Plettenberg Bay & Oudtshoorn (part 2)

Oudtshoorn (continued)

After our nice relaxing lunch we launched into the next item on our to do list: Cango Wildlife Ranch. We actually arrived at the park quite late and took the last guided tour - again to see most of the park you needed to be with a guide - though we did spend the 20 minutes we were waiting playing with the baby goats in the petting zoo area! The guide led us through the different animals; otters, hippos, a big group of lemurs, crocodiles, and then onto the big cats.

Number 99. Photograph an endangered Species (The African Wild Dog, The Mountain Zebra & The White Lion)

The African Wild Dog.

The African Wild Dog is one of South Africa's most highly endangered mammal species. It is a carnivorous hunter and requires a large territory which means it is constantly coming into contact with, and conflict with, humans.

In the wild the largest killer of these animals is the Lion, however, due to their territorial needs forcing such extensive contact with humans their numbers have rapidly declined due to poaching and traps set by farmers.

The frightening thing for me is at the time I photographed the African Wild Dog I had no idea that it was an endangered species. We called in to visit the Wolf Sanctuary in Plettenberg Bay after we had visited the Elephant Sanctuary across the road and we were wandering around snapping a few pictures of the wolves when I saw the dogs in one of the fenced off yards. They were all sleeping in the afternoon sun and appeared to be quite relaxed and happy.

My understanding is that the woman who owns the sanctuary rescues these animals. We took some pictures of them - though not many because I couldn't get a good shot through the fence and then went on our way completely unaware that this animal was so at risk.

More information can be found at:

African Wild Dogs Conservancy

The Mountain Zebra.

The Zebra belongs to the horse family, which makes sense given it's horse-like appearance, the thing that sets it apart is the distinctive black and white stripes which are as individual as a human fingerprint. Each Zebra has it's own unique pattern. There are 3 different types of Zebra, the Plains Zebra, the Grevy's Zebra, and the Mountain Zebra.

The mountain Zebra was almost hunted to extinction. In the 1950's there were estimated to be between 50,000 and 75,000 of these animals remaining, in 1998 they estimated that there were approximately 8,000 left, which places the Mountain Zebra on the endangered species list.

We photographed both the Mountain and the Plains Zebra at Sanbona Wildlife reserve. I remember our guides description of how you use the stripes to tell them apart, the stripes are closer together, and are almost continuous around the tail end of the zebra. To be blunt...Plain's Zebra have whiter bums! They have quite a large herd of Mountain Zebra at Sanbona but even the guide thought it was interesting that we saw one Mountain Zebra with a whole herd of Plain's Zebra!

More information can be found at:

Animal Diversity Web

The White Lion.

White Lions are not albino Lion's but rather a genetically unique form of the Tawny Lion.

They are only found in one area in the world, the Timbavati region, which is a region of South Africa. The unique white Lion gene is carried by the Tawny Lion and sometimes, though rarely, a white cub is born to a pride of Tawny Lions.

Since their discovery these beautiful animals have been hunted and removed from their natural habitat by humans and the last White Lion was seen in the wild in 1994.

They are now technically extinct in the wild. Perhaps the most disturbing thing is that there is still no law which protects these animals even though we have practically wiped them out and the only remaining White Lions exist in captivity. They are still not even classified as an endangered species as they are considered to be merely a subspecies of the Tawny Lion. I am including them on this page, however, as there are less than 300 White Lions left and they no longer breed or are self sustaining in the wild.

We went to Sanbona Wildlife Reserve in as a part of our trip to South Africa and this reserve has 54,000 hectares of land in which the animals roam freely. One of their mission statements is to preserve the White Lions and they boast that they have the only "free and self-sustaining" White Lions in the world. When we visited we saw evidence of this, we were told that they started with one pair, a male who had been bred in order to be shot and a female who had been kept to mate with the male and produce offspring. Sanbona took these animals and although they were unable to be freed, as they would not have been able to hunt or care for themselves, they did produce offspring. On our visit we were lucky enough to see one of the original pair's offspring with her two young cubs.

We had been out on a game drive in search of the White Rhino, which had been proving elusive all day, and we were on our way home when in the semi-darkness Karel spotted a white Lion cub sitting in the bushes just off the road.

Our guide immediately stopped the vehicle so we could look and asked us to be quiet so as not to alarm them. The cub came closer to the vehicle and then we heard the rumble of the cubs mother calling him back to the safety of the trees - it was the most incredible sound. The cub ran back into the trees but less than a minute later the first cub emerged with his sister just behind him, a little more cautious, but still curious. They came over to the vehicle, so close we could have reached out and touched them, watching us and listening to the various clicks and whirs made by our camera's as we snapped photo's. The worst possible time of day to take pictures as the sunlight was fading away quickly and I was loathe to use my flash in case we scared them away.

It felt like only a minute passed before the mother Lion also emerged from the bushes, keeping more of a distance from the vehicle, but clearly more concerned about what her cubs were doing than about the fact that we were there. She wandered away from us down the road rumbling at her cubs to follow... which they were clearly not interested in doing given that they had found something more amusing.

The cubs hesitated but eventually followed the mother off down the road and we drove on leaving them in peace and daring to breathe again. It was an amazing experience and such a stroke of luck that we got to see these beautiful creatures in as close to a wild setting as they exist now.

More information on the White Lion can be found at:

Global White Lion Protection Trust

Dubai & Business Class on the A380

We landed in Dubai at about 2am and were shocked and slightly horrified to discover that it was still 37 degrees Celsius. We walked across the tarmac to a little bus which then took us to the terminal.

We had to collect my friends visa for the stopover, our travel agent hadn't been particularly helpful with this so we weren't 100% sure where to go or what to do, but it was an Emirates stop-over package so we figured that we would work it out somehow. Things are very complicated when you are travelling with a South African... As an Australian citizen I never realised how lucky I was to just be able to get on a plane, and have my tourist visa stamped in my passport on arrival, pretty much in any country in the world. It's not like that for South African's.

