We flew from Larnaca airport to Capetown (Via Doha, Qatar) with Qatar Airways. At 02.00 at Doha airport we boarded a Qatar A350 Airbus and flew to Capetown, South Africa which took 10 hours.
Cape Town.
We met by our driver at arrivals and took the 20 minute drive into the city, it was a treat to be met with blue skies, warm sunshine and temps in the high 20's.
We were dropped off at our accommodation, the Anchor bay guest house and shown around by the owner, Bert. The veranda has superb views across the City to the waterfront.
We unpacked and then strolled down to the sea front and had cold drinks with fish and chips at a Sotano tapas bar at the lighthouse followed by a walk along the seaboard.
Day 2.
We made an early start and caught an Uber taxi up to the cable car station at Table mountain. We arrived early enough to have breakfast on the mountain before exploring this iconic mountain with its dramatic views over Capetown and the surrounding area.
We the made our way over to Kirstenbosch botanical gardens, our first stop was at the Mayo restaurant for lunch. We then spent some time exploring this wonderful area of outstanding natural beauty of the gardens and its bird life.
Day 3.
On a warm morning we made a slight error of walking down to the V&A waterfront, we were pretty knackered when we got there, even at 9 in the morning it was still very hot. We headed for an air conditioned shopping mall to rehydrate and cool down.
We decided to stay cool by visiting the Two oceans aquarium, we managed to see the penguins being feed as well as watching 2 divers feeding the rays.
In the evening we returned to the waterfront, our first port of call was a German Berhaus where we watched 2 talented guys on guitars singing some great tunes. After a bite to eat we made our way over to the Ferrymans tavern where there was some more superb live music, a great finish to our time in Cape Town.
Stellenbosch.
Leaving Cape town , we drove East towards our next destination, the town of Stellenbosch. On the way we passed the huge township that stretched for miles along the highway.
We arrived in Stellenbosch and were met by Amanda, the property manager. Our first task was to sign in at security by having our fingerprints read and saved by a biometric scanner. The view from our apartment looks out onto vast vineyards with a backdrop of a dramatic mountain range. One slight problem was that the temps were hitting 40 degrees, so after a late brunch at the Open door cafe it was time to unpack , grab a shower and settle in.
Day 2.
We woke up this morning to mist over the mountains and a temp of 20 degrees, that's a drop of 14 degrees overnight, quite astonishing. After breakfast we were collected for our Wine tour, along with two young German girls, we made our way to our first wine farm.
The Lanzerac wine farm is set in a stunning position surrounded by huge mountain range. We started off by sampling 5 wines that were paired with 5 different types of chocolate. After our wine tasting we wandered around the grounds and came upon a wedding taking place in a stunning location.
We then moved onto our second wine farm named, Neil Ellis, this was smallish farm but the 5 wines we shared with our German friends tasted were very good.
At the third wine farm, Camberley, we decided that it would be a good spot to have a light lunch, sitting under the dappled light beneath the trees. The Camberley is a boutique wine farm with owner living next door. Moving on, were reached our fourth wine farm, Boschendal, this was huge place with a high class restaurant, a farm shop selling local bread, cheeses, meats and of course a large selection of wine.
Our final stop was a Zorgvliet wine farm and this was the one with the most spectacular views of all. From the old Dutch colonial house, to the the huge pond with herons feeding and a horse paddock where Mandy made friends with a small pony.
Day 3.
After yesterday's splendour of the wine farms, today we experienced the polar opposite today when we visited the Kayamandi township on the outskirts of Stellenbosch. We met our guide, Tamby in town and we were a little surprised to
find out that we were the only two on the tour.
We boarded a local taxi bus that takes the locals to the township which was a little crowded. We disembarked in the township and made our way through the narrow streets, the conditions of these tin shacks that the 70,000 inhabitants live in is quite astonishing in these modern days.
We then entered one of the “ houses" and welcomed by the kind hosts and were shown the living and sleeping conditions of the family, which to say the least were cramped. We continued our tour visiting a school and local shops.
The people of the township were so welcoming and friendly. Our standout memory will be the kids of the township who were simply gorgeous and just loved interacting with us with their beautiful smiles. This was an experience we both discussed for the rest of the day.
In the afternoon we drove out to the Blaauklippen wine estate and spent a couple of hours enjoying a bottle of wine in the beautiful grounds and visiting the old manor house. We returned to Stellenbosch and visited one of the 3 oldest pubs in South Africa, De Akker, which looks like an old traditional British pub. Finally we rounded off our stay in Stellenbosch with a lovely meal in the old town.
Durban.
Leaving Stellenbosch we took the 30 minute drive to Cape Town international airport where we boarded a “ Mango” flight to Durban. The 737 flight took 1 hour 30 minutes to King Shaka airport.
