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South Africa Trip Review: Cape Town, Franschhoek, and Sabi Sands
Posted on 3/24/18 at 8:40 pm
Posted on 3/24/18 at 8:40 pm
As promised, your review is here. First off, I apologize for going on safari and not being an awesome photographer. Secondly, I brainfart sometimes and don't take the pics I probably should, so I may just steal a few here and there from the internet.
With that said, I (we) found South Africa to be an incredible trip and a real delight. Sure, I didn't go to KwaZulu-Natal where things seem to be a bit rough, but we found a relatively well run country (at least for the time being) and met wonderful people. Though there was the hint of an ugly underbelly. Many houses had electrified fencing above their outer walls and even our AirBnB in wine country had a night guard right outside our Villa, so I imagine every day life has it's issues.
I'll break down our itinerary at the top and then continue discussion below. We went with another couple and spent about 8 days in SA. My wife and her friend have high pressure jobs so unfortunately, we did not have more time.
Itinerary:
March 8 - Flew Southwest AUS-DCA and spent the night with my in laws.
March 9th/10th - Ethiopian FLT 501 Business class IAD to Addis Ababa ; Ethiopian FLT 847 Business class ADD to Cape Town
March 10 - Cape Town
March 11 - Franschhoek
March 12 - Boulders Beach, Chapman's Peak Drive and Cape Town
March 13 - Robben Island/Cape Town
March 14 - Cape Town to Hoedspruit on South African Airways arriving at Elephant Plains Safari Lodge/Afternoon Game Drive
March 15 - Game Drives
March 16 - Game Drives
March 17 - Morning game drive, South African flight from Nelspruit to Johannesburg; South African JNB - Dar Es Salaam; Swiss Air Flight LX 296 Business Class DAR - Zurich;
March 18 - Swiss Air LX 16 Business Class ZRH to JFK; Then we flew Delta to Austin but I don't want to talk about it.
The trip got off to great start in cattle class on Southwest!
Thankfully, a night at my MIL's is always a treat, and I ended up eating so much I was uncomfortable for the next two days:
March 9th: Head off to Dulles for our flight on Ethiopian
Ethiopian 787s are half lie flat, half angled lie flat. I checked all the flight database sites and they were only using angled seats, so my expectations were low.
Time to Board!
Holy shite, they sent the lie flat seats!
The footwell on the side seats is a little small. I recommend the middle row seats for more foot room.
Getting that pre-departure drunk on
I'm reclined and tucked in starting to get fed!
Their western courses were meh, but their Ethiopian was on point as one would expect.
Get used to me taking pictures after I've already eaten most of it
Still can't sleep but at least I'm comfortable
13 hours later, we swoop into Bole Airport. They just left these two old arse planes by the runway which is cool.
It is a rudimentary airport but it gets the job done.
All the seats were taken, but my wife spotted these two where in any other airport they'd be in a restricted area behind the boarding desk, and probably why they were empty, but the nice part about flying business class is you just do whatever you want. When someone finally did come by the conversation went like this:
*That typical employee concerned look/I'm going to have make these people move demeanor*
"Are you flying to Cape Town"
"Yes."
"Are you in business class?"
"Yes"
End of discussion
Which led to my first time being the first person to board an aircraft!
After being in Ethiopia for all of 1.5 hours we're off to Cape Town!
The 777 is a little more worn, but foot area wasn't at issue, seats were lie flat, and the food was the same as last flight. I took it easy on the Ethiopian food for obvious reasons on this leg.
We land in Cape Town and get through customs in 5 minutes. We stop by our AirBnb in Cape Town City Center just off Bree St., drop off our bags, and head off to Table Mountain.
CAPE TOWN:
Cape Town is an embarrassment of riches. The city is truly an international city with cuisine from all over the world. Hiking is available all around the city, the beaches are 10 minutes away, wine is close too, but even Franschhoek is only a little over an hour away. So was Boulder's Beach (which you'll see later). You can spend a very solid week here. As far as I can tell, March is a great time to visit towards the end of their summer, but usually isn't a great time to go on safari, which I'll get into later. But if you have the opportunity, you absolutely must visit.
As for the water situation, it was a little ominous. The minute you step off the plane the Save Water stickers are on the jetway windows. Public facilities in airports, and parks shut off the water to the faucets in the bathrooms and use hand sanitizer, etc. At times, big billboards on the roadway remind everyone that "Level 6b Restrictions" were in place. It had an almost post-apocalyptic air to it. At our Bnb, we did our part and if it was "Yellow, let it Mellow". Kept shower times to a couple minutes and all that. But really, it sounds a lot worse than it was to deal with as a tourist. You load up on bottled water, as you should anywhere you go, and you are fine. But it is a very real problem for those that live there, and I could not imagine having to be that attentive on a daily basis.
