South Africa 2017

[ali-s]

Day 4

A later start and more leisurely pace today as we are using the hop on hop off bus to see some of the city. The nearest stop is 14 minutes walk away. I have printed out directions from Google, basically a right, left and two rights. Easy. Half an hour later we admit we have missed the last right. We stop to ask a guy loading his car for directions and he says he will be heading that way in 2 mins, jump in and he'll take us. We then get a mini guided tour of the area and a potted life history, everyone we have met so far has been so friendly and helpful.
We are dropped off at the bus stop and are on the downtown tour a few minutes later. We see District 6 , go past one of the townships and see some of the historical buildings. There are so many vagrants and people sleeping rough in Cape Town. We've been told that during apartheid, many South Africans sought refuge in other African countries and now South Africa is returning the favour with an open door policy for many refugees. They can apply to live in the townships or pay a few pence to stay the night in a shelter, but many live on the streets. I find it rather uncomfortable that there are so many with nothing living among those who have everything. We pass a large store selling beds, several people are arranging their cardboard to spend the night on the street outside, I wonder if any of them have ever slept in a bed. At traffic lights and intersections many are wandering about amongst the traffic begging or selling stuff to drivers. All the Uber drivers lock their doors as soon as we get in.
We do the blue route afterwards , stopping at Hout Bay for lunch then the Constantia vineyards for winetasting. I'm the only wine drinker in the family, but that's not going to stop DH and boys from joining in. I think our wine pourer soon has the measure of us , with DH and boys grimacing and pulling faces with each tasting and me telling DH I prefer my usual £4 bottle from Aldis . DS21 has downed his five tastings as though downing cider, and wonders why he feels dizzy ( he rarely drinks alcohol and never wine) and once back on the hop on hop off bus DH promptly falls asleep We have a last stop at Camps bay for photos, DS18 is accosted by one of the many craft sellers, he takes a liking to one of the paintings on canvas ( it is nice, but way overpriced) and buys it after a bit of haggling. We walk along the seafront to take photos and five minutes later the artist's 'brother' catches up with us and offers DS a 'special price' if he buys a second painting His ' brother' must be a very prolific artist as we see his name on every other canvas artwork in Cape Town.

Back at the start of the route we are in time to catch the last free walking tour of the day. This one is taking us around the Bo Kaap area of Cape Town, originally settled by the freed Muslim slaves and famous for the brightly coloured houses. It's interesting and we get to taste a type of fried doughnut ,a local treat who's name I can't pronounce.

We tip our guide and he leaves us with directions to walk back to our accommodation. Of course we get lost. A rather dodgy looking character sees me looking at my map ( always a mistake to admit you don't know where you're going) and insists he'll show us the way. He's quite persistent when we about turn and say we don't need his help. We power walk in a random direction for a block ignoring him following behind , we eventually lose him and get back on course but a 15 minute walk takes half an hour. We were in a busy area and there were four of us, I imagine it would be rather unsettling if you were alone in a quieter street.
Dinner tonight is at a Turkish restaurant, 9 minutes walk from the house. We don't get lost but a large section of the road is closed and both pedestrians and traffic are diverted to a parallel street. We arrive at the restaurant ten minutes later than intended to find they are fully booked, I never thought to make a reservation. While we are working out how to get to the restaurant that is plan B , the owner comes out and tells us one of his reservations is late and if they don't show within five minutes we can have their table, so for once our extended walk worked in our favour. The meal is OK, nothing to rave about, we actually manage to walk home without getting lost.
No walking tomorrow, we have a private tour of the Cape Peninsula.

[ali-s]

Sorry for the delay in posting. We've been in Kruger without WiFi for the last week. We are back in civilization for tonight but the WiFi is so slow I really don't want to spend my evening trying to post, so will catch up when we are back in the UK

[ali-s]

Day 5

We are off on a tour of the peninsula today. Our driver heads first to Hout bay where we stopped on the hop on hop off bus, then along Chapman's peak for some scenic views before heading down to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape point.