The first thing we noticed when driving from the airport was how lush and green the surrounding countryside was. It took an easy 30 minute drive to reach the center of Durban.
In the evening we used our new friend "Uber" and popped over to the Florida road area and enjoyed a very good meal at Lupa Italian restaurant .
After a huge electrical storm during the night we woke to a bright, humid day. We made our way over to the beautiful Moses Mabhida stadium where we decided to go on a Segway tour. We started off with a short training session with our guide, Shaun. We the set off on our tour along the seafront promenade passing sand sculptures and weaving in and out of the walkers and cyclists. We drove the Segways onto one of the piers where we took a break and saw some great views of the City skyline and also the passing surfers. This was the first time either of us had used a Segway and we had a blast.
We the sat down for a coffee before doing the guided tour of the stadium, we were even allowed on the grass pitch before visiting the dressing rooms and the Presidential suite.
After lunch we made our way over to the Ushaka marine World, where they have a superb aquarium with a variety of fish, Ray’s, turtles and a huge tank full of sharks. We finished our visit off at the dolphin show, although not a fan of captive animal shows, you cannot be impressed at their agility.
Day 2.
The morning started with a relaxing walk along the seaboard, although it was a very humid start to the day, the breeze off the Indian Ocean made it comfortable. All the usual suspects were out, the cyclists, the skateboarders, the joggers and dog walkers.
At lunchtime we made our way over to Greyville racecourse, a very kind lady went out of her way to allow us into the Gold Lounge even though we were wearing shorts, not normally allowed.
We had a wonderful afternoon with an impressive buffet and reasonably priced drinks. As far as the racing went, Mandy won the first race, but that was were our getting luck ended. An afternoon at Durban racecourse is a great way to spent a few hours.
Hluhluwe Imforlozi National Park.
Today we picked up by our driver/guide, “Sibo “ who drove us North of Durban, passing mile upon mile of sugar cane fields. Our first Stop was at a Wild cat sanctuary, that looks after injured and orphaned wild cats.
We started off by seeing the African wild Cat followed by the Serval and Caracal then went onto the Cheetah enclosure, standing just one metre from these animals you could just see the power of these superb animals. Our guide then said we would be entering the enclosure, we thought at first that he was kidding, but sure enough he opened the gates and with a little trepidation we stepped inside.
The two cheetahs were shading themselves from the sun under a small tree, we walked up to within one meter, it was thrilling to be so close to these beautiful animals. Our guide told us all about the cats and how they hoped to return them to the wild.
We the drove onto the Hlahluwe- Imfolozzi national park, we checked into the Hilltop camp and were shown to our Thatched chalet. After brief lunch it was time to go out on our first Safari drive with Sibo. We left the camp and drove for a couple minutes , as we rounded a Crest, we were surprised to see a huge Bull elephant standing in the middle of the road. We came to a sharp stop and watched as he swung his huge trunk at us, after several minutes he moved slowly away to graze.
Moving on, Sibo stopped at the track side when a family of 3 rhinos stood, we were within 5 metres of the tremendously powerful animals. The sightings on the Safari continued, seeing Giraffes, Buffalo, more elephants, warthogs, Zebra and a troupe of performing Baboons.
At night we dined in the lodge's restaurant and discussed all we had seen on this special day. After dinner the restaurant staff came out to perform Zulu songs and dances.
Day 2
We made 5.30am start for our first game drive of the day, it was a quiet start to the drive, although we did see a couple of Rhinos, impalas, Zebras warthogs and plenty of bird life. The highlight of the drive was when we stopped at a waterhole where a herd of Buffaloes were wallowing in the mud, we were only a couple of meters away from these huge beasts and it was fascinating to watch them.
At around 10.30 we went on our 3rd game drive, once again the game came thick and fast. Shortly after leaving the lodge the road was blocked by two huge Rhinos marking their territory. Driving through the Bush we spotted two Mongooses playing, Other animals we saw included Wilderbeast, monkeys, elephants, Giraffes, tortoises, impalas, Kudo, zebras and baboons.
As we were ending our drive we noticed a number of vultures circling overhead, we stopped off to ask a ranger the reason, sadly he told us that 2 rhino had been killed by poachers.
Day 3.
On our final day in South Africa’s oldest national park, we had another early morning start for our 4th game drive. We saw two huge Rhino cross in front of us and plenty of other animals even though the weather was against us.
We said goodbye to the Hluhluwe game reserve and drove over to the coast of the Indian Ocean. We stopped of at the small town of St Lucia which is known for its Isimangaliso wetland park. We boarded a small boat and headed out into the estuary.
Our first sighting was a crocodile guarding its nest high on the riverbank. We the headed further into the estuary until we came upon a family of hippos numbering around 20. The were just wallowing in the shallows keeping close together for warmth. They eat a huge amount of grass during the night and let of gas during the day, as we both found out, they stink to high hell.
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