Honeymoon in South Africa
After
spending half a day in Johannesburg, our first real stop (and our favorite) was
the safari. We spent 3 full days in the
Sabi Sand Game Reserve, next to Kruger National Park, at Londolozi private game
reserve. Being on a safari is an
incredible experience that is difficult to describe. Seeing how animals live and interact with each other in the wild
and witnessing the food chain in action is really cool. We had 2 game drives each day (6 in total) –
one at 5AM and another at 5PM. (Yes, I
did indeed get up at 4:30AM each morning to do this. There are some - not many - things that can get me out of bed at
that hour). Each drive lasted 3-4
hours, during which we were in an open Landrover with just one other couple,
being driven around by a ranger. The
rangers are amazingly knowledgeable and interesting. In addition to a ranger, each car has a tracker that sits on a
seat attached to the front of the car and spots fresh animal tracks. Once the tracks are spotted and the animal
is identified, the tracker jumps off and tracks the animal on foot and the
ranger drives the car over to it. We
were able to find leopards & cheetahs that way, among other animals.
During
our 6 game drives, we managed to see pretty much every type of wildlife that
exists in the African safari (short of snakes, which made me very happy). We saw rhinos, giraffes, lions, leopards,
cheetahs, hyenas, hippos, elephants, zebras, baboons, monkeys, buffalo, all
kinds of antelopes & water bucks, beautiful birds, and crocs. It’s incredible how close we got to some of
these – almost uncomfortably close.
Some animals are really curious about people driving around and come
close to the car and stare. Others
couldn’t care less if you’re there or not.
They have more important things to think about like survival and the
next meal. On one of the drives we saw
a pack of 10 hyenas and 4 lions fighting with each other. The lions were guarding their kill, a
waterbuck. On another drive, we saw a
leopard drag a kudu up into a tree and devour it while its head was hanging
down. Hyenas were circling around the
base of the tree waiting for some pieces to fall to the ground while we were
watching the whole episode from less than a few feet away. In the afternoons, between game drives, we
just relaxed, swam in our pool, ate, and took naps. After the evening drives, we had a nice outdoor dinner with the
rest of the guests staying on the reserve (16 families in total).
Next
we flew to Cape Town, where we spent 4 days.
It’s a beautiful city, surrounded by mountains and ocean, with lots to
do & see. We had fantastic weather,
which definitely helped. Our highlights
included going up to the top of Table Mountain, going to Kirstenbosch botanical
gardens, hanging out, eating & shopping on the Waterfront, and going out at
night on Long Street.
We
rented a car while we were there, so that made us flexible to do stuff outside
the city. We drove to the Cape of Good
Hope and Cape Point Nat’l Reserve, which is the southwestern tip of the African
continent. It’s a coastal drive (about
1hr) and is absolutely beautiful. At
Cape Point we saw ostriches, which are the coolest birds. On the way down, we stopped at a penguin
colony where over a thousand penguins just hang out on the beach. They’re adorable and so fun to watch
(penguins, apparently, mate for life so they’re all in pairs which is just the
cutest).
Next
we spent 3 days in the wine country.
There’re 3 small and really cute towns in the wine country –
Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, & Paarl.
We stayed in Franschhoek at a place called La Couronne, which is
beautiful and is surrounded by the most spectacular views of mountains &
vineyards. We visited a total of 8
wineries over 3 days, which were all very beautiful but in a different way and
the wine was incredibly cheap and good.
We visited La Motte, Boschendal, Jordan, Morgenhof, L’Avenir, Neil
Ellis, Vergelen and Hamilton Russell.
During the days, we’d mix up visiting wineries with just wandering
around the towns going to cute shops, restaurants, etc.
Lastly,
we drove to a beach town not too far from Cape Town, called Hermanus, which is
famous for whale watching & shark diving.
Unfortunately it was not whale watching season, but we did go shark
diving, which was really cool and we saw lots of great white sharks. You get into a sketchy-looking individual
cage and get into the water for the sharks’ taking. Not exactly, but it kinda felt that way. The crew attracted sharks with large chunks
of tuna and sharks came from all directions.
One such shark almost snapped Justin’s hand off but he managed to get
back into the cage. We spent New Year’s
Eve in Hermanus, which turned out to be a very happening place for a small
town. That was our last stop.
Overall,
it was amazing 2 weeks filled with beautiful sites & animals, eating great
food, drinking great wine, relaxing, enjoying the warm weather (and, of course,
each other’s company).