My friend had to have the visa for our 3 days stop-over in Dubai issued before we even left South Korea - and these visa's are not cheap!

So we went to the emirates desk where they directed us to another window to pay to have the visa printed, then we had to go somewhere else to pick up the visa and get it stamped, then we had to wait in a long queue so that my friend could have an "eye-scan" for who knows what... about 45 minutes later we were waiting in passport control. My friends went first in case there were any complications and it took the guy a good 5 minutes with the paperwork then I handed over my passport...he looked at it, looked at me, and stamped it. So incredibly lucky to have an Australian passport - I take back many of the horrible things I have said about the Australian Government on the basis of this alone!

We were advised to go to the Arabian Adventures counter once we had collected our baggage and they would arrange the transport to our hotel. Soon after we were in a little mini-bus, loving the air-conditioning, and by around 3:30am we were tucked in bed and asleep within moments. Even though it was a late night and we were wrecked from the flight we still woke up early wanting to make the most of the short amount of time we had in Dubai. What we didn't realise was that we had arrived during Ramadan... and so very little was open. The other thing we didn't become aware of till much later was that during Ramadan, because everyone is fasting, you are not allowed to eat or drink in public. Oops! My Grandma worked in Saudi for many years and many of my friends are Muslim... I just didn't put two and two together, and (naive traveler again) it never occurred to me that you would actually be prevented from buying food because the majority of people were fasting. This also meant you weren't allowed to drink in public - even water - which when it was 45 degrees Celsius outside was hard to take.

When we eventually worked it out we hit the super-market and stocked up on food for our hotel room!

We spent the day making the most of the "big bus tour", hopping on and off to look at things, although given most things were closed and it was so hot that we spent most of our time "on". We wandered around the massive and luxurious shopping malls, caught a ferry across the river, wandered a little bit through the markets and then went back to the hotel to relax and have a break before we went on the desert safari I had booked that morning. I had visited Dubai with my Grandma in 2003 and we had been on a similar adventure and I was keen to show my friend how incredible the experience had been.

It is an Arabian Adventures tour called "The Desert Sun-downer". To begin with you are collected from your hotel and taken out to the edge of an Arabian desert conservation area, where the wildlife is protected, not far from the royal palace and zoo. This is the first time you get to jump out and have a wander around on the sand. They have to let the tires down on the 4wd's so that they can drive easily on the sand. Then it's back into the vehicles for some real sand dune 4-wheel driving. You definitely get a rush from zooming up one side of a sand dune when you have no idea whats on the other side, or how steep it is, and twice we had to stop to help tow out a vehicle that had gotten stuck in the sand. You stop once for a drink and another wander around, and then again to watch the sun setting over the desert, and then finally you arrive at the bedouin style camp set up seemingly in the middle of no-where.

At the camp you are encouraged to wander around and look at the various things they have set up, have your hand painted with henna (a kind of temporary tattoo), ride on camels, hold onto a falcon, and eat and drink as much as you like... after 8pm of course! It was beautifully set up and the food was wonderful; a selection of all the different things that would have traditionally been cooked by the desert people. Given the heat of the night it was easy to understand why the desert camps were set up in this fashion, with carpets spread across the hot sand, and cushions everywhere for lying back on after a feast. The one thing that boggles the mind a little at first is the way these giant Persian carpets are spread across the sand, these carpets are worth a fortune, and they are just lying on the sand!

We arrived back at the hotel quite late at night and fell asleep within minutes of turning the lights off...planning to get up nice and early again the next morning!

We were up bright and early again and getting ourselves organised to go and visit the Wild Wadi Water Park that we had seen advertised and had heard was fantastic. To be on the safe side we checked with our hotel about what time the park opened during Ramadan. The hotel let us down a bit in this regard... they told us the park opened at 10am when it didn't in fact open till mid-day. We arrived shortly after 11am and found out that we had to wait, which is not great news when its already over 40 degrees Celsius, and you are miles from anything. At any other time of year we could have gone to the meridian hotel next door and sat in the bar with a cold drink...but as it was Ramadan we couldn't even do that...we checked. In the end we walked for 15 minutes in the stifling heat to the public beach where we stripped off our clothing (public beach...and we had our swimsuits on underneath) and ran for the water.

To our dismay the water was hot! Literally like swimming in bath water. The only benefit to being in the water was that you didn't continue to sweat but it didn't cool us down at all. There was no escape! It was lovely being out in the sea... and from our spot we did have a fairly fabulous view of the Burj al Arab...

By the time we had walked back to our clothes we had dried already and we stopped at the bus stop on the way back to the water park because the bus stop was air conditioned! When we got back we waited about 5 minutes at the entry and then we were into the park stuffing our things into a locker and heading for the first pool of water we could find. The water was cold! I have never been so happy to be in cool water before! We spent most of the day at the water park, going on various water slides, and lolling about in the wave pool. It was a heavenly way to spend the day in the heat.

We decided, based on the time, that we would go to the Emirates Mall before we went back to the hotel and pick up some food items that we wanted to take back to Korea. It just so happened that we were there when the fasting ended for the day so we were able to arrange a nice dinner in the food court - soooooo much food! Once we had the things we needed we went for a wander in old Dubai to see if we could find a Shisha pipe. We had decided that we wanted to take one home since we both enjoy playing with the flavoured tobacco and the Shisha pipes you can get in the Middle East are so beautiful. We found one we loved, I am sure that we paid more than a local would have, but we got everything we needed and I had fun bargaining!