Table mountain delivers the views. What's cool is even on the back side there is a great view of a valley below and another little suburb of Cape Town.
The cable car is pretty ingenious with a rotating floor, so as long you are near a window, you will eventually have a great view.
In this shot, a cable car makes its way up with Lion's Head and Robben Island in the background.
After Table Mountain, we head back to the BnB and get ready for dinner. Dinner tonight is a place called "Carne" which is just meats upon meats. Yes please. On the way there we walked through Long Street, which is Cape Town's Bourbon Street, for all the good and bad that is in New Orleans, same here. Great architecture though, just like NO.
Stole some pics because I'm a bad trip reviewer:
My wife went with the monster, I went with the three filets. All fantastic. I would later regret not trying the ostrich as I had it later somewhere else and it was incredible.
After dinner it was time to get some drinks. Our first stop was The Gin Bar. What's cool about it is the front area looks like a bakery or chocolate shop. You have to walk through that to get to the cool little spot in the back. Hip as hip can be
Again, had to borrow this one
Then it was off to Hank's Irish Pub. A great spot to booze. Here, we chatted with some locals who were filming a movie/show about two friends picking up a mattress, and the hijinx that ensues while doing it. Look for it on Netflix or the Silk Road. I took this pic!
With our night complete. It was off to bed to rest up for wine tasting.
With that said, I (we) found South Africa to be an incredible trip and a real delight. Sure, I didn't go to KwaZulu-Natal where things seem to be a bit rough, but we found a relatively well run country (at least for the time being) and met wonderful people. Though there was the hint of an ugly underbelly. Many houses had electrified fencing above their outer walls and even our AirBnB in wine country had a night guard right outside our Villa, so I imagine every day life has it's issues.
I'll break down our itinerary at the top and then continue discussion below. We went with another couple and spent about 8 days in SA. My wife and her friend have high pressure jobs so unfortunately, we did not have more time.
Itinerary:
March 8 - Flew Southwest AUS-DCA and spent the night with my in laws.
March 9th/10th - Ethiopian FLT 501 Business class IAD to Addis Ababa ; Ethiopian FLT 847 Business class ADD to Cape Town
March 10 - Cape Town
March 11 - Franschhoek
March 12 - Boulders Beach, Chapman's Peak Drive and Cape Town
March 13 - Robben Island/Cape Town
March 14 - Cape Town to Hoedspruit on South African Airways arriving at Elephant Plains Safari Lodge/Afternoon Game Drive
March 15 - Game Drives
March 16 - Game Drives
March 17 - Morning game drive, South African flight from Nelspruit to Johannesburg; South African JNB - Dar Es Salaam; Swiss Air Flight LX 296 Business Class DAR - Zurich;
March 18 - Swiss Air LX 16 Business Class ZRH to JFK; Then we flew Delta to Austin but I don't want to talk about it.
The trip got off to great start in cattle class on Southwest!
Thankfully, a night at my MIL's is always a treat, and I ended up eating so much I was uncomfortable for the next two days: March 9th: Head off to Dulles for our flight on Ethiopian
Ethiopian 787s are half lie flat, half angled lie flat. I checked all the flight database sites and they were only using angled seats, so my expectations were low.
Time to Board!
Holy shite, they sent the lie flat seats!
The footwell on the side seats is a little small. I recommend the middle row seats for more foot room.
Getting that pre-departure drunk on
I'm reclined and tucked in starting to get fed!
Their western courses were meh, but their Ethiopian was on point as one would expect.
Get used to me taking pictures after I've already eaten most of it
Still can't sleep but at least I'm comfortable
13 hours later, we swoop into Bole Airport. They just left these two old arse planes by the runway which is cool.
It is a rudimentary airport but it gets the job done.
All the seats were taken, but my wife spotted these two where in any other airport they'd be in a restricted area behind the boarding desk, and probably why they were empty, but the nice part about flying business class is you just do whatever you want. When someone finally did come by the conversation went like this:
*That typical employee concerned look/I'm going to have make these people move demeanor*
"Are you flying to Cape Town"
"Yes."
"Are you in business class?"
"Yes"
End of discussion
Which led to my first time being the first person to board an aircraft!
After being in Ethiopia for all of 1.5 hours we're off to Cape Town!
The 777 is a little more worn, but foot area wasn't at issue, seats were lie flat, and the food was the same as last flight. I took it easy on the Ethiopian food for obvious reasons on this leg.
