A day to explore Cape Town. No better way than use the Hop On Hop Off City Tourist bus. It starts close to our hotel and goes around the greater Cape Town area. It was a beautiful day, without a cloud in the sky so we decided to hop off at Table Mountain and journey to the top. It turned out to be the right decision as the views we amazing. A cable car takes you to the top, so after a lot of queuing we boarded the cable car, which rotates in the ride up so you get a panoramic view.

The views at the top are stunning, providing a view of the city and surrounding country. Beyond the city is Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was jailed for 18 years. So close, but so far from the city. Walking around the top of table mountain is spectacular and occasionally tests your head for heights. Definitely worth the journey up.

Then back to our bus to complete the loop around Cape Town. There is a beach town just outside the city called Camps Bay. It seemed rude not to stop for lunch, so we found the Tiger Milk bar and spent a few hours having a lazy late lunch watching the world go by. We are becoming increasingly fond of South Africa by the hour. Tomorrow we head to Robben Island.

Arrived in Cape Town

 

Next stop Cape Town. A 12:25 flight from Durban King Shaka International airport. Everyone has recommended we use Uber taxis as they are heavily regulated and safe. This was 20 minute drive from our hotel to the airport. It was a domestic flight, so we were through to the departure area within 20 minutes of arriving. The flight was longer than scheduled due to strong headwinds, but the flight was on time and easy.  We collected our bags and took another Uber to Cape Town. Our hotel is close to the Waterside and the old Victoria and Alfred (Victoria’s second son) docks. It has now been redeveloped with shops and restaurants, busy with the weekend visitors. The famous Cape Town Table top mountain over looks the city. An amazing backdrop, which was made even more impressive by the cloud clinging to the top.

The selection of restaurants is huge, but we hadn't booked, so we were turned away from a number of them. We ended up in the Quay Four pub, which turned out to be a good choice. Janice went for the Prawn option, which turned out to be sufficient to feed a whole family in the UK, all for £10, amazing. We are enjoying the food in South Africa.

Tomorrow we will start to explore Cape Town. Can't wait.

On to Durban

 

Our last morning in Nambiti before moving to Durban for one night. Another 5am wake up call for our last  drive out in the reserve. After coffee to help us wake up, we set off at 05:30 as the sun was rising. There are a number of private lodges across Nambiti, which means there are many vehicles out at this time. All the guides know each other and stay in contact to share sightings. Just as we set off the news came of a pride of lions close to our lodge. We drove close and parked up. We could see them looking down on us from a distance and then they started to move one at a time, walking towards the road and our vehicle. The guides we unnerved. The lions had no interest in us and more interested in heading to another part of the reserve. They followed a path directly across the road in front of us, walking slowly, but with purpose. They are the king of this reserve and clearly not afraid of humans. Looking at the size of their paws, you could see why they fancy themselves against most things around them.

It started to get busy, so we decided to leave everyone to watch the lions and headed off to a more remote part of the reserve, stopping to see various sights along the way until we found a large waterfall in the centre of park. Its summer and there has been a lot of rain, so the waterfall was running fast. We pour coffee and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

On our way back we came across four Giraffes grazing on the hillside, which was unusual as up-to this point we had only seen them on their own. They are one of our favourite animals from the safari and we loved this particular one.

On our way back we ventured close to where the lions had been earlier in the morning. We found them asleep, recovering from their night hunting. Nine in total, including a number of cubs. They slept as we took photos. I 'm sure they knew exactly where we were and comforted knowing that the onlookers stood no chance if they came too close.

Our time in Nambiti had come to an end. We orgnaised a car to take us to Durban, which was a three hour drive. Nambiti is around 1000 metre in altitude, so it can be wet and cold in the summer. The journey took us lower to the warmer coastal area. Our hotel is north of Durban in the holiday town uMhalanga. A hot beach area where the local businesses pay to keep the area safe. Looking out to sea, there are many ships waiting to port. This is where my grand father was torpedoed in WWII and swam to his safety, It did make me think about the fun he would have had after going through a life / death experience, it must have been surreal going from nearly dying to landing in this amazing country. 