On tired feet we wandered back to a main"ish road and hailed a taxi. We went back to the hotel, snacked, re-packed and got ready to leave. We had the hotel room until we were collected at 12:30pm (after midnight) for a flight that left at around 3am. The Airport looked practically deserted when we arrived and we went straight up to a counter to check in. The guy behind the counter was so friendly, and I asked if we could check on our seats as well, to see where we were sitting. The man looked at all our documents and made and received a quick phone call, none of which worried us because we weren't in a hurry, and then cleared his throat to get our attention.

"I have good news," he began, getting our attention instantly. "You have been upgraded to business class."

We must have been grinning from ear to ear as we effusively thanked him and told him he was our new best friend. With our business class boarding passes in hand we strolled through airport security and did our last minute duty free shopping... we didn't stop smiling for even a minute. The smile only grew bigger when we learned that we were travelling on a new A380 in business class...which meant that we had our own walkway because the business class seats are all on the top level of the plane. We were greeted at the door of the plane and shown to our seats which were the most luxurious plane seats I have ever seen in my life. Emirates definitely knows luxury! The seats stretched out to completely flat, and after the meals the staff came around to offer us a mattress to put on top for a little added comfort, but when in sitting position they could also be used as a massage chair... that's right a 9 and a half hour flight on a massage chair! There was a little built in table area to one side of the seat with some drinks stocked in just in case you suddenly decided you needed some Perrier mid-take-off.

Once we were seated the crew came around to deliver a drink, and a fancy menu, letting us know that they would be back to take our order before take-off. The menu itself was impressive... I never believed I would be able to order a medium-rare steak on a plane! They took the orders and then after take off they arrived with our trays... no more "chicken or beef?" They lay a white table cloth over the massive extendable tray table and even the trays were beautifully set up. Silver cutlery, white serviettes, and delicious looking food... entree and then main course.. with extra hot oven baked rolls if you would like them.

Shortly after the trays had been cleared my friend and I both stretched out and went to sleep. We were woken by the crew about ten minutes before breakfast was served so that we could freshen up before the meal... meaning that we had slept for almost 5 hours! It was the best flight I have ever been on... the difficulty now will be that we know what we are missing out on! My friend and I both discussed the fact that it would be hard to go back to travelling economy class after that little experience!

It was the perfect ending to a perfect trip! I can't wait for my next holiday!!

Worcester & our last day in Cape Town

We spent Sunday night, and then Monday and Tuesday in Worcester, my friends home town. We spent some time catching up with friends and family... dealt with the fact that we had broken the hire-car, and generally spent a little time relaxing before another few hectic days!

The Wednesday morning we were up bright and early and on the road to Cape Town again. Our first port of call was the ferry terminal at the waterfront where we purchased our tickets for the tour to Robben Island. Since we had missed out the last time we tried to get tickets we wanted to make sure that we weren't going to miss out again. We booked the tour for the afternoon and then jumped back in the car bound for Table Mountain which had finally re-opened.

The view from the top was spectacular. There are a number of walking tracks that lead you around the top of the mountain which is actually deceptively large. Aside from the view I was also on the look out for a small mammal called a Dassie (Rock Hyrax) which my friend told me looked like an over-sized guinea pig. Not at all a bad description actually because when I came home and googled them it came up with "superficially resembling a large guinea pig"... We didn't see any at first but then... Lo and behold... there they were scrambling around the rocks. I was ridiculously excited and like a good tourist rapidly snapped a bunch of pictures.

We mucked around up the top of the mountain taking pictures for about an hour and then decided to head down again. On the way down I was much more together, looking around, and looking down. I had been told that if we were to go up Table Mountain we had to use the cable car because the criminals hid along the paths to rob you...and no, this is not another naive "I'll believe anything bad about South Africa" instance I was told this by South Africans! The naive part was when I was busy looking down at the path to see if I could spot any...

Once at the bottom we jumped back in the car and went in search of some breakfast before our tour left for Robben Island. Before we even made it to breakfast we got a little lost and accidentally found Bo Kaap, an area with lots of brightly coloured houses, and went for a little drive. Bo Kaap was formerly called the Malay Quarter and is the historical centre of Cape Malay culture. More information can be found here.

We had spent most of the trip talking about how happy we were that we had chosen to go to South Africa in the winter because we had less tourists to compete with and nothing had changed that morning. We waited in line to buy our ticket for the cable car for less than a minute and were on the cable car 5 minutes later. I was a little nervous on the trip up, which I am sure is mostly due to an overactive imagination, and having watched the James Bond movie where the guy with the metal jaw bites through the cable car's cable...

We eventually found our way back down to the waterfront and after breakfast sat at a great little restaurant right by the water to have a nice cold drink (yes it was winter...but it was a really warm day) and we were treated to a little show by a seal swimming up and down in the water right next to us. Before long we wandered over to the ferry terminal and waited for the boat to arrive... which unfortunately was about 20 minutes later than it was supposed to be. We had arranged to meet with our photographer, from the engagement shoot, at 4:15 as on our ticket it said we would be back by 4pm... needless to say we were a little worried but then we assumed that they would still leave at the same time so we should still be back in time.

The ride over to Robben Island was beautiful, Cape Town behind us perfectly situated in front of Table Mountain, and Robben Island ahead of us. For those of you that don't know too much about the history of South Africa Robben Island is a monument to a time called Apartheid. It is currently listed as a world heritage site as a reminder of a time that none of us should wish to return to. In the 17th Century the dutch first used Robben Island as a prison for political prisoners from it's other colonies. When the English took over the governing of South Africa in the 1800's they also used the Island to imprison some of the African leaders involved in the Grahamstown uprising in 1819.

