This trip truly was the trip of a lifetime and exceeded all our expectations beyond belief! I will elaborate in a minute, but for some of you who don’t want to read on, here is a list of our most memorable moments during our 16 day trip to the amazingly beautiful country of South Africa!
Cape Town, Cape Winelands & Hermanus:
-Table Mountain, view of Cape Town from the top:
- Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town:
-Franschhoek Wine Tasting, The Tasting Room dinner:
-Hermanus Whale Watching:
-Boulders Beach Penguins swimming:
-Chapman's Peak Drive:
-Amarula Coffees
Yummy African Liqueur made from the fruit of the Marula Tree
- Sabi Sand Game Reserve (Kruger National Park) Safari:
-Learning the difference between elephant and rhino dung is in the color. The shape and texture look the same but Rhino dung is darker!
-Birds are not as boring as I thought they'd be. They play an integral part in the bush and alert animals that a predator is nearby. For example, we were tracking a leopard and with the sounds of the birds could tell in which direction the leopard was because the birds were alerting the antelope nearby!
-An antelope is not just an antelope. An antelope can be a Kudu, Steenbok, Reedbuck, Duiker, Nyala, Impala, etc. and they all look different in their own way! I mostly can tell by their horns. Some are straight, some look like corkscrews, absolutely beautiful! In fact, there are 91 species of antelope, most of which are native to Africa.
-Waking up at 5am to Baboons having sex! They are the noisiest animals. The first time we heard them we thought there was an animal getting mauled outside our bungalow! Then our ranger told us it was just the baboons. Too funny. From that day on, they would be our wake-up call and we would know it was about time to go on our morning game drive :-).
-Has anyone ever see an elephant pee? WOW it truly has a second trunk at that time haha. We had the privilege of watching it from our River Lodge Resort while sipping on a cocktail.
-Peeing in the bush where a snake can be nearby or a buffalo can stampede you at any point is so scary yet so fun!
-I thought I would never make pancakes in the middle of the bush, but it was great fun and we even got to see the Lion King bird (Zazu) and feed him some of our pancakes.
Day 1-2: San Francisco, Cape Town
We departed San Francisco, CA final destination: Cape Town, South Africa. Short 24 hours in the air and 4 hours in layovers would get us there in two days! Wow what a flight. It was very long but quite pleasant as we had some of the best seats on the plane so it wasn't all that bad! We watched movies, slept, ate, read, did whatever we could to kill time. We were very excited to land in the unknown!
We arrived the next day at 9:30pm, rented our car at the airport and headed to our hotel.
Needless to say, our first drive in this foreign country was somewhat stressful. After traveling (flying, layovers) for around 30 hours ( I lost track of exactly how long ) I ended up not plugging in "West" Green Point and just plugging in Green Point into the GPS. We ended up in some ghetto part of Cape Town and quickly realized we were not in the right area...
Once we got close to our hotel, a futbol (soccer) game just ended and 60,000+ South Africans were celebrating in the streets post game. Chris was trying to drive in the dark, tons of people on the road, streets blocked off, oh and did I mention:
He is driving on the opposite side of the road, in the opposite side of the car (our passenger side is their driver side), and stick shift!
Wow think about that for a moment.
Well, all-in-all we arrived at our destination safely, thanked God for all his blessings and tried to get some sleep. 12am SA time is only 3pm California time, so we didn't fall asleep until close to 3am.
Day 3: Cape Town
Today we woke up late and headed to Table Mountain. We took the cableway ride up and walked all around the mountain. There were some breathtaking views from up top! Absolutely gorgeous!
On top of Table Mountain
View of Capetown from top of Table Mountain
Then tonight we hung out at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront and had a bottle of wine and some yummy food.
Victoria and Alfred Waterfront at night
Queen Prawns - yum!
Day 4: Cape Town
After yesterday’s hike around Table Mountain, we thought nothing could top that. We saw some of the most beautiful scenery I think we’ve ever seen! Well, we were in for a surprise.
This morning we visited the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and saw some of the most beautiful plants from the Cape Floral Kingdom. My fav and the reason for visiting the gardens was so I could see the amazing flower the King Protea which is native to the Cape area. I found it fascinating that the Cape Floral Kingdom has 9,600 plant species, 70% of which are not found anywhere else in the world.
