South Africa & Namibia
Trip Report: African Animal Adventures
Winding Down
Johannesburg
Day 18
It was time to leave the bush behind. We struck out south from Hamilton's on a dirt road that we heard was better than the one we came in on. It was. It was also virtually devoid of any game. 3 buffalo and a handful of impalas. This is one area that has had the double whammy - the ponds and dams were dry and the windmill was still as the area baked in the sun. Drought + water suspension. We finally turned off onto tar and went to Skukuza for lunch before our flight.
Due to flight scheduling we had to depart from Cape Town but the routing from Skukuza was always through Johannesburg. Rather than just bounce through again, I decided to use some more Hilton Honors points for something in Sandton - therefore avoiding the less tourist friendly parts of Johannesburg.. That way we could have dinner with a fellow Porsche enthusiast who had also been helpful with the what-to-sees on this trip.
It all went according to plan. I had arranged a shuttle EZ Shuttle who I subsequently used for pick up/drop off in Cape Town as well. The dude with the sign is a welcome sight sometimes. That said, the train is the way to go. For R11 pp we trained from Sandton back out to the airport in 20 minutes.
It was time to leave the bush behind. We struck out south from Hamilton's on a dirt road that we heard was better than the one we came in on. It was. It was also virtually devoid of any game. 3 buffalo and a handful of impalas. This is one area that has had the double whammy - the ponds and dams were dry and the windmill was still as the area baked in the sun. Drought + water suspension. We finally turned off onto tar and went to Skukuza for lunch before our flight.
Due to flight scheduling we had to depart from Cape Town but the routing from Skukuza was always through Johannesburg. Rather than just bounce through again, I decided to use some more Hilton Honors points for something in Sandton - therefore avoiding the less tourist friendly parts of Johannesburg.. That way we could have dinner with a fellow Porsche enthusiast who had also been helpful with the what-to-sees on this trip.
It all went according to plan. I had arranged a shuttle EZ Shuttle who I subsequently used for pick up/drop off in Cape Town as well. The dude with the sign is a welcome sight sometimes. That said, the train is the way to go. For R11 pp we trained from Sandton back out to the airport in 20 minutes.
Review Allora Cnr Gwen Lane & Fredman Drive, Sandton We dined here with a new acquaintance at his suggestion. The menu was extensive & the wine choices were sufficient. I had steak - which was perfectly cooked & our table's other choices: gnocchi & pasta were also well received. A very good dinner overall & a bargain for those of us from North America. 4/5
Willem pick us up at 7 pm with apologies from his wife who could not come. He suggested an Italian place nearby. He lives and works within blocks of the Hilton in Sandton. He works in the banking IT industry. Just to explain a bit about the local history, urban decay of downtown Johannesburg in the early 1990s created modern Sandton as the Central Business District moved to this northern suburb. The stock exchange, banks and business hotel's like the Hilton crowded the downtown space of Sandton. Everybody told us to go to the incredible mall but timing wouldn't allow. We also skipped seeing any of greater Johannesburg except for a few neighbourhoods our EZ driver used as a shortcut. And they told the tale. Everything was gated. And they have the evilest spikes on top that I ever seen.
We got along very well with Willem and we discussed and solved the world's problems. And killed a couple of bottles of wine. And closed the restaurant as the staff were stacking furniture to get us to leave. Seriously though, it is evident that South Africa has some huge problems to overcome. Unfortunately, the outlook is grim.
We got along very well with Willem and we discussed and solved the world's problems. And killed a couple of bottles of wine. And closed the restaurant as the staff were stacking furniture to get us to leave. Seriously though, it is evident that South Africa has some huge problems to overcome. Unfortunately, the outlook is grim.
Cape Town
Day 19
Our last full day in South Africa. Of course, we had to go to an airport. We flew from Johannesburg to Cape Town to position ourselves for tomorrow's haul home. I got tickets on Julula Air - a regional junket operator. Hey, they were cheap. Our seatmate - a business man on his way home - helped explain the square mounds that were visible from the air around JNB. Goldmines. The metal that built Johannesburg.
We arrived at CPT and our EZ driver was there to get us to our B & B.
Our last full day in South Africa. Of course, we had to go to an airport. We flew from Johannesburg to Cape Town to position ourselves for tomorrow's haul home. I got tickets on Julula Air - a regional junket operator. Hey, they were cheap. Our seatmate - a business man on his way home - helped explain the square mounds that were visible from the air around JNB. Goldmines. The metal that built Johannesburg.
We arrived at CPT and our EZ driver was there to get us to our B & B.
Review Cape Riviera 31 Belvedere Ave, Oranjezicht, Cape Town Central The location is great. The staff are friendly & helpful with great restaurant tips. The rooms are neat, tidy & well-appointed. The breakfast was quite good with made-to-order available (and included!). And they even have an elevator to get to the top floors! We quite enjoyed our brief one night stay & I would highly recommend Cape Riviera to anyone visiting Cape Town
We got to the Riviera around 3 pm. It was perfect. Our room was on the top floor but their elevator was a godsend. We have struggled with a lot of stairs in a lot of hotels due to our balcony need. We had 2 views. Table Mountain out back and downtown Cape Town out front. With the denouement of our trip imminent, Blanca's urgent need for gifts to take home was front and center. She accused me of building the perfect no shopping trip. Many of the places that we went didn't have gift-type stores. Her attempt at the gift store in Skukuza was a crash & burn because their Credit Card system was down due to an Internet failure and the local ATM only excepted South African cards. She found this out after spending over an hour choosing things. Anyways, she was insistent on something now!