After 1845 the island was used as a leper colony and an animal quarantine station. During WW2 guns and fortifications were added to the island, as an added defense for Cape Town, though the island itself continued to be used as a prison. The period known as Apartheid spanned from 1961 to 1994 and during this time the Island was used as a maximum security prison for political prisoners. These political prisoners were predominantly black Africans who were campaigning for greater black rights within South Africa. After the end of Apartheid Robben Island continued to function as a prison, housing medium security criminal prisoners, for one year. In 1997 it became a museum and a national monument and then in 1999 it was declared a world heritage site.

Nelson Mandela, known affectionately to the people of South Africa as Madiba, was imprisoned on the Island in 1964, and spent 18 of his 27 year prison sentence living in a tiny cell and peering out on a tiny garden. Our guide told us that much of Nelson Mandela's book "Long Walk To Freedom" was written during his time on Robben Island. Because of the incredible history of the Island it was an impressive and yet very sombre place to visit.

We arrived late in the afternoon and were the last group to go through for the day. All the people from the boat were loaded onto 4 tour buses and taken to visit the various buildings around the island, including the limestone quarry, and houses where the prison guards once lived. When we first got onto the bus the guide asked where people were from, I was surprised to discover that my friend was the only South African, and suddenly wondered if the fact that we were both wearing our springboks jersey's would be offensive (again the naivety). It was a big moment for me. My friend is an Afrikaaner and during Apartheid it was this group of people who were considered to be the oppressors, I wondered how the people who had lived through this history felt about escorting us around this place. We were let off the bus to walk around the maximum security prison and were escorted by a tour guide who had actually been a prisoner on the island.

Our guide showed us around, explaining what each building had been used for, and talking a little about his life within the walls. Our guide had been imprisoned on Robben Island as a teenager for being a part of a smaller student uprising that was linked to the larger Soweto Uprising. He was an incredibly knowledgeable and gentle man who could answer any questions we had. All in all it was an amazing experience.

The next morning we were up bright and early again to re-pack our bags and head off to the airport. We had to return our hire car and check our bags nice and early and we were keen to have a final wimpy breakfast before we flew out. Before long we had done everything we needed to do and after a spot of shopping we were on a plane again bound for Dubai and leaving Africa behind.

Number 40. Go on a safari in Africa

I have always dreamed of going on a safari, after how amazing my trip had been so far I started to worry that it might be a bit of a let down...especially after walking a cheetah through the forest for a few hours, but it was a truly amazing experience.

We were booked into fancy accommodation at Sanbona Wildlife Reserve which is about a three hour drive from Cape Town (though we drove through from Plettenberg Bay) and has 54,000 hectares of land over which the animals roam free. We chose this Reserve largely for that reason, the animals are not fed, so they are really only 1 step away from wild. Sanbona also has the only "Free, self-sustaining" White Lions in the world.

When we first arrived at the gate of the Sanbona reserve we were given a map and directed down to the welcome lodge. In hindsight we should have asked if the little mini-van could come to the front gate to collect us, since we broke our hire car, but then we would have missed the welcome lodge which started to give us a idea of what we were in for. The drive was alright, a few patches that our little Kia Piccanto struggled with (e.g. where we broke it), but a 4WD would have handled it easily. The welcome lodge was gorgeous. It was the kind of building where I had always imagined you would wait for your safari to begin. A lot of wood, spectacular views, a pot bellied fire place and a host to serve you a hot cup of coffee or tea on arrival.

We waited a little while for the minivan to arrive which would take us to our accommodation and then we were off. Before we had reached any of the accommodation the minivan came to a halt to allow us time to look at the two cheetahs that were running across the road - sheer luck that we saw them on the way in - and we thought it boded well for the rest of our stay. We drove past the first accommodation, the Tilney Manor, the second accommodation the Gondwana Lodge which is mainly for families and then arrived at our destination - The Dwyka Tented Lodges.

Sanbona calls the Dwyka Tented Lodges "secluded luxury" and it is an understatement. It is a series of 10 tented individual lodges, and a main building, which are located in a horshoe-like rock formation in the Karoo desert. The scenery is visually stunning and the luxury is complete.

When we arrived at the main building of the Dwyka lodges we were greeted by a charming concierge, Bernard, and handed a steaming hot face-cloth by one of the waiters (bearing in mind that we were there in the middle of winter and it was freezing!). We then headed into the main building where we stopped in front of the fire and Bernard served us a hot chocolate with a touch of Amarula and gave us a few general details about what was happening for the rest of the day. The first game drive would be at 3pm so we were free to take our lunch when we were ready and freshen up in our rooms before we left. We decided to take our lunch before heading down to the rooms... we ate breakfast at around 6:30 am and we were starving!

The lunch was incredible; I chose the butternut pumpkin soup with fresh baked bread for entree, a chicken and avocado burger with a trio of home-made sauces for main, and then the creme caramel for desert. This was a few weeks ago now and I still remember the menu in intimate detail which should give you an idea of just how amazing the food was!

Once we could no longer eat we were shown to our rooms to quickly change and get ready for the game drive. Bernard showed us around the room, explaining where everything was, and how everything worked. He mentioned that if we needed anything, even at 3am, we should pick up the phone and let them know.

Before long we were being introduced to our guide, Martin, who would be driving us for the four game drives that we would do during our 2 night stay. He explained a few details of the reserve and showed us where we could find the blankets and then we were off. It was amazing! The vehicle seats 6 people up high behind the driver though there is room for a 7th to sit in the front of the jeep behind the glass windshield.

In our Jeep we were lucky that it was only my friend and I and one other couple who were from Cape Town. Martin asked us which animals were on our wish list and after thinking for a moment we rattled off the names of most of the big animals, which brought a smile to Martin's face, I suspect he had heard the same list a dozen times already.

