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Published: January 17th 2009
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And the winner is... AFRICA! We very nearly gave up on Steph's choice due to the cost (and Steph's "medical condition"), but then at the last minute, it turned out that Anthony had to be in South Africa for work in November anyway. Fabulous! And then we discovered a malaria-free game reserve. Perfect! Our “babymoon” was set!
We've both always wanted to go to Africa - it was meant to be the first place we went after we got married, but moving to Europe kinda changed the order of things. We were very lucky to get it in before Peanut arrives!
Unfortunately we missed out on seeing some things we'd planned - Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was held (closed - renovations!), Table Mountain in Cape Town (closed - high winds!), and the Whale watching cruise in Hermanus (closed - rough seas!). But that all kind of faded into insignificance with everything else we saw including the safari and unexpected highlights like the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg.
We spent the first few days in Cape Town, which was really pretty. I think the best part was heading down to the national park at the Cape of Good Hope ("the
Cape Town
With Table Mountain in the background most south-westerly point of Africa"). It was soooo beautiful. There were signs everywhere saying not to feed the baboons so we got excited about the wildlife early but didn't see a single one! We hiked up to the light house right on the point for an amazing view and Steph attracting lots of double-takes ("Is she pregnant or fat?!" hehe). The scenery was quite similar to the Great Ocean Road - which I guess shouldn't be surprising given the location - and on the way back to Cape Town we got our first look at baboons, playing in the middle of the road! They were very cheeky and not frightened at all but we stayed safely in our car 😊. The drive was interesting but the huge gap between the rich and poor very quickly became obvious. Not exactly the time you feel excited about getting a free upgrade to a BMW hire car...
After the first day the weather went totally nuts, gale force winds and rain, rain, rain! It was amazing watching the sea from our hotel. But we still had a chance to check out Cape Town, see the aquarium and look around the shops. Table
Safari in Style :)
Our cabin on Safari Mountain didn't happen but we weren't exactly in a position to hike up or down it anyway!
Next we went to Hermanus which is famous for the whales which migrate past on their way south, passing very close to the shore. The weather ended our plans of a cruise but we decided to give the whale watching a go from the point anyway. And we almost gave up but were so glad we persevered! The whales literally come within about 50 metres and put on a spectacular display! We think we saw about 4 or 5 (although it could have been just one going back and forth messing with us 😊)
Our next stop was Knysna where we met Nathan (a work friend of Anth's from Australia) & his girlfriend Rebecca, who now live in South Africa. From there we headed to Port Elizabeth and on to Kwandwe for the main event - the Safari!
WOW. It was everything we could have hoped for and dreamed about and more.
Set on 20,000 hectares of reclaimed farmland, and repopulated with native animals, it was just an amazing experience. Our room was beautiful, although a little scary because
Big Guy!
Our first elephant the accommodation isn't fenced at all - so after dark you need an armed escort back to your room for protection from the lions! We had an outdoor shower (again, a little scary!) and a plunge pool and we looked across down to the river.
Although we didn’t realise to start with, we were so lucky to see all that we did. Each day we had a morning drive (round about 4:30am - 9:00am) and an evening drive (4:00pm - 8:00pm) with a driver and a tracker. On the first evening drive we came across a male rhinoceros, just wandering along the road in front of us, scent marking everything! We drove into a herd of elephants and found a pride of lions hanging out in the afternoon sun with five reasonably big cubs.
VERY early the next morning we got up to go on a special “Carnivore Safari”. We had an extra ranger who had just completed her PhD, in which she had collared and monitored some of the big cats. This made it a little easier to find the elusive leopard, although not foolproof! We had an antenna attached to a unit which beeped when he
Kill!
Dragging the impala to a shady spot to devour - conveniently (?) right next to our car!! was nearby, but with the hills, valleys and dense undergrowth, we knew roughly where he was but that didn’t mean we could see him…
Fortunately he came out of his hiding to cross the road and we spotted him! He was amazing and very stealthy.
Also on the Carnivore Safari we tracked a female cheetah and her four cubs, who she was teaching to hunt! This involved her showing them how to catch the prey, and then leaving it alive for them to come in and kill… and we got to see it! Twice! The first time we arrived just as they had made the kill, and it was a little tragic - it was a baby kudu (antelope) and it’s mother came back over the hill to see it being eaten 😞. The second time was soon afterwards - apparently they were still hungry! We watched the whole process from a distance of the mother stalking a group of impala and then the four cubs making the kill. The craziest thing about that was that they killed the impala and then proceeded to drag it over to the shade to eat… about 5 metres away from our open
Giraffe Wrestle
Probably our favourite safari photo top jeep! It was just so cool to see, and by that stage we had adjusted to it being “meat” and were more curious than revolted.
We spent four days on the safari and absolutely loved every minute of it. We ticked off the “Big Five”, which is an old hunting description for the most dangerous - elephant, lion, leopard, white rhino and buffalo. But our favourite were probably still the zebra and giraffe.
We had some particularly memorable experiences. At one point we drove into a “dazzle” of zebra and antelope on the river plains. Initially they just stood around watching, but all of a sudden they ran! It looked incredible.
We were also really interested in seeing giraffe “up close” and on the final day we were rewarded. We came across a journey of giraffe (zooming past a rhino and her baby on the way) with two giraffes with their necks entwined in what we had previously imagined was a mating ritual… but turned out to be two males fighting! They were using their necks in a bit of a sword fight, twisting them around each other and generally trying to push and overpower one
The Future King
Apparently still a teenager but pretty impressive still! another! Our ranger was really excited (and hurriedly got out his super massive extra large camera lens) which made us realise how rare it is to see this up close.
We couldn’t possibly explain all the fantastic things we saw… Watching family groups of elephants make their way across the valley, rolling in every available puddle and eating everything within reach… Seeing a male tortoise SLOWLY pursue his quest…. Following a pride of lions “on the prowl” and then hearing the dominant male calling them… the funniest thing is that they refused to answer the call! Our ranger said that the females probably didn’t really want him to join them because then they would have to share whatever they killed! But we feel so lucky to have been able to experience it all.
After our safari, we headed to Johannesburg, which was the “excuse” for the trip - Anthony’s work conference - and Steph studied. On our final day we had lunch (& consumer connections!) in Soweto and went to the Apartheid Museum, which was really shocking. Perhaps mostly because it was so recent, ending in only 1994… and the things that happened were just appalling. It was
really well done and we could even have spent a little more time there.
And our babymoon was over. Although I’m sure that we’ll manage to fit a few more things in before Peanut’s arrival… next stop the Artic Circle in winter 😊
Steph
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