We land in Cape Town and get through customs in 5 minutes. We stop by our AirBnb in Cape Town City Center just off Bree St., drop off our bags, and head off to Table Mountain.
CAPE TOWN:
Cape Town is an embarrassment of riches. The city is truly an international city with cuisine from all over the world. Hiking is available all around the city, the beaches are 10 minutes away, wine is close too, but even Franschhoek is only a little over an hour away. So was Boulder's Beach (which you'll see later). You can spend a very solid week here. As far as I can tell, March is a great time to visit towards the end of their summer, but usually isn't a great time to go on safari, which I'll get into later. But if you have the opportunity, you absolutely must visit.
As for the water situation, it was a little ominous. The minute you step off the plane the Save Water stickers are on the jetway windows. Public facilities in airports, and parks shut off the water to the faucets in the bathrooms and use hand sanitizer, etc. At times, big billboards on the roadway remind everyone that "Level 6b Restrictions" were in place. It had an almost post-apocalyptic air to it. At our Bnb, we did our part and if it was "Yellow, let it Mellow". Kept shower times to a couple minutes and all that. But really, it sounds a lot worse than it was to deal with as a tourist. You load up on bottled water, as you should anywhere you go, and you are fine. But it is a very real problem for those that live there, and I could not imagine having to be that attentive on a daily basis.
Table mountain delivers the views. What's cool is even on the back side there is a great view of a valley below and another little suburb of Cape Town.
The cable car is pretty ingenious with a rotating floor, so as long you are near a window, you will eventually have a great view.
In this shot, a cable car makes its way up with Lion's Head and Robben Island in the background.
After Table Mountain, we head back to the BnB and get ready for dinner. Dinner tonight is a place called "Carne" which is just meats upon meats. Yes please. On the way there we walked through Long Street, which is Cape Town's Bourbon Street, for all the good and bad that is in New Orleans, same here. Great architecture though, just like NO.
Stole some pics because I'm a bad trip reviewer:
My wife went with the monster, I went with the three filets. All fantastic. I would later regret not trying the ostrich as I had it later somewhere else and it was incredible.
After dinner it was time to get some drinks. Our first stop was The Gin Bar. What's cool about it is the front area looks like a bakery or chocolate shop. You have to walk through that to get to the cool little spot in the back. Hip as hip can be
Again, had to borrow this one
Then it was off to Hank's Irish Pub. A great spot to booze. Here, we chatted with some locals who were filming a movie/show about two friends picking up a mattress, and the hijinx that ensues while doing it. Look for it on Netflix or the Silk Road. I took this pic!
With our night complete. It was off to bed to rest up for wine tasting.
This post was edited on 3/28/18 at 10:35 pm
4
Posted on 3/24/18 at 8:41 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
Franschhoek:
Our friends rented a Rav4 for us to use to drive out to wine country. As you may know, you drive on the left in South Africa, which led to a few moments of pure terror here and there, but as long as the navigator keeps reminding the driver what lane to use, it isn't so bad. The worst part is taking a right onto a road, as you naturally look the wrong way and may pull out in front of a car.
Here's a map showing the drive to Franschhoek and to Boulder's Beach which you'll see later.
Now let's talk wine tasting. There is probably well over 100 or more vineyards out here, stacked all over each other. You could spend days and days out here. Some of the big places are Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, and Paarl, but after staying in Franschhoek and driving through the others, I think Franschhoek is clearly the best place to anchor yourself. It is a bit upmarket but completely idyllic. Since we had one day, we decided to hit the most known and relatively close vineyards.
What I have left out of this review is our failed attempt at watching a club cricket match in Paarl. The stadium was empty and a few people seemed to be playing on the field, and the internet says a match happened, but it looked a bit sketch!
Anywho, we first tried to visit LaMotte, but it was closed instead of being open on Sundays. Google isn't always correct. So we went on to visit Chamonix, which also has a "safari" tour you can go on twice a day.
Anywho, we had lunch scheduled but you gotta get that cheese plate!
After Chamonix to went up the hill two minutes to Dieu Donne Vineyards to have lunch at their restaurant Roca. Grab a terrace seat and enjoy the incredible view. Little did we know our AirBnb was about to put this view to shame.
The view from the Roca terrace:
Sorry, I destroyed the ostrich before I remembered I was going to do this. My lord, if you go to South Africa order the damn ostrich.
My mangled meal:
After lunch, we went down to Haute Cabriere, which also has a pretty great view of the valley.
In case you didn't know, and yes, they are around:
After Haute Cabriere, we went to our AirBnB that is on Franschhoek Pass Winery grounds. I'm just going to go ahead and link the AirBnB for those who want to book it, because it is phenomenal. I can't find the AirBnb link right now as my friend booked it, but here is their direct site: Franschhoek Pass Villa
And here are some pics.
