tomorrow we will head a little north to extend our visa’s which expires in 10 days and then also visit Paternoster.
Labels: South Africa
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