Entrance of Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
King Protea
Beautiful day at the Botanical Gardens
Path along the gardens
After our morning visit at the botanical gardens, we headed out for a coastal drive along the Cape Peninsula. Simon's Town is a cute little town along the drive so we stopped here and had lunch on the Marina. After lunch, we visited Boulders Beach which got its name from these huge granite boulders on the sand that run all along the beach.
Simon's Town
Fish n Chips
Now, we had read up on Boulders Beach and knew that we would see some Penguins there, but we had no idea how many! They. Were. Everywhere! These cute little African Penguins wobbling around along the beach, swimming, and hanging out with their friends. Very cool.
African Penguins at Boulders Beach
After Boulders Beach we drove through Chapman's Peak which was stunning! We got some great video and pics of one of the world's best drives!
Chapman's Peak Drive
Stop along the way during Chapman's Peak Drive
We concluded our coastal drive at Signal Hill watching the sunset over the ocean.
Watching the sunset on top of Signal Hill
Tonight’s dinner was at a restaurant called 1800 degrees. They cook the steaks at exactly 1800 degrees and our meals were unbelievable. The name 1800 degrees is kinda funny because they cook it at 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, but they don’t use this in SA, they go by Celsius, so we asked the waiter and he said they got their influence from a NY restaurant which was interesting. We both had the filet mignons, I had the 200g and Chris ate the 300g. (Side note:Our iphone converter apps were KEY when trying to convert grams to ounces, or Celsius to Fahrenheit, or kilometers to miles or South African Rands to US Dollars. A MUST if you are visiting a foreign country!) Anyway, the steaks were served with some dry rubs on the side and great sauces - one was a Madagascar peppercorn sauce, and the other was a red wine sauce. Chris says that was the BEST filet he's ever had and he has had his share of steaks! :)
1800 Degrees Restaurant
Day 5: Stellenbosch Wine Tasting
Today is my birthday (don’t ask how old) and what better way to spend it than wine tasting in the Cape Winelands! We checked out of our hotel and drove along a recommended Winelands drive toward a city called Franschhoek. On our way we stopped in Stellenbosch and visited a great winery called Rust en Vrede.
Rust en Vrede Winery in the city of Stellenbosch
Wine tasting at Rust en Vrede
Underground wine cellar at Rust en Vrede
First wine purchase at Rust en Vrede
Afterward we decided to visit the one next door called Bilton Wines.
Each winery we visited during our stay was absolutely amazing. The tasting rooms all had grand fireplaces, big wine cellars, and great décor and ambiances setup for a perfect tasting experience.
Bilton Winery in Stellenbosch
Wine tasting by the fire at Bilton Winery
Tonight we ate at the Tasting Room and had an excellent meal. We had read about the Tasting Room as being “Africa’s best restaurant” and one of the top 20 restaurants in the world. We thought we’d be the judge of that. Well, we ate monkfish and blue wildebeest which was very tasty. The only thing I didn't care for so much was the wildebeest was served with a topping of bone marrow and the thought of eating bone marrow grossed me out, but I ate it. This restaurant changes its menu all the time, and you never know what is going to be on the menu for that evening – it is always a “surprise.” All-in-all it was yet again a great experience and one we will always remember!
The Tasting Room Menu
Blue Wildebeest topped with Bone Marrow
Day 6: Franschhoek Wine Tasting
Today we visited a couple of other wineries: Graham Beck, La Motte, and Mt. Rochelle. Graham Beck was recommended to us because it offered Sparkling Wine tasting (remember you can’t refer to it as “Champagne” unless the grapes were grown in the actual Champagne region of France.) Anyway, another interesting thing about this place is Barack Obama chose this actual winery to supply his sparkling wine during his party the night of his inauguration. We tasted it and it was actually pretty good!
Graham Beck Winery
Sparkling Wine tasting at Graham Beck
La Motte was an excellent winery, we enjoyed all of their wines,
La Motte Winery
La Motte Wine Cellar
And Mt Rochelle had a gorgeous view of the Franschhoek wine valley.