So we aimed towards the V&A Warehouse wharf area. This was tourism central in Cape Town. Tourist safe hotels and tourist safe restaurants and in a town with the reputation like Cape Town, it was an easy choice. Despite a strong recommendation to go to the restaurant Fork, we had the guesthouse woman book us a good meat restaurant at V & A.
We went. She shopped. We ate. We were done.
So we aimed towards the V&A Warehouse wharf area. This was tourism central in Cape Town. Tourist safe hotels and tourist safe restaurants and in a town with the reputation like Cape Town, it was an easy choice. Despite a strong recommendation to go to the restaurant Fork, we had the guesthouse woman book us a good meat restaurant at V & A.
We went. She shopped. We ate. We were done.
Review Belthazar Shop 153, Lower Level Victoria Wharf, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town SA A steakhouse in a tourist zone like V&A is going to be fair at best. I mean, you just know it, right? It doesn't matter where you are in the world, a restaurant near a tourist area will be vastly over-priced, with friendly but fake service & quite probably mediocre food. Well, Belthazar proved this all wrong. I had a 10 year old wine that should have been double the price. Our steaks were tasty & perfectly cooked - and fairly priced. And lastly, the service was efficient & very friendly. I am surprised that this place wasn't packed. Anyways, well done Belthazar!
A Conclusion
Whenever you finish a trip, you always want to go back. That is unless you vacationed in some steamy hellhole or your cruise ship got food poisoning or you were throw in jail . . . but typically you get home exhausted but pumped. You are still on your travel high.
Amazing! The best trip ever! Incredible! Trip of a lifetime!
And of course, that is the way we felt about South Africa. Will we go back? Probably not. But if we do, it would be to Kruger Park. Fly to Joburg and rent a car for 2 weeks. Drive to the park picking up supplies on the way and self-drive and self-cater in Lower Sabie or split the time with a camp in the north. Finally have our own braai like a proper Kruger camper. We could do it for 1/2 of what we paid for this trip and fly Premium Economy if I shop around a bit. Yeah, We could get into that. But hovering in the background is that old adage: You can never go back.
The trip plan worked very well. Flights, hotels, rental cars - all of the usual suspects clicked. Using Trip Advisor reviews paid off once more with great accommodations that were damn near perfect for us. Ditto the restaurants with that one failure in Francshhoek. As usual we didn't try to see it all, we just saw what we wanted to in every place we visited. But it was a fast paced trip for us. A few more down days would have been beneficial. There were a lot of early mornings - too many. Well, as usual, unless you want to waste a whole day for a 2 hour flight, you have to go early. And the desert and the game drives added to the early starts so it was the nature of the beast for those locales.
The trip home was cruel. Especially the Cape Town to Istanbul leg. That stopped in Johannesburg for 2 hours to fill up, "Oh, you didn't know that it stopped? I don't know why it wasn't on your ticket information, sir . . ." And milling around Ataturk airport without a boarding pass for 4 hours was also a pure joy. Turkish Air now joins Air Transat and LOT on my no-fly list. 'Nuf said.
That's it until next time.
Ian
PS The last photo below is our Bengal cat investigating our African gifts. Our very own wildcat.
Amazing! The best trip ever! Incredible! Trip of a lifetime!
And of course, that is the way we felt about South Africa. Will we go back? Probably not. But if we do, it would be to Kruger Park. Fly to Joburg and rent a car for 2 weeks. Drive to the park picking up supplies on the way and self-drive and self-cater in Lower Sabie or split the time with a camp in the north. Finally have our own braai like a proper Kruger camper. We could do it for 1/2 of what we paid for this trip and fly Premium Economy if I shop around a bit. Yeah, We could get into that. But hovering in the background is that old adage: You can never go back.
The trip plan worked very well. Flights, hotels, rental cars - all of the usual suspects clicked. Using Trip Advisor reviews paid off once more with great accommodations that were damn near perfect for us. Ditto the restaurants with that one failure in Francshhoek. As usual we didn't try to see it all, we just saw what we wanted to in every place we visited. But it was a fast paced trip for us. A few more down days would have been beneficial. There were a lot of early mornings - too many. Well, as usual, unless you want to waste a whole day for a 2 hour flight, you have to go early. And the desert and the game drives added to the early starts so it was the nature of the beast for those locales.
The trip home was cruel. Especially the Cape Town to Istanbul leg. That stopped in Johannesburg for 2 hours to fill up, "Oh, you didn't know that it stopped? I don't know why it wasn't on your ticket information, sir . . ." And milling around Ataturk airport without a boarding pass for 4 hours was also a pure joy. Turkish Air now joins Air Transat and LOT on my no-fly list. 'Nuf said.
That's it until next time.
Ian
PS The last photo below is our Bengal cat investigating our African gifts. Our very own wildcat.
Addendum:
Someone asked what animals we saw. Here is what we remember - in order of sighting:
The So-called Big Five *
Someone asked what animals we saw. Here is what we remember - in order of sighting:
- Hadada ibis
- Tree squirrel
- Chacma Baboon
- African penguin (endangered)
- Black backed jackal
- Springbok
- Oryx
- Ostrich
- Crocodile
- Impala
- Warthog
- Vervet monkey
- Cape buffalo *
- Kudu
- Bataleur
- Giraffe
- Nyala
- Hippopotamus
- White Rhinoceros *
- Leopard *
- African wild dog (endangered)
- Elephant *
- Monitor lizard
- Lion *
- Black Rhinoceros * (critically endangered)
- Rock python
- Honey badger
- Zebra
- Wildebeest
- Leopard tortoise
- Spotted hyena
- Ground Hornbill
- African civet
- White-backed vulture
- Brown snake eagle
- Cheetah
- Bushbuck
- Dwarf mongoose
- Bushbaby
- Duiker
- Waterbuck
The So-called Big Five *