We had been driving for less than 5 minutes when we spotted a small herd of Eland which is the largest antelope in the African continent and are very impressive. Minutes later, mostly due to the terrible noise they make, we spotted some baboons in the distance on the cliffs around our lodges. We continued on and spotted both mountain and plains Zebra, Klipspringer's, and then through sheer luck I spotted the two Cheetah's that we had seen earlier. They had covered a massive distance in the time it had taken us to eat lunch and they appeared to be hunting...though they were miles away and the wind was going in the wrong direction so they stood very little chance.

We watched them until they disappeared from view and then drove down to the big damn / lake where we saw two hippos floating around. Once they disappeared from site we moved a little further along the lake and Martin got out to set up a little table at the front of the Jeep, he spread out a table cloth and put out a few little dishes with different nibbly foods, then poured us each a drink. The waiter had asked us what we would like for a "sun-downer" so I had a glass each of one of our favourite white wines.

It was a perfect moment, sipping wine, standing next to a big lake in the middle of the mountains. Real African-style wilderness!

We returned to the lodge to be greeted with another steaming hot face-cloth and hot chocolate with Amarula and advised that we should feel free to take our time and come back to the main room for dinner at any time. We went to freshen up and then decided to take our dinner right away so that we could relax and enjoy our gorgeous room. Dinner was even more spectacular than lunch and the chocolate mousse / meringue combination for desert was a taste sensation! We went via the bartender on the way back to our rooms who graciously agreed to whip us up a few cocktails even though they weren't on the menu. Then we turned in for the night...after a nice hot bath and enjoying our cocktails in some of the most comfortable bathrobes in the universe.

The next morning our wake-up call came through at 6:30, we bounced out of bed to get ready and went up to the main building for a mixture of a continental buffet, and for myself the pancakes... yum. By 8am we were back in the Jeep...delighted that Martin had arranged hot water bottles as well as the fleecy blankets for our chilly morning drive. We drove for a while before we were lucky enough to see three giraffes enjoying a morning snack... really close!

When we arrived back after the morning drive we were told that since it was such a beautiful sunny day we would be welcome to take our lunch in our rooms if we chose to. We were given a menu and advised to just call to tell them what we wanted and what time we wanted it... again the meal was stunning and we ended up falling asleep and waking up only minutes before we were due to be leaving again! That evening was a real treat, we saw more eland and wildebeests, a whole herd of elephants, and then on the way back out of the darkness we somehow spotted a White Lion cub. We saw both the mother and her two cubs who all actually came out onto the road around us. For more detail on this amazing experience please click here.

We came back a little late and my friend and I were both a little worried because we had booked an hour long massage treatment... not that we needed to worry... Bernard repeating his mantra of "we never hurry our guests here" and asking us if we would like to freshen up before we went in for our treatment. The massage was stunning and the rooms were so beautifully decorated. All this luxury followed again by a wonderful dinner and then we were fast asleep!

The next morning was our final game drive. We began with a large group of springbok's, who are unbelievably cute when they spring, and then we were lucky enough to find two white Rhino. We watched them for most of the morning before we had to head back to finish packing and leave. When we left and said goodbye to our waiters, and to Martin and Bernard, it really felt more as though we were saying goodbye to people who had become friends in the two nights we had been there. The rooms were luxurious and beautiful, the facilities were amazing, the landscape is incredible, but the staff there really made the experience. I can't speak highly enough of them or of our time at Sanbona and we definitely intend to return...maybe when the little White Lion cubs have had time to grow up!

In terms of my first Safari experience... wow! We had spent so much time up close and personal with these animals in a more captive environment so it was amazing to see them in the wild living as they are supposed to. They also look different in their natural setting, perhaps its the way they blend in with the landscape or that they look more at ease, but I think if everyone had the opportunity to see these animals this way they would have a better understanding of why it's such a shame to lock them up in zoo's.

Overall I was blown away by the whole experience and I can't wait to go again or maybe even take on Kruger National Park!

Plettenberg Bay & Oudtshoorn (part 1)

Cape Agulhas

We were up bright and early on the morning of Monday the first of August... and when I say bright and early I mean it! We were on the road by 7am, which is early when you are on vacation, headed for our first destination of the day: Cape Agulhas.

Cape Agulhas is the southernmost tip of the continent of Africa and the exact spot where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean. It's a fairly cool place to be able to say you have been too! It's also pretty much the only thing that is happening in Cape Agulhas... on our way in we saw quite a few houses, some guest houses, a petrol station, a police station and what may or may not have been a pub... that was pretty much it! A very quiet spot which is perhaps due to the massive storms that rage around the coast and can produce waves of up to 30 meters high. It is an area which is notorious for ship wrecks and due to the conditions is not necessarily the ideal place to settle!

It is, however, beautiful. The light house that stands high above the tide is a stunning landmark against the brutal looking cliffs that edge the water. The Cape Agulhas lighthouse was the third light house to be built in South Africa, completed in 1848, and it is the second oldest which is still in operation. More information on the Cape Agulhas lighthouse can be found here.

We arrived nice and early which meant that we were the only people there and we mucked around taking a few photo's before taking a moment to soak up where we were and find a way to mesh our location on a map with what we were actually seeing. Both of us were thinking the same thing though we didn't talk about it till we were back in the car. What would it have been like hundreds of years ago when the dutch first arrived to have sailed around that point? What must they have thought of the land and coastline they were seeing?

*****

Plettenberg Bay

We reached our accommodation in Plettenberg Bay in the early evening and after checking in, checking out our suite and bbq area, we jumped back in the car and drove into town to pick up a few things at the supermarket and grab dinner. We were originally planning on having a braai at the acommodation but we were both so tired that we opted for Spurs instead - a local restaurant chain specializing in burgers and steaks - and ate until we could barely move!