Franschhoek Wine Valley
Wine tasting at Mt. Rochelle Winery
After tasting at several wineries, we hit up a local town pub, met a couple of locals, drank some beer and then went to a pizza place and had some great pizza served with jalapeños on the side! Of course we love our spicy jalapeños :-)
Bar hopping in Franschhoek
Local African Beer called Castle
South African Rands
Day 7: Hermanus
Today is Chris’s birthday and we spent it in a beautiful city about 70 miles southeast of Cape Town called Hermanus. Hermanus is known for some of the best land viewing whale watching in the world! We could see the whales from our hotel swimming around near the coast – so awesome. Unfortunately all boat trips were cancelled due to rainy weather , but we still got to see the whales up close. We had some drinks at a place on the water and then went to Pick ‘n Pay ( a local SA grocery chain ) and bought some groceries so I could cook Chris dinner (our hotel room had a full size kitchen). Chris had a great birthday dinner (right Chris?) :-) and we drank some great wine (of course :-).
Welcome to the city of Hermanus - the Whale Watching capital of the World!
Dinner and Wine at our hotel - Happy Birthday Chris!
Day 8: Cape Town
This morning we left the beautiful city of Hermanus, and took a coastal route back to Cape Town. We drove through a small town called Pringle Bay and ran into a family of BABOONS! They totally freaked us out at first. I was scared they would jump on our car, or chase our car, but they seemed to keep to themselves. They were nuts though, climbing all over rooftops and hanging out in someone’s front yard. And I thought we had a problem with mice here in the U.S.! Lol Well the people in this town have to deal with huge monkeys all around!
Sign along our drive from Hermanus back to Capetown
Baboons
Along the drive, we saw some amazing views and could see whale fins come up from under water from time to time.
Since it is our last day in the Cape region, we decided to get on a red bus and ride it around Cape Town to get a good last view of this beautiful city.
Red Bus Tour in Capetown
Standing by Nelson Mandela
Day 9: Kruger National Park
Today we departed Cape Town on a 3 hour flight northeast to the Kruger Mpumalanga Airport where we will spend the next week on safari! We read a bunch about the Kruger Park and how you can drive yourself on self-guided safari drives, so we decided we’d try it out for the first couple of days, and it was awesome! Here Chris and I were driving ourselves through the middle of Africa and elephants and giraffes just walking by! So great. We stayed in a rest camp in the Kruger Park called Skukuza which had fencing, so we didn’t have to worry about the animals coming near our bungalow or car and it was safe to walk around within the camp area. Once you leave the campground, and during your self-drives they instruct you to never get out of your car because of all the animals around, you could run across a lion or hyena at any moment!
Plane ride from Capetown to Kruger
Rental Car in Kruger
We arrived at the Kruger Gate!
After entering the Kruger Gate and on our drive in to the Skukuza Restcamp, we saw elephants and giraffe, and some antelope crossing the street, it was so amazing since it was our first time ever on a safari! We were totally in awe.
Yield for Elephant
Giraffe!
The Skukuza Restcamp was great! We checked in to our “bungalow” and looked around, it was kind of like camping! This place is pretty cool, I wish it was close by so we could camp here every year! After our drive, we went to the local store on the camp ground and grabbed some meat to bbq. We bbqed, drank some wine, listened to some music and heard some crazy animal sounds on the river. It was all in all a great first introduction to Kruger!
Skukuza Restcamp Bungalow
By the Sabie River at Skukuza Restcamp
Camping & BBQing in the middle of the African Bush!
Day 10: Kruger National Park
Today was our first full day in the Kruger Park, and we had a great time. We did a couple of self game drives and saw lots of cool things. The first cool thing we saw was a herd of elephants crossing the street right in front of us. There was a baby elephant with its mom and dad - they were awesome. Then we saw lots of giraffes walking around, crossing the street, etc. We spotted a large herd of buffalo across the meadow and got some great pictures of that as well.
