South Africa 2017

[ali-s]

Day one, getting there


We are flying indirect from Birmingham. I have used my Tesco clubcard vouchers to get train tickets with redspottedhanky, I am determined that this trip is going to be a shining example of organisation. No stress, no last minute hiccups. Yeah , right.
Twenty minutes before taxi is due to take us to train station ,DH decides he MUST take another two pairs of shoes, they won't fit in his already overstuffed bag, so I am doing a frantic repack into a bigger case. I delegate DH and boys to take all the luggage downstairs and then out to the taxi when it arrives.
It's not until we are at the train station I realise my case has been left behind. I jump back in the taxi telling DH and boys not to dare move , the taxi driver puts her foot down, as much as she can through Herefords endless roadworks, and 30 mins and £25 lighter I am back at the station with my case. We've now got to get the later train ( one got us there 3 and half hours before our flight, this one two and half hours) I pray for no hold ups.
On arrival at BHX we find our flight to Frankfurt is delayed! Storms in Germany apparently, oh well, we have over a two hour connection and hopefully all onward flights are also delayed. We land in Frankfurt 30 minutes later than scheduled then wait for a gate for another ten minutes. The crew are reading out gate numbers and details for onward connections, the Australian couple infront of us are preparing to sprint for their flight home. I'm still quite relaxed, we now have 1 hour 40 minutes.
Until we are off the plane and checking gate number and DS18 casually says ' we have 35 minutes then' WHAT? Luckily his phone has automatically put him one hour forward onto German time, I haven't altered my watch, the time change was never mentioned on the flight. We power walk after the sprinting Aussies, a change of terminal, monorail, and jog to furtherest gate Z58 and we make the flight just as they finish boarding, we are among the last on. This plane has no individual air vents so I sit and swelter, fanning myself with the emergency guide and enjoying my stress free start to our holiday.

[Melbatb]

Oh my - what a start! Thank goodness you made the flight!

Hopefully that is the last of the whoops for the trip!

Have a wonderful time!

[ali-s]

Day 2

We arrive on time in Cape Town at 10am. Immigration, baggage claim and customs are a breeze. I pick-up my pre ordered SIM card for my phone, rather expensive at £27 but it has a good call allowance & data ( being technologically challenged , I'm not sure what that is, but I'm sure it's a good idea to have it ) and I also know my phone number before I leave the UK, handy incase any of our accommodations need to contact us ( well it would be if I remembered to give it to them)
Our driver is waiting to transfer us to our rental accommodation and we are on our way 40 minutes after touching down. Cape Town is grey and overcast, it rained earlier and we could be back in the UK, though it is winter here and no colder than an average summer day at home. . Table mountain is covered in cloud, so we won't be going there today.
We have a lovely three bedroom , three and half bath house in the De Waterkant area, unaccustomed to so much space,4 days later I've only just found the washing machine We dump our luggage and order our first Uber taxi to take us to Kirstenbosch Gardens.
First stop is lunch at the gardens restaurant, then we wander for a couple of hours. The setting is gorgeous at the base of table mountain and the gardens are pleasant enough with sections on useful plants, scented plants, an aerial walkway and ponds with exotic ducks with an attitude. These ducks don't waddle , they swagger, and noise! They don't stop mouthing off . We were walking under a large tree when we heard one of these ducks shouting at us from above? Looking up , there was a duck perched maybe thirty foot up a tree ! Weird! There are also many little sunbirds flitting about. They look like hummingbirds, iridescent green and red , and move just as fast. I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to get a decent photo.

DS18 had soon had enough of walking around gardens so I left them in the gift shop while I ordered another Uber. First obstacle, no WiFi. I pondered the problem for ten minutes until DS18 appeared and said ' use your data, that's what you bought it for'. Is it? I remind you I have no idea what I am doing as far as smartphones are concerned. With a few swipes of the screen be had me connected and an Uber was on it's way. This driver was named Prosper. I'm not sure how he's going to live up to his name as he managed to get lost in the Gardens carpark we were watching his approach on the map on my phone, ETA 3 minutes, 6 minutes later still 3 minutes and Prosper seems to be doing a twenty point turn in the maintenance bay. He eventually arrived and we were soon back at our house where we ordered pizza and had an early night ready for our 5.30am pick up tomorrow, we are going shark cage diving.