Up bright and early again the next morning we went to visit Monkeyland. We had hoped to be able to touch the monkeys (we heard stories....) but it was set up as a sanctuary to dehumanize the monkeys and make them wild again so we understood when they said we couldn't. We paid for our tour (guided tours only) and sat down to wait. When it became clear that our tour was going to include some (4) particularly obnoxious and loud children we returned to the front desk and politely asked if we could wait till the next tour. Thankfully they said it wasn't a problem so we ordered a cappuccino and waited for the next one...as it turned out we were the only people on the next tour so we had a guide to ourselves... perfect!

I was a little fascinated by the guide. He started out the tour by reeling off these huge portions of information in such a way that you knew he had memorised a script and given the same speech a dozen times a day for years. By the time we had gone a little way in, we started asking questions because that's who we are, he started to relax a lot.

He was a mine of information having worked at the place for 4 years and he was actually really funny. The tour was supposed to take an hour and an hour and a half later we were back at the front gate having seen and taken pictures of some of the cutest monkeys. Many of the monkey's there had originally been pet monkeys. People find them really helpful pets for the first 5 years but once they mature they become like all other monkeys marking their territory and so on. Apparently most people don't like the smell of monkey pee in their bedroom...It begs the question though, if you are going to get a monkey as a pet, why wouldn't you do some research about that sort of thing?

We wandered back to the car and decided to check out a

place called Tenikwa, which was a wild cat sanctuary right around the corner from Monkeyland, we hadn't seen any brochures for it so we had no idea what it would be like but as it was only a 5 minute drive we figured it was worth a look. We were glad we had chosen it in the end as we were lucky enough to fill a spot on their daily walk with the baby cheetahs.

We began with a tour of the sanctuary, looking at the various big cats, from the African wild cat to the Rooi cat and the Leopard. The Leopard being the one cage you are not allowed to go inside. We hadn't yet finished the tour when we were collected by our guide and taken for a brief safety video. There are a number of rules when you walk with a cheetah. The first thing to remember is that the Cheetah is actually walking you and not the other way around. You are warned not to look into the eyes of the cheetah as that is a challenge and they will feel the need to dominate / fight you. You may not pull on the leash but rather if the

Cheetah starts to run you must run as well. You are not to crouch down in front of the cheetah as they will either view you as a new game or as lunch. After the guide was certain that we were clear on the rules we were escorted back to the baby Cheetah's cage and handed a leash.

We walked them through the forest for almost 2 hours, even though the brochure said the tour was only 1 hour, it was only a small group of us and we were all pretty good at doing what we were told! We took turns walking the Cheetah and taking loads of pictures and video footage of the experience. It was amazing.

We started out so nervous but by the end of the time we were feeling a lot more confident about handling these gorgeous cats. They were so cute and fluffy. The thing we were most surprised about was the way the traveled. They would run for a few seconds, or walk for a minute, and then flop on the ground for double the time. The guide said it was because it was an unusually hot winter and the heat really tired them out. When we finally said goodbye to the babies, Zeus and Gabriel, we stopped in quickly with the grown up Cheetah's.

My first thought was that I was really happy we had been walking with the babies.... they were so much less intimidating than these massive beasts in front of us! The Cheetah politely stretched out for us so that we could stroke her and snap a few quick pics with the guide assuring us that as long as we followed the rules she wouldn't attack. I was just concerned about the odds... 1 giant female Cheetah lying down, 1 even larger male Cheetah wandering around behind us. If those Cheetah's wanted us for lunch we were, quite literally, toast.

Finally we were escorted back to the main building where they provided us with an ice-cold drink and a plate of nibbley foods, which we were so grateful for after our two-three hour experience, especially since we had forgotten to eat lunch! More information on the Tenikwa Awareness Centre can be found here.

Then we were home for a braai and then a grateful flop into bed for a good nights sleep before another busy day!

*****

Oudtshoorn

We were up bright and early (again.) to head to Oudtshoorn which was a few hours away from where we were staying. There was a lot there we wanted to do and this was the only chance we were going to have to do it so we wanted to make the most of the day. We were going quite nicely until we hit a detour that took us onto a dirt road for around 100km. It was horrible. It seemed that most of the people flying past us were driving 4WD's - they managed to ford the river quite nicely too - and the stones flying up at us did eventually crack the windscreen.

By the time we got to Oudtshoorn the car was filthy. Positively caked in mud. We drove straight to our first point of interest, the Cango Caves, and the car guard took one look at the car and offered to wash it for us!

To go into the Cango Caves you also have to go on a guided tour. The Cango Caves are a series of limestone caves that were first discovered in 1780 by a local farmer named Jacobus Van Zyl, who I personally think must have been a complete lunatic to climb down into the belly of those caves with nothing but a candle light. Especially since the first chamber he went into was roughly the size of a football field - candle light just doesn't spread that far! For a time the Cango Caves were used to hold concerts, the incredible acoustics and the ability to seat around 2000 people made it the perfect location, but due to the damage done to the caves by visitors these concerts were stopped. More information on the Cango Caves can be found here.

For our trip we were lucky enough to be given an English speaking guide who was absolutely hilarious... called me "Miss Australia" for the entire trip. The Cango Caves are incredible so we spent half our time marveling at the sheer size and beauty of it all and the other half laughing at the antics of our guide!

The next stop was the Cango Ostrich Farm which was interesting. Again this was guided tour only and to be honest it was pretty expensive for what it was. First we were led through the incubation rooms and then out to meet face to face with some Ostrich where we learned that the brain of an Ostrich is roughly the same size as a teaspoon, in fact their eye is bigger than their brain, so they are huge AND stupid...not a good combination in my books! From that point everything really felt like a photo opportunity and it all happened pretty fast. We were allowed to sit on, or ride if you didn't weigh too much, an Ostrich - unfortunately Karel was just over the weight limit (apparently you have to be a lot on the skinny side) and I have a slight paranoia about giant birds so we opted to sit only rather than ride. Then they demonstrated how strong an Ostrich egg is by having us stand on a pile of them... I swear I heard a crack!