Elephant crossing the street
Giraffe
Herd of Buffalo in the far distance
Just in ONE day of driving ourselves around, here is a list of things we spotted:
Vervet Monkeys, warthogs, buffalo, elephants, giraffes, chacma baboons, impalas, steenbok, common reedbuck, and waterbuck. The one really cool antelope we saw with large horns was the Kudu antelope, very cool it was on the side of the road when we drove by. His horns are like huge corkscrews on his head. Birds we saw: a Cape Glossy Starling and Helmeted Guinea fowl, and others but didn't know what they were called. All these birds here are very colorful and make lots of different noises.
Warthog
Female Nyala
Helmeted Guineafowl
Vervet Monkey
Chacma Baboon
On our drive today, we took a break at the Nkuhlu picnic site. Chris took a nice picture with a monkey who was eating a leftover French fry from someone's plate - pretty funny.
Nkuhlu Picnic Site at Kruger National Park
The coolest things today were seeing a herd of buffalo, elephants crossing the street right in front of our car, and almost running into a giraffe in the middle of a dirt road. We literally stayed parked here and waited for this huge giraffe to move out of the road so we could continue on – something we will never forget!
Following a giraffe along dirt road
Finally moved to the side so we could get by
Tonight is our last night in Skukuza rest camp and we bought some pork chops and brats to bbq along with some baked beans, and a pasta salad. Of course dinner wouldn't be complete without a bottle of South African wine! So we are drinking that as well - a Hill & Dale Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz blend from Stellenbosch!
Leopard, Lion, Hyena, Wild Dogs, Hippos, and Rhinos are all on our list yet to see. Tomorrow we head to the private area of Kruger Park called Sabi Sands where we will be taking game drives everyday from experienced rangers and hopefully see a lot more and have a lot more to write about!
Day 11: Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve
Evening Game Drive
Today we left our Skukuza Restcamp and arrived at a private area of Kruger Park called Sabi Sands where we will be staying at the Exeter River Lodge for the next couple of days.
Arrival at the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve , almost reached our destination - Exeter River!
We met really nice people here at the River Lodge and went on our first guided game drive. Our driver's name is Andrew and our tracker's name is Sedrick. They are both really cool. We wanted to see a leopard and got SO lucky! We got to spend time with a beautiful leopard who started out sleeping, but then woke up and did a few poses for us. It was amazing, leopards are such awesome animals. We also saw two rhino before that hanging out in the meadow. Then within 5 minutes of seeing the rhino, we saw the leopard, another rhino, and a hyena all within about 30-40 meters of each other. The hyena almost walked right into the leopard, we thought they may fight! But they didn't, the hyena quickly moved on its way. We also saw zebra which was awesome. We stopped by the river to have a drink, and we both peed in the bush! So crazy because we later realized there could be snakes (the black mamba) around!
Nice little lunch before our game drive
Our first Rhino sighting!
Our first Leopard sighting!
Hyena
Zebra
After our first spectacular game drive, we arrived to have dinner set up in the “Boma” which was amazing! We ate venison, chicken, and sausage, and a lot of other yummy things. We danced around the fire and sang, drank lots of vino and had some Amarula which is a popular South African drink you drink on the rocks.
Ready for dinner in the Boma!
Dinner and Dancing in the Boma
Day 12: Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve Morning Game Drive
This morning we had a wake-up call at 5:30am, had some coffee and went out on a game drive at 6am. We headed out looking for lions and found three! Three old ones that our ranger said are very famous. They were all three together taking a nap. Then two of them woke up when we drove up and we took lots of amazing pictures and video. They are some of the oldest lions that have ruled their kingdom and keep winning when the younger lions battle them. They were amazing.
The Mapogo Lions
Chris and a Lion
We also saw a momma rhino and baby rhino who was about 2 months old taking a nap. The little one was so cute I got video of him trying to drink his mommas milk but the momma was fast asleep and didn't want to roll over to let him drink - so CUTE.
Momma and Baby Rhino
Momma and Baby Rhino
We then went out looking for a lioness who they were tracking with a baby cub, but could never find it.
We sat in front of a huge giraffe while Sedrick and Andrew headed out to find the lioness with their rifle but came back with no luck. We drove across a couple of rivers and saw a crocodile and a large lizard. We also saw some Blue Wildebeest hanging with some Warthog. We stopped had some crumpets and OJ then went on a nature walk.