 

Tomorrow we head to Cape Town. We have a later alarm than the previous two days as as our flight is midday. I go to bed a little frustrated that England lost to Scotland in the Rugby, but appeased that West Ham came away with a deserved draw against Newcastle. Janice is celebrating Ireland convincingly beating Wales in the Rugby. Next stop Cape Town. We are thousands of miles away from the UK, but sport  is global. 

Nambiti Game Reserve

Nambiti Game Reserve

A knock at the door from our guide was our 5am alarm call. We quickly dressed before a quick coffee prior to heading out into the reserve. A beautiful morning with a few misty clouds, but most of the overnight rain clouds had left us. Our guide, Jason, was full of energy and ready to explore. This is their job, but you sense they love heading out to see the wildlife. We didn’t go far before Jason spotted two Black Rhino. A mother and calf. The Black Rhinos are territorial and can be aggressive, but they didn’t seem concerned about us. The Black Rhino is a protected animal. They are hunted for their horn. The Nambiti reserve invests heavily in protecting all the animals, bur especially the Rhino. They have spotters out every day checking on them and teams of specialists deployed in the reserve looking for poachers. The reserve removes the horn from all their Rhino so they are not be killed for it. It seems perverse that this needs to be done, but if they are going to protect the Rhino from extinction, then it is important to take this approach.  

Black Rhino

When we initally booked the Safari, the discussion was around seeing "The Big 5"; Rhino, Elephant, African Buffalo, Lion and Leopard. The Big 5 name came from the hunters who considered these as the hardest to hunt on foot. Today, the term is more associated with Safari and animal spotting. So far we have seen four of them. We have not seen the Leopard, but it does not feel like a disappointment. What you soon realise is Safari is much more than The Big 5.  There are many other amazing animals, incredible birds and beautiful scenery. There seems no better time to be experiencing this than early morning. No wonder that most of the other people in our lodge have been on Safari multiple times.

We stopped at one point for coffee, with the traditional Amarula, the South African Bailey’s as the milk alternative 😏 to watch the world go by. The sun was up and a great chance to enjoy the warmth of the day.

                Our Guides Jason                                                                                           and Johnno

The highlight of the morning was while heading back to the Lodge. We came across a Giraffe and multiple Zebra close the road. The Zebra and Giraffe seemed very relaxed together, you can only assume that they both have a common predator in the Lion, so they are happy to use each other to spot danger. The Giraffe also had the helping beak of the Red Billed Oxpecker which was picking insects and tics from its head. 

We returned back to the lodge around 9am for breakfast and a leisurely day. After good food and watching the world go by,  it was time for the evening drive out. The sun had been shining all day, but as the evening approached storm clouds were forming, A group of Elephants had been seen a few miles away, so our guide headed our Safari vehicle (which is built from a Toyota Land Cruiser) in the direction of the Elephants. On the way we spotted a Black Rhino and her very young calf, but we didn’t stay long as the rain was coming and we wanted to see the Elephants. They didn’t disappoint. The herd of Elephants were close to a herd of Buffalo. Two of the big 5 together. Lovely to sit and watch.

     

And then the heavens opened and we started to get wet. Our quick thinking guide made a dash for a parking area to find a dry place to park while the storm passed. A smart move and ensured we went home dry. The icing on the cake came when we passed a small pond with Hippopotimus swimming. We could only see a small part of their heads in the water, but it was a great feeling to have seen them in the wild.

 

Finally happy birthday Mum.

Touched down in Johannesburg

Our flight finally left at 5pm on the 1st February, about 20 hours late. We were able to adjust our plans so on arrival we were picked up by the Safari company. Unfortunately a hotel night was lost, but we have another 28 ahead, so it was not the end of the world. As we boarded the plane, it was like meeting old friends. The flight staff and the passengers sitting around us were exactly the same, so we took time to share our stories of the night before, then we all settled down with a drink and enjoyed the flight. 