And the view....
Me getting fancy in this last one:
It is a nice cool little village. Mostly white buildings every where. Before dinner, we met our night guard, who the poor guy has to sit in a wood outhouse looking thing all night, so we asked him if he wanted anything. He requested Orange Fanta and "pies" without hesitation. We stopped by the grocery store and found out pies are basically meat pies, and grabbed him a giant fanta. We then went to eat at Le Petite Colombe, which was supposed to be one of the best restuarants in town and it was very good! Unfortunately, they give you the menu as a keepsake and I lost it. I'm truly the worst, though I think I found our menu online, so figure it out. We didn't do the full menu, but for $100 per person we got a lot of courses and a different wine with each, which saves you time visiting vineyards I suppose.
Franschhoek Village
The Huguenot Memorial
Le Petite Colombe:
Borrowed! Sorry
Bread with Sesame Seed butter
Half time:
Desserts:
After dinner, it was back to the villa to finish off a couple bottles of wine we had purchased earlier in the day. The next day we were due to go visit the penguins at their colony on Boulders Beach, and take the Chapman's Peak drive back to Cape Town. One of the best drives in the world I would think, and I'm jealous I couldn't get in the driver seat for it.
Our friends rented a Rav4 for us to use to drive out to wine country. As you may know, you drive on the left in South Africa, which led to a few moments of pure terror here and there, but as long as the navigator keeps reminding the driver what lane to use, it isn't so bad. The worst part is taking a right onto a road, as you naturally look the wrong way and may pull out in front of a car.
Here's a map showing the drive to Franschhoek and to Boulder's Beach which you'll see later.
Now let's talk wine tasting. There is probably well over 100 or more vineyards out here, stacked all over each other. You could spend days and days out here. Some of the big places are Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, and Paarl, but after staying in Franschhoek and driving through the others, I think Franschhoek is clearly the best place to anchor yourself. It is a bit upmarket but completely idyllic. Since we had one day, we decided to hit the most known and relatively close vineyards.
What I have left out of this review is our failed attempt at watching a club cricket match in Paarl. The stadium was empty and a few people seemed to be playing on the field, and the internet says a match happened, but it looked a bit sketch!
Anywho, we first tried to visit LaMotte, but it was closed instead of being open on Sundays. Google isn't always correct. So we went on to visit Chamonix, which also has a "safari" tour you can go on twice a day.
Anywho, we had lunch scheduled but you gotta get that cheese plate!
After Chamonix to went up the hill two minutes to Dieu Donne Vineyards to have lunch at their restaurant Roca. Grab a terrace seat and enjoy the incredible view. Little did we know our AirBnb was about to put this view to shame.
The view from the Roca terrace:
Sorry, I destroyed the ostrich before I remembered I was going to do this. My lord, if you go to South Africa order the damn ostrich.
My mangled meal:
After lunch, we went down to Haute Cabriere, which also has a pretty great view of the valley.
In case you didn't know, and yes, they are around:
After Haute Cabriere, we went to our AirBnB that is on Franschhoek Pass Winery grounds. I'm just going to go ahead and link the AirBnB for those who want to book it, because it is phenomenal. I can't find the AirBnb link right now as my friend booked it, but here is their direct site: Franschhoek Pass Villa
And here are some pics.
And the view....
Me getting fancy in this last one:
It is a nice cool little village. Mostly white buildings every where. Before dinner, we met our night guard, who the poor guy has to sit in a wood outhouse looking thing all night, so we asked him if he wanted anything. He requested Orange Fanta and "pies" without hesitation. We stopped by the grocery store and found out pies are basically meat pies, and grabbed him a giant fanta. We then went to eat at Le Petite Colombe, which was supposed to be one of the best restuarants in town and it was very good! Unfortunately, they give you the menu as a keepsake and I lost it. I'm truly the worst, though I think I found our menu online, so figure it out. We didn't do the full menu, but for $100 per person we got a lot of courses and a different wine with each, which saves you time visiting vineyards I suppose.
Franschhoek Village
The Huguenot Memorial
Le Petite Colombe:
Borrowed! Sorry
Bread with Sesame Seed butter
Half time:
Desserts:
After dinner, it was back to the villa to finish off a couple bottles of wine we had purchased earlier in the day. The next day we were due to go visit the penguins at their colony on Boulders Beach, and take the Chapman's Peak drive back to Cape Town. One of the best drives in the world I would think, and I'm jealous I couldn't get in the driver seat for it.