Giraffe
Giraffe and Chris
Croc
Lizard
Taking a break during our morning game drive. OJ and Crumpets by the River
Blue Wildebeest (we just ate this for dinner the other night in Franschhoek!)
Andrew challenged us to play a game which is you get some Impala dung and put it in your mouth and try and spit it as far as you can. So Crazy we all did it, I could’ve bet you a million dollars before this trip that I would have NEVER put Impala dung in my mouth, but everyone else did it! So why not? This African bush is making us do things that are so wild and crazy! lol
Spitting Impala dung out of my mouth
Right now as I am writing this, I am sitting in our lodge area, Chris is playing Backgammon with our friend Mark and we are looking at a couple of buffalos and elephants walking by. Two of the big five in our front yard! So amazing. I can’t believe there are places like this in the world. You can play a board game, have a cocktail and stare at wild elephants and buffalos roaming the African wilderness with no fences around. This is great!
Chris playing Backgammon watching Buffalo pass by our Lodge
Here is video we took from the balcony of our Exeter River Lodge bungalow:
View from our private plunge pool in our Bungalow. Elephants sometimes come up and drink water from the pool!
I should mention that at this private lodge we are staying at, there is NO fencing and you cannot ever leave the lodge area. You can’t walk around the lodge at night and have to be escorted from your room to and from dinner by a staff member because there are animals roaming around all over our bungalow room and the lodge. It is definitely a different experience than the rest camp we were at the past couple of days because there is no fencing!
Inside our Bungalow at Exeter River Lodge
Inside our Bungalow
Delicious Lunch on the deck of Exeter River Lodge
So far in our first two guided game drives we have seen:
Hyena, Leopard, Lion, Rhino, Wildebeest, Elephant, Giraffe, TONS of different kinds of Antelope, Crocodile, lots of different kinds of birds, and now in our lodge there were two buffalo walking by.
I should mention that last night a Hyena broke into the storage room at our lodge and broke 1000 Rands (about 150 dollars) worth of booze, one of the rangers had to come and get him out!
Crested Barbet
Male Kudu
Saddle-billed Stork
African Buffalo
Evening Game Drive
Tonight our game drive consisted of finding a leopard in the bush. There were two leopard in the same area which is rare because they are very territorial. We were right in the middle of the two of them and we actually heard them growling at each other it was so cool.
Leopard
Earlier on our game drive we came across some lioness and three cubs. The baby cubs were very cute and alert. They had just made a kill and were eating some antelope. The little cubs who were about 6 months old, were fighting with each other for the food. Then one little cub about 8 weeks old got up and tried to growl but did more of a squeak, something I will never forget! To top it off, these three cubs were fathered by one of the male lions we saw yesterday! Awesome.
Lioness right after a kill
6 month old lion cub
Lioness guarding their cubs
After our evening drive, we arrived back at our lodge and were greeted with drinks that looked like some type of shot. We were supposed to drink tequila tonight with our friends we met on our drive, Mark and Jessica, and Roger and Carie, but when we went back to our room to freshen up before dinner, we had a bottle of wine, candles, two shots, a private dinner, a drawn up bath all ready for us in our room! It was so cool. Our butler Christopher brought us our dinner and dessert – very yummy!
So far this experience has been absolutely unbelievable. One word to describe this experience... Priceless.
Day 13: Sabi Sand Private Game ReserveMorning Game Drive
This morning we did our last game drive with Andrew, Mark, Jessica, Sedrick, Carie, and Roger before going to our next lodge. We drove by the head of a dead Buffalo that was killed about 3 months ago. The only thing left was the head because hyenas came and chewed all the bones already.
Buffalo head
We also saw a hippo out of the water which is uncommon! It was hanging in the bush under the tree. Then we saw it walk right in front of our land rover and run into the water as fast as it could. Pretty cool. It is amazing that the hippo is the leading cause of death in Africa next to malaria. If you ever see a hippo outside the water, never stand between it and a large body of water, because if you do it will run you over and kill you. Hippos weigh in between 2-3 tons!
Hippo
Water filled with Hippo, look closely in the water!