We arrived in Johannesburg - OR Tambo International airport just before 6am. BA needed special permission to land this early, but given the flight had been delayed two nights in a row, they had a reasonable argument. After passing customs and buying a SIM card for Janice, we met our driver and set off on the 4 hour journey to Nambiti. 

This part of South Africa is green and lush. It’s currently summertime, but it still rains, making the landscape very beautiful. After making our way through the Johannesburg morning rush hour traffic, we drove most of the way along a motorway, cutting through the country. We passed many people trying to thumb a lifts as we passed small towns of corrugated iron homes. They were far from large townships, but we started to get the first glimpses of the inequality within the country. 

We arrived at the Nambiti private game reserve around 11am. It’s about a 900 square KM reserve, which they have gradually been returning to the natural habitat after years of farming. Our driver dropped us to the parking compound, where we were picked up in a safari vehicle and driven to the Lodge. When walking into the main lodge building, we had one of those jaw dropping moments. As you walk through the lodge you can see a watering hole surrounded by Zebra and Warthog, which the locals refer to as Pumbaa (Think of the Lion King).

 
Then onto our room which did not disappoint. The only consideration is the lodge camp is made up of multiple wooden lodges, with standalone lodges for each room. The whole area is unfenced, which means animals can roam around the lodges. There are electric fences high enough to stop Elephants entering, as these can cause damage to the buildings, but other smaller animals are free to roam. This means we cannot walk to our room at night, we have to be escorted. Our lodge over looks the plains. We were greated by more Zebra and Warthog feeding. We are going to enjoy Nambiti.

At 4:30pm we headed out for our evening safari. While it is their summer and the weather is warm, there is often rain in the evening, so we went prepared. Waterproof ponchos with fleece lining supplied by the guide. The heavens opened soon after we set off, but it was worth going out. White Rhino, Giraffe, Impala, Eland Antelope (the largest Antelope in the world) and others, with the finally a pride of Lions.

Back for dinner and early to bed. We have a 5 am wake up for our next safari adventure..

All the best plans

Well, would you Adam and Eve it, our flight was delayed. We arrived at Heathrow Terminal 5 with plenty of time, checked in our bags and then spent a leisurely couple of hours around the airport before boarding. After spending 90 minutes seated on the plane we were told that one of the doors would not close properly and they needed to delay the flight to the next day. While we were happy they didn’t take off with an open door, it was all very frustrating, our schedule is quite tight when we arrive in Johannesburg. We head out on Safari early Thursday morning. There was little we could do about it, so we ordered an Uber, knowing we could spend the night in our own bed after arriving home around midnight. 

The plane is an Airbus 380, which will carry close to 450 people in the BA configuration. Apparently, many of the passengers also had their flight cancelled the night before, so I’m sure BA needed to deal with a lot of upset people, many requiring a hotel for the night. The joys of working for an airline. 

Our flight is now 4pm today, arriving at 4:55 am tomorrow. After a little admin we will be picked up at the airport and head directly to Nambiti. Unfortunately we will not see the hotel we had booked. The good news is we still have a month is South Africa ahead of us, so we remain excited 😆

And we are off again - Take 2 

Next Stop South Africa

It’s over six weeks since we arrived home from Asia. It was a wonderful adventure, but it’s amazing how quickly time goes by. It beginning to feel like a distant memory. 

Spending time at home for Christmas, followed by a sneaky skiing holiday in La Tanya, has meant these six weeks at home have been busy, but really enjoyable. We have also been busy planning our next big adventure - South Africa. We fly to Johannesburg on the 31st January. First stop is Nambiti for a safari, then fly to Cape Town via Durban, to gradually work our way along the Garden Route to Port Elizabeth. We have stops in the wine region and beach towns. It should be a gastronomic adventure through a beautiful country. 

We will keep those interested updated with our regular blog posts. South Africa, we are on our way.