This post was edited on 3/25/18 at 4:42 pm
Posted on 3/24/18 at 8:41 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
So it is now Monday March 12th and its time to check out the penguin colony at Boulders Beach. There are two entrances here, the main one to the north which puts you on top of motherload, but has WAY too many tourists, and the south entrance which puts you on a secluded little beach where a few penguins come right up to you and swim around. The drive along False Bay was interesting. It is just miles of mostly empty beach. We could see Mitchell's Plain township to the north which looked rough to say the least. That area was a "coloured" township created by forced removal under Apartheid. As we moved closer to Simon's Town we went through a few beach towns you'd see just about anywhere.
Route Map for Chapman's Peak drive from Boulders Beach
Driving through towns
We took a stop at the highly instagrammed St. James Beach:
But in real life, there is a commuter rail line Also, they are just huts to change clothes in. Nothing special.
We then made our way to Boulder Beach.
Penguins!
After Boulders Beach we took the Chapman's Peak drive route. Awesome drive with some look out points.
For dinner, we went to the Grand Beach cafe in the Green Point/V&A Waterfront area. Cool spot with on the beach dining, that I predictably didn't take a picture of. The food was good but nothing special. This is an atmosphere place for sure. Here are my two useless indoor pics and a link to Google images to see what I didn't take pics of.
Google Image Search - Grand Beach Cafe
Our last day in Cape Town, we grabbed breakfast and coffee at Jason's Bakery and took the Robben Island ferry to check out the prison Mandela and other political prisoners were housed for many years. Families that maintain the now museum still live on the island, but it was pretty bleak while we were there. One of the prison guards who was friends with Mandela while he was a prisoner there still lives on the island and wrote a book, Mandela: My Prisoner, My Friend. Not as good as say, the Alcatraz tour, but it was interesting that after you tour the island, a former political prisoner will talk to you about the prison itself. On the way back, we spotted a whale, mostly just its fins, coming out of the water which was very cool. For lunch, we stopped at a meat place called The Butcher Man in Green Point. Very good!
The Robben Island Prison:
Here a former prisoner talks to us about it in a communal cell.
The yard.
Mandela's cell for 18 years.
Seals at the harbor
Butcher Man food:
Then it was time for some shopping in Greenmarket Square:
After getting back to our Cape Town digs, we walked about 5 minutes to check out Bo-Kaap neighborhood. Very cool.
For Dinner, we walked into a place called Sea Breeze. I didn't try other dishes, but I think you should just order the Squid Ink Pasta and call it a day, it was incredible.
Cape Town was sadly over, and it was time to get ready for flight to Hoedspruit!
Route Map for Chapman's Peak drive from Boulders Beach
Driving through towns
We took a stop at the highly instagrammed St. James Beach:
But in real life, there is a commuter rail line
Also, they are just huts to change clothes in. Nothing special. We then made our way to Boulder Beach.
Penguins!
After Boulders Beach we took the Chapman's Peak drive route. Awesome drive with some look out points.
For dinner, we went to the Grand Beach cafe in the Green Point/V&A Waterfront area. Cool spot with on the beach dining, that I predictably didn't take a picture of. The food was good but nothing special. This is an atmosphere place for sure. Here are my two useless indoor pics and a link to Google images to see what I didn't take pics of.
Google Image Search - Grand Beach Cafe
Our last day in Cape Town, we grabbed breakfast and coffee at Jason's Bakery and took the Robben Island ferry to check out the prison Mandela and other political prisoners were housed for many years. Families that maintain the now museum still live on the island, but it was pretty bleak while we were there. One of the prison guards who was friends with Mandela while he was a prisoner there still lives on the island and wrote a book, Mandela: My Prisoner, My Friend. Not as good as say, the Alcatraz tour, but it was interesting that after you tour the island, a former political prisoner will talk to you about the prison itself. On the way back, we spotted a whale, mostly just its fins, coming out of the water which was very cool. For lunch, we stopped at a meat place called The Butcher Man in Green Point. Very good!
The Robben Island Prison:
Here a former prisoner talks to us about it in a communal cell.
The yard.
Mandela's cell for 18 years.
Seals at the harbor
Butcher Man food:
Then it was time for some shopping in Greenmarket Square:
After getting back to our Cape Town digs, we walked about 5 minutes to check out Bo-Kaap neighborhood. Very cool.
For Dinner, we walked into a place called Sea Breeze. I didn't try other dishes, but I think you should just order the Squid Ink Pasta and call it a day, it was incredible.
Cape Town was sadly over, and it was time to get ready for flight to Hoedspruit!
This post was edited on 3/29/18 at 10:03 pm
Posted on 3/24/18 at 8:41 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
March 14, SAFARI TIME!