We took a break for lunch in the Oudtshoorn township where we enjoyed some delicious calamari and a feta and avocado pizza...yum....

Onward! Click here for part 2

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Cape Town via Hermanus to Franskraal

We were off again... Cape town to Hermanus, where we had thought to go whale watching but the weather was frightening so we opted out, and then on to Franskraal where my friends dad lives. The first thing we did was go down to the shops to get a few nibblies and pick out the meat we wanted for the evening's braai (bbq), closely followed by lighting a fire, it was absolutely freezing! ...and then finding the hot water bottles at the super-market!

We spent the next few days with my friends family, popping down to do some whale watching, eating some of the best lemon meringue pie I have ever eaten in my life, and doing a little proper vacation relaxing!

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Next: Plettenberg Bay & Oudtshoorn

Day Two and Three in Cape Town

We were up bright and early the next morning on our way to Table Mountain, partly because there was so much we wanted to do and see, partly because we were still pretty much on Korean time so 4 am in Cape Town was already a sleep in. We made our way up to the car park and hopped out of the car talking about how fantastic it was that it was so quiet and clearly holidaying ing the winter was smart because there was less of an issue with crowds…only to discover that the reason it was dead quiet probably had more to do with the fact that the cable car that goes to the top of the mountain was down for maintenance until August and it was the 26^th of July.

We knew we still had a few days in which we could come back to see it in August,

before we left for Dubai, so we decided not to let it get us down and took a stack of pictures from the car-park (which is still a spectacular view) and jumped back in the car to go and find breakfast.

We stopped in Camps Bay, one of the most beautiful beaches, and had a delicious breakfast of bacon and eggs, smoked salmon, and croissants… me coming close to a heart attack when my friend worked out that even though it was the most expensive breakfast on the menu it still worked out to about $3 Australian. I felt a whole lot less guilty about ordering food that looked expensive after that! We went for a little wander on the beach after breakfast.

Then it was back in the car headed for Hout Bay. Wow. Hout Bay is stunning! When people talk about picturesque places Hout Bay is the kind of place you would imagine. The colours were spectacular and the scenery… It was also a beautiful sunny day and we had a clear blue sky which just added t it all. We pulled off into a carpark and wandered over to buy a ticket to go out on a boat and see Seal Island. The boat was due to leave in about 10 minutes which gave us time to wander around and look at the handcrafts that the locals were selling – some of which was really amazing. I was particularly fascinated by the hand-painted Ostrich eggshells.

Some of them were unbelievably detailed and quite beautiful…if we didn’t live in a shoebox on the other side of the world I would have considered buying just because they were so different. Alas, transportation difficulties, and not having anywhere to display it meant that it was really not an option.

The trip out to Seal Island and back took about 45 minutes and the view was even more stunning than the view driving into the bay. The seals definitely have some prime real estate! Needless to say I took loads of photos!

Next it was “World of Birds” which is a bird sanctuary…they have everything there from Australian kookaburra’s, to South American parrots, to local African birds…and then a really cute collection of tiny monkeys. We spent ages wandering around looking at the different birds, the owls and birds of prey were the most impressive, though some of the colours of the other birds were absolutely gorgeous!

*****

The next morning was a tad more leisurely, we decided to meet up with a friend of ours from Korea, Jaco, at Cape Town’s casino. First of all… wow. The casino is gorgeous! You have to go through a gatehouse to get there and it is a really beautiful building! Definitely not what I had been expecting, I have been to loads of casinos in Australia, New Zealand and even Macau in China and I have never seen such a pretty casino!

We caught up with Jaco and went bowling. The boys didn’t believe me when I said I was terrible at bowling until after I had started playing…then they believed me. Saying I am terrible is an understatement. Then we mucked around in a game arcade where we busied ourselves scoring tickets to win stuff we didn’t need…but we had a great laugh doing it! After all the excitement we went in search of a drink…which was a little harder than I thought it should have been in a casino… the sports bar didn’t appear to be open and the other bar was closed for a photo-shoot with some girls dressed up in can-can gear. We resorted to buying a drink at one of the little standing bars around the edge of the gaming area and then taking it into the sports bar to sit down. We sat there for quite a while and eventually it did open!

When we started to get hungry we took Jaco up on his offer of dinner and followed him out to his parents place for a braai (bbq)…they were so hospitable and his Dad is an absolute crack up…insisted that we both add him on facebook…which we must remember to do. The food was amazing and the company superb –thanks Jaco!

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Arrival and Day One in Cape Town

Arrival

Even getting out of Korea takes some effort! We had our bags packed and made a last minute call to the Seoul Helpline to find out what time the airport buses left from our area, we had originally planned to take a taxi to Suwon and get the airport bus from there, at the last minute we decided it might just be easier to go from Byeongjeom. We dragged our bags down to the bus stop, calling in for a quick iced coffee to get out of the heat, and then jumped onto the bus headed for the airport. The bus takes between an hour and a half and three hours depending on traffic conditions (yes, it varies that much, traffic close to Seoul is crazy!) and for our trip it was closer to the three hour mark as it was peak hour traffic on a Friday. When we finally got to the airport we checked in right away and then headed off to find something to eat. We had been forewarned that most things at the airport closed at around 10pm and our flight was due to depart at 11:55. Fortunately for us one of the bonuses with my friend's Samsung credit card is that we get free access to the Korean Airways Business lounge…. Aaaahhhh…. What a way to start the trip! They had a selection of foods, from cheese platters, to soups, and all manner of salads as well as a fancy coffee machine, selection of wines, and fruit juices and soft drinks. We curled up in the big leather chairs with coffee’s and made a few phone calls before I picked up my book and. Before long it was time to head to our departure gate to get onto the first leg of our flight from Seoul to Dubai.

