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Published: August 18th 2010
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Glen Afric
I think Nik will be a good mamma!!!!!!! So prior to the wedding we just had to go back to the motherland - South Africa. So we made the arrangements and got on the plane for the long flight(s). For the first time I decided to go through Europe. We went to Minneapolis and then Amsterdam and then South Africa. So just a little advice. If you fly to South Africa from the US - go through Europe. It is a couple hours more flight time, but breaking up the flight and being able to just walk around between flights were incredible. We got to Amsterdam at 6 in the morning, watched the sunrise, had a Heineken, and were out cold on the plane to South Africa.
Got there around 10 at night and was a whole ordeal with seeing the parents the first time - they don't really speak English so the first barrier was pretty big. Anyway, we got in the car and drove 7 hours straight to Durban. We got there just in time for sunrise and it was incredible. I grew up more on the southwestern side of South Africa and only occasionally went to the east coast so this was kind of new
Durban
Nikkie's first view of Africa for me too. We mainly went to Durban to watch my brother play cricket - it was nice to see him again after 3 years. We were in Durban for about 3 days. In Durban you should definitely do a curry dish - Durban has a big Indian population.
Next we drove west to the DRAKENSBERG MOUNTAINS (Dragon Mountains) in MPUMALANGA PROVINCE to get HOT AND BOTHERED IN THE DRAKENSBERG MOUNTAINS (it was anything but hot and bothered as it was cold and tranquil). In all my life I have never been here. This is essentially the only place in South Africa where you can ski. We got there at night - stayed at an awesome B&B in Winterton. The morning was really overcast - so we did not see much. At the foot of the Drakensberg, only a couple miles from Winterton, they had a raptor refuge where we did some BIRD-WATCHING. You will not ever get closer to these animals in the wild. They soar up to thousands of feet, are called by a signal and just dives straight down to come and get the "prey". It was spectacular - as were some of the pictures we
Durban
Out shopping!! got. We slowly made our way to Bloemfontein by driving through backroads and small villages. That is half the fun of our trips - find the untravelled path.
We were in Bloemfontein for 3-4 days. Really not that much to do (my brother lives here). If you want good seafood go to "The Ocean Basket". It is awesome. It was $40 for 5 people and we had drinks and a lot of food. About an hour west of Bloemfontein is Kimberley with the Big Hole - the biggest man made hole in the world and sort of the start of the diamond rush. Watch out along the road since you are more than likely to see wildlife. Be careful though since essentially all roads in South Africa are 2 lane and you drive on the "wrong" side of the road.
So in Bloemfontein we did a classical traditional "braai". It is like barbeque with the difference that we make an actual fire and the whole thing can take anywhere from 3 - 6 hours. First you put on some garlic-stuffed/ topped with cheese mushrooms. "Boerewors" (sausage) is next and you eat it right off the grill. Then you
put on a whole chicken and again just grab a piece and keep on talking (at this point 3 beers would have been consumed at a minimum). You finish it off with some steaks and you take out the fresh bread from the oven and you eat and enjoy - while chugging on beer number 5 and getting louder and louder while more and more people join and by midnight your tummy should be nice and full while the number of people around the braai somehow doubled. That is how we do it. One other thing to try in South Africa - have some "biltong" (beef jerky). It is incredible. They have a variety called chili bites that is good too.
So Nikkie and I finally had to say our goodbyes. We had one last stop. About an hour west of Johannesburg is a wildlife refuge called Glen Afric. It was probably one of the best experiences of my life. We had a 2 hour walk with 2 full-grown African elephants accompanied by 2 baby elephants no older than 7 months. These little creatures were just falling all over the place and they were constantly in your pockets looking
for food. We fed the 2 big ones and looked at other wildlife on our walk. Afterwards we took a little "safari" where they show you lions, tigers, leopards (unfortunately they are in small camps). If you have the opportunity please do the elephant walk. It is a true once in a life time experience and we will talk about that for a very long time.
South Africa has much, much more to offer, but something tells me that we will come here plenty more to see the Coetzee's. Oh - my parents absolutely loved Nikkie and about 3 days into the trip they were talking none-stop and Nikkie knew all the cusswords.
On this trip we managed to only do only 2 things from our books - the Drakensberg were in 2 books- so that was a little bit of a disappointment, but it was good to see my parents. 11 down (we are in double digits) and 3,033 to go.
Till next time
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