Our trip to South Africa gave us the opportunity to see a number of different parts of the country - bustling Cape Town, the rugged coast of the Cape of Good Hope, the verdant and natural Hluhluwe region, the incredible Kruger National Park, and dramatic Johannesburg. This was the first bus tour that Todd and I had taken, and it definitely had its advantages and disadvantages. The tour was organized by Gate 1 Travel, and they did a great job.
Continue Reading »The last day of our trip began in the air. Our trip home had a layover in Paris; and because we had taken off from Johannesburg in the evening our flight to Paris was about half over when the clock struck midnight. We watched a bit of TV prior to being served dinner on the flight, then both Todd and I spent most of the remainder of the flight trying to sleep.
Continue Reading »We spent the last full day of our trip to South Africa on our own. We slept in, had a lazy breakfast in the hotel restaurant, and enjoyed the freedom of not being on a schedule. The first leg of our flight home was scheduled to depart Johannesburg at 18:50, giving us a half day to do whatever we wanted. We were allowed to check out late from the hotel; the time coinciding with our shuttle’s scheduled departure for the airport - 2:30 PM.
Continue Reading »The ninth day of the tour was the last one with scheduled activities. We had a relatively late 7:00 wake-up call, ate breakfast in the hotel and were back on the bus at 8:30. Belinda had given up her role as guide for the day, and instead a local guide from Johannesburg joined us. The itinerary for the day had us visiting a number of points of interest around Johannesburg, and the local guide was going to provide us with some local history and knowledge as we drove from point to point.
Continue Reading »The eighth day of the tour began at a reasonable 6:00 with a wake up call. We got up, showered, packed, had breakfast, and were the on bus just before 7:30. This was set to be a long day of driving - our destination was Johannesburg and there were 400 km of road between us and it. The beginning of our drive followed the Panorama route, a series of fantastic natural views in the Mpumalanga province.
Continue Reading »The seventh day of our tour started early - we awoke at 4:30, showered, got dressed and left our hotel room shortly before 5:30. We picked up a packed breakfast on our way to the bus, and the bus pulled out of the hotel parking lot at 5:30 sharp. Our destination was Kruger National Park - the site of the full-day safari we were taking. The drive to the Phabeni Gate took about 25 minutes, and we pulled in to Kruger National Park minutes before 6:00.
Continue Reading »The sixth day of our tour was my birthday! As a nice change of pace we did not have to get up particularly early - our wake up call came at 7:00 and the bus was not scheduled to leave the hotel until 8:30. We were up shortly before 7:00, had breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and had everything packed up by about 8:15. The bus left the hotel on schedule and drove us through the capital of Eswatini - Mbanbane.
Continue Reading »The fifth day of the tour started with another early morning. We woke up shortly before 5:00 and were showered, packed, and ready to go at 6:00. We didn’t eat breakfast before leaving the hotel - instead we picked up a boxed breakfast we could eat on the bus. We boarded the bus and were leaving the hotel shortly after 6:00. Why were we up so early? We were going on a game drive through a game park and the earlier you start the greater the chances of seeing animals!
Continue Reading »The fourth day of the tour started with an early morning wake up call. We woke up at 4:45, got packed up and were having breakfast in the hotel restaurant shortly after 5:45. We were in the lobby shortly after 6:15 and were loaded into the bus and on our way to the Cape Town International Airport at 6:30 sharp. Our flight to Durban, BA 6315, was scheduled to depart at 8:55, and we made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare.
Continue Reading »We were originally scheduled to go cage diving with great white sharks off the coast of South Africa today. Unfortunately, the diving was cancelled due to inclement weather - high winds were forecast and the dive boat was not going to be able to leave the harbour. We had learned this the previous afternoon, which gave us time to organize alternative activities to keep us busy. We slept in a bit and had breakfast at 8:00; we were showered and ready to go shortly before 10:00.
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