We were both glad to have made the decision to fly emirates, though the flight still felt horribly long, and the flight was fully booked so there wasn’t much room to spread out. We made it through the 9 and a half hour journey, with very little sleep, and arrived at around 5am in Dubai where we had about a four hour break before our next flight. We wandered around, stopping for coffee, McDonalds (which made me realize just how bad the McDonalds in Korea really is) and to have a look in the bookshop before we gave in to our tiredness and curled up on one of the airport chairs to wait. Now that I write this it seems like we weren’t really waiting a long time before we boarded the next flight… but then it’s funny how your memory does that… fooling you into believing that the next time you do the flight it won’t be that bad! The next leg of the flight was just as long… and possibly harder to sleep through because of the ill disciplined child a few seats back from us (making us question whether we really wanted to have children…or how some people were allowed to have children) and also because I knew that South Africa was at the other end. It’s kind of a surreal feeling to realize that you are about to land in a place you have wanted to go to for most of your life.

Off the plane we grabbed our bags and went to collect our hire car. Then we were off again heading for Worcester with my friend driving us in our little Kia Picanto. My mouth dropped open as we drove away from the airport and I had my first glimpse of the shacks, little lean to sheds of stacked up sheets of metal, plastic or wood (depending on what they can find) that people actually live in. I was told later that we accidentally took a wrong turn and went through a Gangsters paradise - rather one of the worst areas in Cape Town. I had no idea… I, like most people outside of South Africa, had been told numerous stories of people being robbed, hijacked, and killed, and so a part of me kind of thought that perhaps this is what most of South Africa looked like. Only a part because if I am completely honest I also expected to see sprawling mansions and wild animals roaming the streets… yes I know I am naïve.

We made it to our accommodation in Worcester where we both showered and then collapsed into bed grateful to be lying flat after what seemed like the longest flight ever… we were travelling for 36 hours in total if you include the bus to the airport and the drive to the accommodation… we just kept thinking about how glad we were that we booked a stop-over in Dubai for the trip home!

We were up bright and early the next morning thanks to a healthy dose of jet lag so we got up and organized and by 7am we were on the road being tourists in Worcester…which admittedly is not very big… but the buildings are gorgeous. We took turns driving around which was fun because I have really missed driving!

When everything finally started to open we called into a restaurant called Wimpy, which is part of a chain, and had a massive breakfast of bacon and eggs with all the trimmings! Then that afternoon I was treated to my first real braai in South Africa…yum!

Day One in Cape Town.

We drove into Cape Town early on the Monday morning. It was raining when we left but by the time we were a little way out of Worcester it had stopped and the most beautiful rainbow had come out as if to welcome us… at least in my mind it was there to welcome me! I spent most of the trip in peering into the mountains in search of baboons… I had been promised that they liked to sit on the roads along the way...

We found our accommodation in Sea Point (near the waterfront) as quickly as we could, dropped off our bags, and then went down to the waterfront for something to eat. We sat in the window of a restaurant where we could see the whole waterfront and Table Mountain and had the biggest plate / dish of calamari and prawns I had seen in a long time. (I am including a picture here purely to make the mouths of my friends here in Korea water… this food is nearly impossible to get here!) Somehow I found the will-power to finish almost every morsel and then we wandered around the waterfront feeling like we were going to pop! We tried to book tickets to go and see Robben Island but discovered that all the tickets that day had sold out and the next available trip was 2pm the next day… we decided not to book for the next day because we weren’t sure where we were going to be.

We wandered around for a while doing a bit of window shopping and then wandered into the Aquarium to take a look. It was fantastic! Everything was cleverly lit and well displayed so that you could see it well and it was visually stunning. The jellyfish display stands out as being one of the most clever… I took a picture without flash and it almost looks like they are floating in mid-air. On the other side of the “world of frogs” exhibit there is a special room set up for the penguins, there are two groups, one that stays in that area all the time. The security guard, who was incredibly friendly, told us that we were just in time and if he wandered back downstairs to the outdoor penguin exhibit they were going to walk them up to their night-time spot in about 10 minutes. It was hilarious. This maintenance man kept going in and out of their outdoor enclosure and every time he opened the gate they would line up in front of the door to be let out. They knew what the time was and were eager to get to their indoor houses! Finally the lady they were waiting for opened the door and they all trotted inside obediently, making their way through the aquarium, with all the people in their standing on each side of the path as they waddled along!

After the aquarium we jumped in the car and drove to Canal Walk shopping centre for a little shopping… we had realized after a day or two that the clothing we had taken with us was sadly inadequate for this particularly cold South African winter. My thought when packing was “it’s Africa…how cold can it be?” My friend was clearly mistaken as well so I don’t have to feel like a complete moron of a tourist! We got a nice warm “K-way” jacket for me… some new Springboks jersey’s for each of us, and I found some gorgeous black boots (guys you may tune out for the rest of this paragraph because I am talking about shoes…lol) that were so inexpensive! I like shoe shopping in South Africa…so far it’s the only place in the world that makes me feel like I have small feet! In SA I am a size 6…wow. Sounds small! Also in the boots I bought the size 6 was the smallest they had…leading me to believe that the boots were either meant for me or that South African women have freakishly large feet!

After our “short” shopping expedition had turned into hours of pacing the mall we decided we were completely exhausted and it was time to return to the accommodation and see what our room for the next few days looked like. We certainly weren’t disappointed – the suite was lovely – full kitchen, separate bedroom…and the bathroom had a bath! (I am excited about the bath because you don’t see one very often in Korea.) On our way in we had also been invited to a wine and cheese evening that was being hosted downstairs and so in the spirit of not wanting to miss out on a single moment of our holiday we went down to check it out.

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Next: Day Two and Three in Cape Town