Flew from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to Johannesburg, South Africa. Arrived late, so we were met at the airport and taken straight to a hotel where we spent the night. Nothing exciting happened except for the fact that we could drink the water, have normal electricity, normal driving, etc. It was nice to be in a first world country.
29 March:Picked up a rental car at the airport and began our drive. We drove to Lesotho, which is a mountain country completely encircled by South Africa. Had a nice half day’s drive there. Stayed at a mountain lodge high up in the mountains. We all got to go on a horseback ride in the mountains, which was one of the top highlights of our trip. It was absolutely spectacular, with the scenery, the high mountain passes, the Lesotho culture all around us (mostly huts and stuff) and just knowing that we were riding horses as a family in some far off country was pretty cool.
30 March:
Britton and Taylor went on a quick horseback ride in the morning, and then we left Lesotho, as today was our long drive. We drove about 9 hours to get all the way down to the southeastern portion of South Africa. It was beautiful scenery and the kids did really well in the car. Plus we got to eat at KFC, which everyone was excited about. We arrived at Addo Elephant National Park where we spent the night at a nice chalet inside the park. We went on a game drive and saw elephants, zebras, kudu, warthogs, jackals, ostriches, hardebeests, birds, etc. The highlight of our evening game drive was seeing a spotted hyena walk right in front of our car. Ate a kudu steak that night, which was different.
31 March:
I was up by 5:40am because I was so excited. Since we stayed inside the game park, we were allowed to do a sunrise game drive starting at 6am, so we got the kids up and started our game drive. Saw a bunch of the same animals that we saw the previous night, but the highlight this time was seeing a herd of about 50 elephants. Some of them were so close to our car that I could have spit out the window and hit them. Very exciting. We saw baby elephants and even a baby elephant nursing from its mommy, which was cool.
We then left the park and drove down to Port Elizabeth, then stopped at a private lion park, where we got to see lions up close. The highlight of that was that we all got to pet lion cubs. They took a particular liking to Taylor and followed her around for a while. Not sure if they thought Taylor was a toy or a snack, but it was fun nonetheless. We then drove along what is called the “Garden Route” of South Africa, as it has just incredible scenery of the Indian Ocean, forests, mountains, beaches, etc. We made several stops along the way, stopping at some big gorge, then the biggest Yellowwood tree in the world, and then a suspension bridge across the Storms River. We drove up to Outdshoorn, which is known as the ostrich capital of the world and spent the night at an ostrich farm.
01 April:
Took a tour of the ostrich farm in the morning where we all got to feed the ostriches and each kid took home an emptied ostrich egg as a souvenir. We then went to the Cango Caves, considered to be one of the best cave formations in the world. It was pretty amazing with tons of beautiful stalagmites and stalactites. Leaving the caves Tim noticed that the car was driving funny, so he pulled over and saw that the back tire was flat. But it wasn’t just flat, it looked like it exploded, with more than 20 gashes all over the tire. The tire ended up being basically welded to the car, so we had to call a tow truck who arrived a long time later and used a crowbar to get the tire off. The good thing about this experience was that Tim had luckily pulled over right in front of an Amusement-type park. Tim had to wait at the car, but Chelisa and the kids got to ride camels, bumper boats, zip lines and feed animals. So that was lucky. But the flat tire put us off schedule and we drove the rest of the way to Cape Town in the dark, arriving after 10pm. We stayed at a condo down in Glencairn, right across the street from False Bay and the ocean. The house was great and the view was lovely. Plus we drove along the Winelands Route from Oudtshoorn to Cape Town, which was also really pretty (until it got dark anyway).
02 April:
Took it easy in the morning, as this was the first day we weren’t obligated to drive a ton in our car. Our good friends the Dolson family from Tanzania flew in and met us in Cape Town, taking the adjoining condo, so it was great having friends there to do things with. That afternoon we drove up into Cape Town and went to Table Mountain, where we rode a gondola up to the top and walked around, with some beautiful views of the city and ocean spread out below us. You could see the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other. We then headed back to our condo, stopping at McDonalds for dinner and then doing some grocery shopping in a real supermarket. Everyone was really excited to eat McDonalds and to walk around the supermarket picking out foods that we just can’t get in Tanzania. Plus, the foods that were similar or the same as what is available in Tanzania is just so much cheaper in South Africa. As an example, a box of milk in South Africa is about $1, while the exact same box in Tanzania is $2.25. Grapes in South Africa were $1 for a kilo while in Tanzania they are $15 a kilo.
03 April:Tim and Britton were up early, as they went off on a great white shark expedition with their friends Dave and Josh Dolson. Britton’s Aunt Cheri had given him a DVD movie “Air Jaws” a few years ago which details how in Cape Town, there is a huge gathering of great white sharks in False Bay at a place called Seal Island where there are tons of seals (go figure). Apparently this Seal Island is one of the best places in the world to see great white sharks. Since Britton just loves sharks and wants to be a marine biologist when he gets bigger, Tim really wanted to take him out to see sharks in real life. And an aquarium just won’t do, as it is much more exciting to see them in the wild. So not only did they go out on a small boat to Seal Island to see great white sharks, they went with the same boat and crew that did “Air Jaws” which Britton got a kick out of. Britton even had the guy sign his DVD of “Air Jaws”. The shark sightings weren’t that plentiful, but they did get to see a big great white shark come up to the boat and attack a fake seal that they had out. The same shark circled around the boat for around an hour, disappearing and then coming back to circle the boat again. While they were out there, they also got to see a pod of about 40 dolphins, a whale, and of course the thousands of seals on Seal Island. When they got back sunburned but happy, everyone went to Boulder Beach, where there is a colony of African penguins living there. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing.
04 April:
Another relaxing day. We headed up to Cape Town and explored the shops and restaurants along the V&A Waterfront. Looked a lot like Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. We then caught a ferry and rode out for a tour on Robben Island, which is where Nelson Mandela and a lot of black political figures were imprisoned during the days of apartheid. Our guide was an inmate himself, having spent 20 years there locked up. It was a moving tour, and the kids also seemed to enjoy it (although more so for the bunnies and penguins on the island then for any of the history stuff). We ate yummy pizza for dinner along the waterfront before going home for the night.
05 April:Last full day in Cape Town. In the morning we all went to Mineral World, where they have tons of semi-precious gems just covering the ground and the kids each got to fill up a bag with the rocks and minerals to take home. We then went with the Dolson family down to the Cape of Good Hope. Unfortunately, once we got there, their daughter jumped off a small wall and tripped, hitting her knee on a rock. It didn’t seem like much, but the rock caused her knee to split open, with a gash about 3 inches long and at least an inch deep. The fat and stuff was spilling out of the wound. So they of course rushed off to the hospital where she got two layers of 14 stitches, and we stayed to enjoy the Cape with their son, Josh. We visited the lighthouse on Cape Point and then the actual Cape of Good Hope. We finished the day by eating McDonalds one last time and then packing our bags.
06 April:
Up super early for our flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg and then back to Dar es Salaam. It was an incredible vacation and being in a first world country but still being in Africa and being able to do safari and so many other cool things made it a bit difficult to come back to Tanzania.
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