South Africa – 2013
We started planning South Africa over two years ago. The logistics and people we planned to travel with changed several times along the way. Ending with Randy and Charlotte joining us for the adventure beginning in Cape Town. We arrived on separate itineraries but our adventure began with 5 days and 6 nights in Cape Town.
We planned Table Mountain, 18 wineries and some touring of the town. We ended up doing most of that, only 11 wineries, a great day trip to Cape Point, Table Mountain and a cool evening of jazz at a local musicians house. From Cape Town, we drove the Garden Route and visited Gordon’s Bay, Betty’s Bay, Mosel Bay, and Cape Agulhas along the way – the true confluence of the Indian and Atlantic oceans.
In Knysna we went for an elephant ride, explored the estuary and enjoyed Villa Afrikana. In Addo Elephant Park and Riverbend lodge, we saw four of the big five and were charged by a black rhino. In the far northeast section of the country we explored the iSimangaliso Wetland park, South Africa’s first World Heritage site. Here we saw five of the big seven and observed three cheetah devouring a recent kill.
After touring the iSimangaliso and iMfolozi we headed to Zimbabwe, stopping in Jo’Burg in route. In Zimbabwe, we stayed in a luxury tent in the heart of the Zambezi recreation area on the banks of the Zambezi river. We visited the falls and one evening had an interesting encounter with two water buffalo.
Follow the links for a bit of our adventure along with some of the pictures linked by category.