I did some research and discovered Sabi Sands, which is adjacent to Kruger. The landowners and farmers of Sabi Sands decided to tear down their fences and allow the animals to move back and forth across their land as they did before human settlement and built lodges. So all the lodges are basically sharing the same animals with a few caveats. The land is private land, so while the general rule is to stay on the trail, they can go off road when an animal is sighted which allows for close encounters. You cannot leave the road in public parks like Kruger.
Many lodges have contracts with each other so they can share each other's land to follow animals. Some don't, like the expensive Mala Mala. You'll have to research this if you choose another lodge. I thought our lodge had great traversing area, plus, the hard to spot leopard, a female, likes to hang out near our lodge, which was great. We spotted one within an hour
We caught the plane from Cape Town to Hoedspruit, which is a tiny tiny airport/air force base. From there, it is about a 2 hour ride to the lodge. We stayed at the Elephant Plains Safari Lodge. I think it was a great value pick. Total cost came to about $2,500 for two people for 3 nights. Some of the lodges in Sabi Sands are owned by people like Richard Branson and VERY expensive. These lodges provide 24 hour service and game drives. They spot an animal you want at 10:30pm, you can hop on a car and go.
Elephant Plains provides 2 3-hour game drives a day, 5am and 4pm. A bush walk occurs at around 9:30am if you want to do it. I felt like this was sufficient, but maybe we were lucky. They told u that 2/3 days before we arrived a leopard made a kill right by the rooms
First time on a prop jet. The day before, this model aircraft crashed at Kathmandu airport. Shiiiit.
Screenshot from a Snapchat video. Arrivals "hall"
The BIG Board!
Baggage Claim:
The Lodge:
Reading Room:
The bar: Great spot to talk to the rangers after the night drive
The room: These are the smallest/cheapest you can get and all I need.
Note: Getting shots can be hard. Light, car is moving, animal is moving, people in the cars heads getting in your shot, it's a lot of work.
First Game Drive:
Leopard right out of the gate, but she's in tall grass. No worries, we'll see her later! Her kill is hanging about 20 feet in the tree.
Hello! Might be the best picture I took:
We then spot some wild dogs and hyenas kinda hanging out and getting pissy with each other, but something better happens the next day.
What the hell, TWO lions! Apparently they are brothers and hang out all the time together, and before that, it was four brothers.
Just perspective shot from my cell phone. This is pretty normal for how close you get to everything.
Ya, they will certainly kill you.
>
At night, we came back to the leopard eating on her kill. I get a better shot later but still cool.
Next morning, we lucked out and found the wild dogs again drinking water. They all got up one by one, so we followed them.
Oh snap, using those ears.
Bear with me, I was going like 40 mph bouncing around. They almost had one!
Then the hyenas showed up to vulture any kill, ruining every thing. Like that guy no one liked showing up at parties.
There she is:
Just wow.
Went on a bush walk and came across a scene from the Lion King. Impala, Zebra, 8/9 giraffe, and kudu.
After the bush walk, we hit the pool and got ready for an awesome evening game drive.
Came across the old former male alpha bull:
After that, we came across the two male lions and their pride, but the females and cubs were under shade vegetation. I was able to sneak this line of sight on a cub though.
From there, we had sun downers at a watering hole while a hippo put on a show for us, and thought we were pretty much done.
But then we heard the whole lion pride, males, females and cubs were on the move hunting. While we didn't see a kill, it was the coolest thing, and I apologize for the darkness/blurriness of these but thought they were still cool.
Brothers:
>Female:
Just so you can see them all:
Our last full day, we came across the new alpha bull, but you've seen one of those. Here is his mate and calf.
March is a great time to see babies. Kudu calf.
So this one elephant comes out and says what's up. We then see some rustling from the woods.
Oh, ohhhhhh. Where's the fire?
Artistic Elephant shot:
Cape Buffalo to finish off the Big Five:
Don't forget the little guys. Mongoose.
Some birds for you bird freaks:
In summation, South Africa is fricking awesome.
On the way back we had a little fun in Tanzania.
My wife's bag got "gate checked" in Jo'burg which caused a real problem when the bag hit the baggage carousel in Dar es Salaam. Thankfully, they got it for us, but what's funny is they then pointed us to the transfer door. Which was just a green door that looked like a closet. The guy laughed when I said, "This must be the VIP entrance."
Mozambique youth soccer team trying to get in.