After our game drive and before checking out, we went on a morning walk. Andrew walked us along the river and we saw a hippo walking out of the water! We also saw a couple of buffalo in the distance through binoculars, which is EXTREMELY dangerous. It was so crazy to see those out in the open while walking and not being protected by the land rover!
Evening Game Drive
This evening we checked into another lodge about 10 minutes away and were greeted by a whole new staff. We will miss our friends at the last place, but this place had the friendliest staff as well!
Our ranger is Kyle, and our tracker is Phickson who is one of the best trackers around! He knows Sabi Sands like the back of his hand and has been working as a tracker for 18 years! Our butler’s name is Reply which is a cool name! Plus, we found out over dinner that he is a very good soccer player. These guys over here are nuts, they have a soccer field in the middle of the bush and play soccer almost every day during their break! I’m not sure I would be playing soccer in the middle of a bunch of crazy African animals around! What a different way of life huh?
Our first game drive with Kyle was great, we met a couple from New York named Josh and Victoria, and a couple from England, Lesley and David. Very cool people. First drive, we saw some elephant and antelope, we also saw lots of hippo, it even opened its mouth a few times, a baby hippo got out of the water and back in. We saw a dead buffalo head that was killed about a month ago. Then on our way back to the lodge, Kyle messed with us and said he thought he saw a leopard, so we started driving really fast and drove up to a "champagne tree". It was set up in the middle of the bush - a bottle of champagne hanging on a tree with lanterns all around. What a surprise! It was unbelievable.
Momma and Baby Elephant
Baby Hippo out of water
Dead Buffalo killed about one month ago, notice rib cage chewed on by Hyenas
Champagne Tree!
This evening we arrived from our game drive, and we had a private dinner set up in the middle of the wine cellar just for me and Chris! Wow how amazing, We had our choice to pick any wine in the cellar to go with our Ostrich dinner. We picked a bottle of Vergelegen which I couldn’t believe they had because I had been wanting to visit that winery and never got to when we were in the Winelands. There was a red carpet leading to the wine cellar and lanterns outside, then inside there were candles lit everywhere, and a wine barrel all decorated with bottles and candles. So cool. The staff here is amazing.
Private dinner in the Wine Cellar at Dulini Lodge
Day 14: Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve Morning Game Drive
This morning we went out to track a leopard, Phickson tracked the leopard for us it was so cool, there was one right outside our lodge that walked by after we left, we came back to the road and saw fresh paw prints walking down the road! Then we saw lioness and her two 9 month old cubs eating game which Kyle said the leopard probably killed but the lioness stole from it. Poor leopard.
9 month old cub eating fresh kill
Lioness eating kill
We set out to find the leopard and Phickson and Kyle went out on foot with their rifle to find it and came back successful! We found it way in the bush it was very hard to get to. We did a crazy amount of four wheeling during this game drive, I seriously almost died from a branch that was so huge and hit real hard while I was ducking in the back seat. We followed this leopard around but every time we would get near it, it would get up and walk across the way which was nearly impossible to get to in our vehicle. This leopard was playing with us, making it very difficult to get near.
I should mention these rangers and trackers are very adventurous. They four wheel, drive right over huge trees, gun it to try and cross a river hoping we don’t get stuck, and also will do anything to get you near an animal. Even if we find something tucked away near a river behind a rock in some sand – they will find a way to get close so you can have a good view of it! So great. The game drives were the BEST and we never got tired of them! We did 6 hours of game drives everyday and never once did we feel we would skip it – they were great. We never knew what we would come across or run into and we saw some of the most amazing things I think we will ever see in our lives.
Jen enjoying the game drive, Zebra in the far background
With our tracker and ranger from Dulini Lodge, Phickson and Kyle
Jen the Ranger and Chris the Tracker
Afternoon Community Drive
This afternoon we went on a community drive and visited a local pre-school and high school. The cool thing about the lodges we stayed at (for the safari part of our trip) is they give back to the local communities around them. We wanted to see some of the work they had done and got to see a school that was built by the andBeyond foundation which was cool. One teacher at the school showed us around and mentioned that just a few years prior they were holding classes underneath 3 trees right where the school was now built. She said they broke up the children in 3 groups depending on their age and would literally hold class underneath these trees. It was great to see that they now had a school with a few classrooms where they could study and learn.