It's gorgeously hot and sunny, have to remind myself it's winter here. We get the funicular railway up to the lighthouse. Lot's of people here and the baboons are hanging around waiting for an opportunity to thieve. One woman leaves her handbag on the wall while she takes a photo, I call a warning but too late, a baboon grabs her bag and after a rummage, scarpers with a bag of crisps. He then sits and eats them, looking very pleased with himself.

We have lunch at the two oceans restaurant, lovely setting with fantastic view. Back up the coast with a stop at Boulder's beach to overload on photos of cute penguins.

Back at the villa we pack, ready to leave tomorrow and get our last Uber to dinner.
I'm not sure how I feel about Cape Town. Underwhelmed is my best description, it has a lovely setting and friendly people but lacks the ' wow' factor for me. I'm glad we visited but doubt I'll be back.

[ali-s]

Day 6

Leaving Cape Town today. We fly from Cape Town to Nelspruit airport, approx 90 minutes from Kruger. It's a two hour flight. Not long out of Cape Town we see evidence of the drought they have been experiencing. The dams are very low. The area between Cape Town and Nelspruit is brown and barren, very few towns or even buildings.

It get greener as we approach Nelspruit. This is the only airport I've seen with a thatched roof.

We pick up our hire car from Avis , the only ones who'll let DS18 be an additional driver. He is pleased with our Hyundai Tucson, he drives a little Toyota Yaris back in the UK. Not so pleased to discover it's an automatic though, he says it's like driving a go cart, takes all the fun out of it. It's handy later in Kruger though when we can just trundle along at five miles an hour without stalling or changing gear.

But our first stop is not Kruger, we are heading West to Waterval Boven where DH has booked a tour of the stone circles. Large parts of South Africa and neighbouring countries are littered with hundreds and thousands of these circles, many thought to be older than Stonehenge .
Our Navmii app sets us in the right direction and I am soon whizzing down a dual carriageway at the 120 km speed limit with a solid yellow line on my left , which I assume is marking the hard shoulder and a pick up truck sitting on my tail. He over takes first chance he gets, which is when nothing is coming from the opposite direction , not when the road markings allow! Only to be replaced by another car on my bumper. I double check the speed limit, yes, 120 km, then understanding dawns when I watch my previous overtaker move onto the hard shoulder to make way for the car who's now passing me, who then flashes his hazards by way of ' thank you' . Not only is no attention paid to speed limits, the hard shoulder is used as an unofficial ' slow lane' for anyone driving at the speed limit, ie, tourists but the hard shoulder is also used by the many pedestrians as an unofficial footpath. Surely an accident waiting to happen.
I am just observing how free of congestion the roads are when we round a bend and find a woman stood on the verge ( not daft enough to stand on the hard shoulder) waving a red flag, what's that all about? Roadworks is the answer, the flag I assume means ' slow down' but no-one is paying attention, the number of flag wavers increases as we near the stop sign, this is manned by a guy jumping up and down doing semaphore with two flags, I puzzle over this as I continue past in the queue of traffic at 40 Kms an hour, I realise too late that he is telling our lane to STOP so he can manually move the stop sign from the opposite lane to ours, but of course , everyone is ignoring him! I feel bad, I have never driven through a stop sign in the UK.
We eventually reach the small museum where we meet our guide, have lunch and get a tour of the museum and a nearby circle. Unlike Adam's calendar which is a circle of standing stones, these circles consist of flat stones layered one on top the other. Each stone rings like a bell when tapped. One theory is these circles were made to create sound energy. Our guide is passionate about her interest and DH is enjoying himself but the boys are a bit bored and I'm wanting to get to the nights accommodation before dark.

DS18 drives us to our b&b, 40 minutes away in the private town of Kaapsehoop. Luckily no roadworks, but the town is up a track that goes up and up, my ears pop and the scenery would probably be stunning if it was light enough to appreciate it.
We arrive without incident at our b&b, have dinner and then an early night, tomorrow we have a tour of Adam's calendar ( another stone circle) before heading to Kruger.

[Melbatb]

It all sounds amazing! Though the driving sounds a bit hairy at times!