Tanzanite Lounge: Sweet chandelier
>
Trying the aptly named local beers:
Flew Swiss Biz DAR to Zurich to JFK
Took a nice shower in the lounge in Zurich:
I did some research and discovered Sabi Sands, which is adjacent to Kruger. The landowners and farmers of Sabi Sands decided to tear down their fences and allow the animals to move back and forth across their land as they did before human settlement and built lodges. So all the lodges are basically sharing the same animals with a few caveats. The land is private land, so while the general rule is to stay on the trail, they can go off road when an animal is sighted which allows for close encounters. You cannot leave the road in public parks like Kruger.
Many lodges have contracts with each other so they can share each other's land to follow animals. Some don't, like the expensive Mala Mala. You'll have to research this if you choose another lodge. I thought our lodge had great traversing area, plus, the hard to spot leopard, a female, likes to hang out near our lodge, which was great. We spotted one within an hour
We caught the plane from Cape Town to Hoedspruit, which is a tiny tiny airport/air force base. From there, it is about a 2 hour ride to the lodge. We stayed at the Elephant Plains Safari Lodge. I think it was a great value pick. Total cost came to about $2,500 for two people for 3 nights. Some of the lodges in Sabi Sands are owned by people like Richard Branson and VERY expensive. These lodges provide 24 hour service and game drives. They spot an animal you want at 10:30pm, you can hop on a car and go.
Elephant Plains provides 2 3-hour game drives a day, 5am and 4pm. A bush walk occurs at around 9:30am if you want to do it. I felt like this was sufficient, but maybe we were lucky. They told u that 2/3 days before we arrived a leopard made a kill right by the rooms
First time on a prop jet. The day before, this model aircraft crashed at Kathmandu airport. Shiiiit.
Screenshot from a Snapchat video. Arrivals "hall"
The BIG Board!
Baggage Claim:
The Lodge:
Reading Room:
The bar: Great spot to talk to the rangers after the night drive
The room: These are the smallest/cheapest you can get and all I need.
Note: Getting shots can be hard. Light, car is moving, animal is moving, people in the cars heads getting in your shot, it's a lot of work.
First Game Drive:
Leopard right out of the gate, but she's in tall grass. No worries, we'll see her later! Her kill is hanging about 20 feet in the tree.
Hello! Might be the best picture I took:
We then spot some wild dogs and hyenas kinda hanging out and getting pissy with each other, but something better happens the next day.
What the hell, TWO lions! Apparently they are brothers and hang out all the time together, and before that, it was four brothers.
Just perspective shot from my cell phone. This is pretty normal for how close you get to everything.
Ya, they will certainly kill you.
> At night, we came back to the leopard eating on her kill. I get a better shot later but still cool.
Next morning, we lucked out and found the wild dogs again drinking water. They all got up one by one, so we followed them.
Oh snap, using those ears.
Bear with me, I was going like 40 mph bouncing around. They almost had one!
Then the hyenas showed up to vulture any kill, ruining every thing. Like that guy no one liked showing up at parties.
There she is:
Just wow.
Went on a bush walk and came across a scene from the Lion King. Impala, Zebra, 8/9 giraffe, and kudu.
After the bush walk, we hit the pool and got ready for an awesome evening game drive.
Came across the old former male alpha bull:
After that, we came across the two male lions and their pride, but the females and cubs were under shade vegetation. I was able to sneak this line of sight on a cub though.
From there, we had sun downers at a watering hole while a hippo put on a show for us, and thought we were pretty much done.
But then we heard the whole lion pride, males, females and cubs were on the move hunting. While we didn't see a kill, it was the coolest thing, and I apologize for the darkness/blurriness of these but thought they were still cool.
Brothers:
>Female: Just so you can see them all:
Our last full day, we came across the new alpha bull, but you've seen one of those. Here is his mate and calf.
March is a great time to see babies. Kudu calf.
So this one elephant comes out and says what's up. We then see some rustling from the woods.
Oh, ohhhhhh. Where's the fire?
Artistic Elephant shot:
Cape Buffalo to finish off the Big Five:
Don't forget the little guys. Mongoose.
Some birds for you bird freaks:
In summation, South Africa is fricking awesome.
On the way back we had a little fun in Tanzania.
My wife's bag got "gate checked" in Jo'burg which caused a real problem when the bag hit the baggage carousel in Dar es Salaam. Thankfully, they got it for us, but what's funny is they then pointed us to the transfer door. Which was just a green door that looked like a closet. The guy laughed when I said, "This must be the VIP entrance."
Mozambique youth soccer team trying to get in.
Tanzanite Lounge: Sweet chandelier
> Trying the aptly named local beers:
Flew Swiss Biz DAR to Zurich to JFK
Took a nice shower in the lounge in Zurich:
This post was edited on 4/25/18 at 8:54 pm
Posted on 3/24/18 at 9:05 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
Awesome. Can’t wait to read the rest. My wife loves to travel, but haven’t been able to convince her into a SA trip yet. 