[WileyCoyote]

Oh what a stressful start with cases and connections. Eek. Go you being so calm.
Hope weather picks up for you. Sounds a lovely first afternoon though in the gardens.
Happy hols .

[Melbatb]

Day 2 sounds lovely!

Birds can be so difficult to capture in a photo!

[ali-s]

Day 3

So , up early today , at 5.30am our minibus transfer is waiting. We pick up another family of four , then it's just under an hour's drive to Simon's town where we are going shark cage diving. It's always pot luck whether the winds and weather will cooperate and allow the boats to go out and then of course , there is no guarantee the sharks will put in an appearance. But I'm just happy the boat is going out, some trips in the last few week's have been cancelled.
It's not yet light when we leave the harbour , the sea is so calm and quiet, it's beautiful. Then the sun comes up and the trip is worth it for that, even if we don't see sharks. We have booked the ' air jaws' trip, July is prime time to see the sharks breaching as they hunt seals. We don't see any breaching. ( You need eyes in the back of your head, we have people positioned all around the boat keeping watch for sharks , but we still miss the initial attacks) we do see two sharks going after one seal, they get it , but with the lack of light and speed with which it happens, there is nothing gory to worry about, just fins and alot of splashing.) .
As the sun rises we do a circuit of seal island ,the seals congregate on the island and leave in small groups, safety in numbers, when in the water they tend to stay around the reefs where the water is too shallow for the sharks. We are told to watch out for solo seals away from the reef, they are the ones at risk. Then the captain positions the boat in the most likely place to see sharks and lowers the shark cage. Then we wait . And wait . And wait. It must be about two hours before the shout of ' shark' goes up. Four of us have changed into wetsuits. ( An experience in itself ) but most people have been snoozing in the sun. I am actually stood in the sun, trying to get warm, so when the shark is sighted I am practically pushed into the cage ( not really , but that's what it felt like ) no time to orientate myself of grab the air supply mouthpiece, just jump in and go under. I have water up my nose and no time to switch on my camera, but I see the shark I thought he was about 5 foot, but the captain said 8 or 9 ft ( typical fisherman?) DS18 has also managed to get in the cage in time, the other two join us and the shark does another two swim bys before we get out to let another four have a turn. They also see him, but the last two in the cage have no luck. Thank goodness I was cold and awake and didn't miss out.

We motor back to the harbour at full power, running late cos the shark took so long to show up. We are transferred back to the house where we do a quick change then get an Uber to Table Mountain. It's clear and sunny today. Perfect for the Cableway. Half the tourists in Cape Town think so too. It's BUSY. We enjoy the views , have lunch at the café and take more than enough photos of the rock hyrax , known as dassies here. DS21 is rather concerned about their ' on the edge' lifestyle, surely they are going to fall and be killed?

Back to the bottom and another Uber, this time to the V&A waterfront. A complex of shops and restaurants on the waterfront ( you don't say) and unbelievably , the number one tourist attraction in South Africa. What is wrong with people that a commercial tourist trap is voted higher than a natural wonder?
We wander around enjoying the musicians and browsing some of the stalls. Then dinner at a waterside restaurant and Uber back to house. Later start tomorrow for our day on the hop on hop off bus.

[BucksBugsy]

Having worked in SA (and having had some down time there as well) I am enjoying reading this. Thank you for posting.

BB

[Melbatb]

I can't wait to see your pictures - what an amazing experience! You really are having packed days!

Looking forward to reading the rest

[penguin19]

Sounds like a lovely day. Your shark cage sounds similar to us last year. We went with the same company and saw no breaching. We saw 1 shark from in the boat, but never got anything in the cage we were disappointed with this company as they were rubbish compared to marine dynamics who we went with in 2013. This trip was just a bit boring! I'm glad you got to see a shark in a cage as that makes things so much better !

We are lucky as we saw 7 on our trip in 2013!

Glad you got to see table.mountain in nice weather! It's beautiful up there!

Shame you didn't see the penguins in simons town

[Jan]

Sounds like you are all having a lot of fun. Thanks for posting.