[ali-s]

Adams Calendar and Kruger

This is the day both DH and I have been waiting for, DH because we are visiting Adams Calendar, me because we drive to Kruger.
We meet our guide on the edge of the village and buy water for our walk. Adams Calendar is approx an hour's walk away and not sign posted as it's such a sensitive area. This is thought by some to be the oldest stone circle in the world, way older than Stonehenge. On the way we encounter several of the wild horses that Kaapsehoop is famous for. On reaching the circle we have views from the sheer drop nearby and the guide's explanation of the stones positions and purpose is quite interesting , but I couldn't say this was the highlight of my trip

Back at the b& b the car is loaded,Navmii app set with our location in Kruger , ( I have preloaded all our possible destinations into Navmii, AND printed out Google maps AND bought a paper road map, all bases covered ) and we are on our way. The plan is to stop at a large supermarket enroute to Kruger and stock up on some braii ( BBQ) items, I eat fish but not meat, and while the rest camps in Kruger stock a reasonable selection of groceries, I doubt they'll have much choice where fish and vegetarian items are concerned. Ever organised I have my itinerary, drive times and shopping list all printed out. I aim to arrive at camp with a couple of hours to spare, we will have a look around and then have our first braii ( keep wanting to say BBQ, but it's braii over here) most of the camps have restaurants, but all accommodations have braiis and it sounds like a fun way to keep to our budget.
We are making good time and are less than 10 Kms from the supermarket when we round a bend and come to a stop. Traffic is backed up as far as we can see,more roadworks? After 20 mins several police cars, traffic patrols, medic response units and ambulances pass us in the opposite lane, and there is nothing coming towards us, looks like an accident then , and a bad one judging by the number of emergency vehicles attending. We sit and wait some more. We are on a two lane highway and many of the vehicles are big trucks. No way they can turn around so surely they'll get the road open as soon as possible? After an hour some cars have about turned and I'm wondering if we should do the same, though we are so close to our location and getting to the next nearest entrance to Kruger would put us well behind schedule. Eventually the police drive down the queue telling everyone who can to turn around, the road won't be open anytime soon. We follow a long line of traffic up a mountain and down the other side, we haven't a clue where we are, we can't find it on our roadmap and Navmii is hysterically telling us to ' do a u turn' so we turn it off. The policeman told me we would come out near the Kruger entrance gate so I try not to stress how time is running on.
Both the Kruger main gates and restcamp gates have fixed open and close times, if you don't arrive at the main gate in time to make it to your restcamp before gates close , you won't be allowed to enter. This is beginning to look like a possibility and I'm mentally going through options of where we can stay the night. Over two hours later we arrive in the town near the gate, Navmii comes to life again and immediately takes us in the wrong direction, luckily I realise, but not until we get stuck in more roadworks. We get some strange looks as we drive through , about turn and drive though again
We make it to the Kruger entrance gate 30 mins before gates close. We only have 12 Kms to go to our restcamp so we are admitted no problem, but the speed limit inside the park is 50 Kms per hour on the sealed roads and you have to allow for hold ups due to wildlife on the road. We know we'll get to camp, but if we are late we can be fined. So, no relaxed drive , game spotting as we go, just a 12 km drive at the speed limit. And wouldn't you know it, we have two rhino crash out of the undergrowth infront of us, DS18 can't believe his luck, we were hoping to see rhino but nothing is guaranteed and now here they are, and we don't have time to stop and watch! Rounding the next bend a pack of wild dog are all over the road. Wow,wow and wow. A rare sighting and again , DS gets a quick pic on his phone and we continue, we pass zebra, baboons and giraffe.