Posted on 3/24/18 at 9:10 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
Fine start to the review, Teddy.
A photo safari is near the top of my bucket list and I look forward to the rest of your review and pics.
A photo safari is near the top of my bucket list and I look forward to the rest of your review and pics.
Posted on 3/24/18 at 9:26 pm to VABuckeye
quote:
A photo safari is near the top of my bucket list and I look forward to the rest of your review and pics.
It will exceed your expectations.
Couple tips:
1)I shot with a 75-300mm and got most of the shots I wanted, but a 400mm will get them all, though, a person of my skill level shouldn't walk around with something like that.
2) Practice in low light situations as much as you can with moving objects. Animals move around at dawn and dusk. If you have dogs they will make perfect test subjects. You'll see where I failed to be prepared for these situations, but I'm not sure how much better I could have done. I'd like a photographer guy chime in if they can at some point.
This post was edited on 3/24/18 at 9:28 pm
Posted on 3/24/18 at 10:25 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
I have the Tamron 150-600. Bought it for this specific trip.
Posted on 3/25/18 at 8:47 am to VABuckeye
quote:
Tamron 150-600
I just got the G2 and absolutely love it, and also got in hopes of doing a trip like this. It's a monster
Posted on 3/25/18 at 10:44 am to LSU Tigershark
You were who I was hoping would stop by. When I post safari pics maybe you can even suggest some post editing tips.
Just don't go to Africa as I want the best pics on this site
Little update was made above as well, but brunch is calling me.
Just don't go to Africa as I want the best pics on this site
Little update was made above as well, but brunch is calling me.
Posted on 3/25/18 at 12:17 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
quote:
When I post safari pics maybe you can even suggest some post editing tips.
Do you shoot a DSLR? Do you have Lightroom?
quote:
Just don't go to Africa as I want the best pics on this site
I'm not going anytime soon, but there are so many better photographers on here
Posted on 3/25/18 at 12:45 pm to LSU Tigershark
I shoot with a DSLR in raw so I'm all set on that end.
I'll have to get Lightroom
I'll have to get Lightroom
Posted on 3/25/18 at 2:39 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
I was thinking about Cape Town in June -- bad idea with the water restrictions?
Posted on 3/25/18 at 3:04 pm to Parallax
quote:
I was thinking about Cape Town in June -- bad idea with the water restrictions?
Few things:
"Day Zero" has been pushed back to 2019, so you won't be there when shite may hit the fan.
It really isn't that big of a deal as a tourist. You aren't going to be washing dishes and doing laundry, requiring strict adherence to a daily allotment.
Hotels and restaurants, etc are operating pretty much as normal but asking you to help the effort. Just buy a lot of bottled water to drink.
The rain season should start up around June. Of course, they are in drought, so the rainy season isn't monsoon or anything.
Tourism is down in Cape Town due to the water fears, but they need tourists. So I can't think of a better time to go.
Posted on 3/25/18 at 4:01 pm to Parallax
I was planning a trip similar to OP's for November, but given the water situation and everything else going on there we switched to Australia instead. Maybe an overreaction, but I think Australia will be really cool too.
Posted on 3/25/18 at 4:18 pm to MusclesofBrussels
I don't think you can go wrong between either one. Australia and NZ are high on my list.
Posted on 3/26/18 at 2:14 pm to MusclesofBrussels
quote:With the racial unrest in SA, I don't think I'll ever visit in my lifetime.
I was planning a trip similar to OP's for November, but given the water situation and everything else going on there we switched to Australia instead. Maybe an overreaction, but I think Australia will be really cool too.
Australia was awesome, but we spent two weeks there and only really saw about 1/3 of what we wanted to.
Posted on 3/26/18 at 2:23 pm to Mahootney
quote:
With the racial unrest in SA, I don't think I'll ever visit in my lifetime.
I have three acquaintances that are from SA. All of them caution a trip there. Too bad. It looks like a beautiful country.
Posted on 3/26/18 at 4:41 pm to Mahootney
quote:
With the racial unrest in SA, I don't think I'll ever visit in my lifetime.
Ya I didn't see any of this in Cape Town, and everyone appeared to socialize much as they do here. Plenty of mixed friend groups etc.
Never really got to nail someone down and state an opinion though.
And as mentioned, I'm sure Cape Town being the city it is, is a far cry from other locales. There's obviously a general crime issue though that one has to consider.
This post was edited on 3/26/18 at 5:08 pm
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