Pre-school
After leaving the pre-school, we visited a high school and it happened to be right during their lunch break. It was interesting to visit a high school in a poor community in Africa. Even though they are extremely poor, all the kids wear uniforms which we thought was odd. We also saw the kids holding hands a lot and asked our guide what that meant. Two guys holding hands and two girls holding hands here in the U.S. would be considered gay, but when we mentioned that to the guide, he was very surprised, and said there it meant they were just best friends.
High School
Most people live in homes that are built with cinderblock and they build it little by little. They don’t take out loans to buy a house like we do here in the U.S., they save up some money and put another row of cinderblock, then save up more, and so on until their house is complete. Their homes are extremely small, and they all have outhouses, no running water or electricity. They also have no way to throw their trash besides digging a hole in their yard, filling it up, and when it gets filled, digging another hole. With all the outhouses and trash around in the ground, this is also contaminating their water and making them sick. It is very sad to see and puts things in perspective. We take so many things for granted. Just a couple miles away where we were staying we had our own private pool on the balcony of our bungalow, indoor and outdoor showers, private butler, living room, etc. and these people here live with no running water period. It was very sad to see, but we were glad we got to see that at least these luxury resorts were giving back, helping build schools and trying to support local communities however they could.
Home being built
We spotted this Zebra on our drive back from the Community Visit.
Evening Game Drive
This evening we went to a Hyena den where these little tiny hyena came out to greet us. They were so very curious about the vehicle since they were so small and not used to it yet. They were the cutest things ever! We stayed watching them for a long time.
Hyena Den
Baby Hyena coming out of den
Curious baby Hyena (heard our range rover and came out of den to see what the noise was)
As always, after our game drive, we stop for Gin and Tonics and view the Amazing African Sunset in the middle of the bush.
African Sunset
After our game drive, when we drove up to the lodge, they surprised us by singing me and Chris Happy Birthday! Yesterday, when we checked in they asked us if we were celebrating anything special, and we really weren’t we were just on holiday, but they kept asking so we said we had celebrated our birthdays the week before… Well, we had no idea they would bake us a birthday cake and the whole staff would sing and dance for us! It was a birthday cake and song and celebration we will NEVER forget! “Happy Birthday Miss Jenny, and Mr Chris!”,singing, clapping, dancing, playing the little drums it was GREAT.
Singing us Happy Birthday
Cutting our Cake
Chris and Jen's Birthday Cake
Tonight is our last night in Africa but we got to spend it having dinner in another Boma! Great bbq, wine, and stories by the fire with Kyle, Josh, Victoria, Lesley, and David!
Dinner in the Boma by the fire
With our Butler Reply before dinner
Day 15: Sabi Sand Private Game ReserveMorning Game Drive
This morning we set out to look for the lion one last time. I had made a request to Kyle if we could see the lion just once more before we left! I was getting spoiled! I had already seen two lioness kills eating with their cubs, Rhino basically every day, leopard every day, and elephant every day. It is crazy how much we saw every day except the male lion. So we found them and watched them for awhile. They were active and actually one got up and walked right in front of Chris so cool!
Video of Male Lions
Male Lions
After this Kyle drove us to a place to stop for a drink and were surprised with pancakes in the bush! I couldn't believe it. Kyle had set up a place where we could make pancakes for breakfast. I was making pancakes out in the middle of the African bush with wildlife all around, so amazing! To top this trip off, while we were making pancakes the Lion King bird (Zazu) came to greet us and see if he could get some food!
Making pancakes in the bush
Lion King Bird (Zazu) - a Red-billed Hornbill
Checking out of Dulini :-( Warthog grazing at our Lodge
Day 16: Atlantic Ocean and San Francisco
This trip has been spectacular and it is very sad to leave. The hardest part of going on a trip like this is you never know when you’ll be back – but Chris and I hope to be back one day for sure! We had no idea we would love it so much, but it was truly the best trip we have ever taken in our lives!
We arrived home safe and sound with lots of great memories we will cherish forever! We took nearly 3,000 pictures and video that will remind us of this awesome vacation. We cannot wait to go back and visit the beautiful country of South Africa!
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