Notime to appreciate any of them. We get to camp with less than ten minutes to spare and with no groceries , we eat at the camp restaurant, which seems to be fully booked and understaffed. Our meals take ages to arrive. But , we are in Kruger and tomorrow is another day. ( And we don't see the wild dogs again and only get a glimpse of the rhino )

I have just found out ( on 8th August) that the hold up was not caused by an accident, it was a ' cash in transit heist' . Four vehicles containing 10 suspects fired on an armoured vehicle until it stopped, the driver was allowed to get out ( injured but not seriously) they then blew up the armoured van , took the cash and made their escape. All this was happening just a few Kms down the road from where we were. Thank God we thought it was an accident! There is video footage online filmed by a driver who saw it happening and phoned it ( very calmly) into the police. Seems to be a regular occurrence in South Africa.
timeslive.co.za/news/sou...ed-on-highway/

[ali-s]

Kruger. Berg n Dal - Lower Sabie

Early start for our first full day in Kruger. We are going on a bush walk. Sanparks run walks and drives from all their camps and they often give you the opportunity to be out of camp before the gates open or after they close. So at 5.30am ten of us are in a safari vehicle with two armed rangers. We drive a few Kms out of camp, then get out and walk for a couple of hours. The rules are single file, no talking, no loud noises and do what the ranger says. Surprisingly this is never ' run!' thank goodness, as I've only got short legs we are warned that in certain situations we may be told to ' get behind that tree' , think I can cope with that. It is rather surreal though to be walking in the vicinity of wild animals. We see elephant and I am astonished at how quietly they move and how easily they blend into their surroundings. It would be very easy , and possibly dangerous to stumble across one. We then see rhino, two white think ( 'white' doesn't refer to the colour, it's a corruption of the Afrikaans for ' wide' referring to the mouth/ lips) the rhino are fairly close and we are upwind of them, they are obviously aware of us, they have poor eyesight but excellent hearing and smell. The rangers go about repositioning us and I daren't take a photo incase the camera noise results in a charging rhino LOL. DH has no such qualms and manages to get a couple of photos.

We have a break for snacks and juice and then a gentle walk back to the vehicle, learning about some of the native plants and trees and being told how to recognise animal tracks. DS21 asks me the classic question ' why was there a lion track where we were walking?' he hasn't got his head around the idea that we are in their habitat
Back at camp we pack up, pay a quick visit to the camp shop ( and confirm my suspicions that vegetarians and fish eaters are an afterthought) and then start our very first game drive enroute to our camp for the next two nights, Lower Sabie. It was so exciting to be able to drive along , spotting our own wildlife. You can tell all the newbies on their first drive as they are the ones stopping at every impala and wildebeest As well as the compulsory impala we saw; elephants, steenbok, kudu, buffalo, hyena, giraffe, zebra and hornbills.

I call this a giraffe tree

As we neared Lower Sabie there were half a dozen vehicles parked blocking the road. I'd read about this and announced ' I bet it's lions' otherwise known as a ' cat jam' sure enough, a pride of maybe eight lions were lying on the road, we assumed they were enjoying the sun warmed tarmac but later learnt they can also lie on the road to pick up the vibrations of hooved animals crossing further along and so plan their evening's hunting. They were in no hurry to move and not at all concerned about the vehicles manoeuvring through the one gap left. I couldn't believe we were passing within four feet of a fully grown male lion, with only a car door between us .

We arrived at Lower Sabie with plenty of time to look around and buy a few more essentials for our first braii. Vegetable kebabs and baking potatoes seemed to be the extent of vegetarian goodies, no fish, fresh or frozen.
Before dinner we drive a short distance out the camp to Sunset dam, where , you guessed it,we sat and watched the sunset, with hippos , crocs and storks in the foreground. Absolutely beautiful.
Back at camp we start our first braii. Unlike our frustrating and lengthy attempts to get the BBQ going in the UK this was easy. We bought a ' braii in a box' a clever assembly of kindling wood, newspaper and charcoal with firelighters. You simply light the firelighters then stand the box on top of them. Instantly well alight, works every time. Wish they sold them in the UK.

My Vege kebabs and jacket potato were acceptable and DH and boys tried their first ostrich steak, apparently it tastes like beef!
And so ends our first day. I love the smells, the sights and especially the sounds around us. I hope I don't get used to it too quickly.

[skalexander]

Really enjoying your report so far, looking forward to the rest

[penguin19]

Loving this. So glad you got to go and see the penguins

[Melbatb]

Wow to all the animals! Sounds amazing!