(Day 2 was spent lounging around the lodge, chillin' with curious wart hogs, and taking a sunset river ride. Don't forget to read the Day 1 post below!)
We woke up dark and early for a dusk to dawn safari of Kruger with Bushwise's guide Ludovic (yes, how delightful is his name!). We jumped into our safari vehiclele, bundled ourselves in hoodies, beanies, down jackets and woolly blankets for a crisp and windy hour drive to Kruger National Park's southern entrance. Even Ludovic who described himself as "not a sissy man" bundled up.
Safari Vehicle:
Don't worry moms! It was only cold in the morning. The rest of the day was perfectly sunny.
We watched the sunrise and listened to Ludovic passionately point out every winged, hooved, predatory (and non) creature he knew of. He included tidbits about dung, insects and other things that I (Noosha) probably missed (meaning forgot ;))
Having been schooled that game viewing is part knowledge and part luck we seemed to have a fortuitous morning. Big five citings included elphant, buffalo, the rare black rhino, and even lions!! It was amazing!!! The lion strutted right next to our open window vehicle. It was closer than you could get at a zoo! If we lacked sense, we could have reached out to touch him!! SO exciting! After a while the lion wandered away from the road when inconsiderate drivers were cutting him off for pictures. Nothing attracts a massive group of cars in the vast Kruger Park (think size of Portugal) like a feline sighting.
Ludovic cooked us a hearty, traditional, and yummy South African breakfast of eggs, bacon, fried tomatoes, onions and toast which we ate overlooking Kruger from a Lebombo mountain viewpoint. Its worth noting that we also had the most delicious aromatic papaya. A clever but misguided Vervet monkey tried to steal food from the picnic-ers (word?) We know it shouldn't have been there, but it was so small, jumpy, and cute!
Other animals we saw:
Elephant (Big 5)
wart hogs are Noosha's favorite for the it's so ugly it's cute factor
and the ubiquitous but essential Impala
Tangent: Why did Chevy name their car after a common and ordinary antelope? Bad call Chevy. Bad call.
Tangent 2: Did you know that the antlers of antelopes are actually called horns for African antelopes.
After a very long, but seriously awesome day we watched the sunset around 5pm and made our way out of the park which closes at 5:30pm.
I forgot to mention the many birds we saw. Let's try and remember their names! There was the kingfisher, the franklin quail which looked plump and tasty, several species of eagle/hawk/vulture, and the bird called Zazu in Lion King. :) Real name currently unknown!
Anyway, if you ever get the opportunity to have a safari experience, we strongly recommend it. Spend several days watching the animals and go with a knowledgable guide. We had a great time with Ludovic. It was a surreal and amazing experience.
Noosha & Brian
The tale and pictures you've been waiting for!
We arrived at the tiny thatched roof Nelspruit/Kruger National Park airport to Tim, another friendly South African face welcoming us to "proper Africa. Cape Town is European."
Tim is co-owner and architect of the Bushwise resort in Marloth Park, a conservation park just outside of Kruger. The lodge is beautifully designed with a thick thatched roof that is a requirement for developing in the area. The view from the the balcony of Bushwise is of Kruger National Park and the Crocodile River. The properties are only divided by a wire and electric fence (which apparently doesn't really work on the leopords!). Everyday we get to see a still and serene landscape, and at night hear the lions and hippos declaring their territory. Very cool experience!
View from the Bushwise upper deck:
Very nice little infintity pool over looking Kruger:
Shortly after arriving we went on our first safari adventure-the night run. Guides from the park take a group of about a dozen on a sunset to evening ride in a vehicle with spotlights to see the nocturnal animals. Fortunate for us we had a jolly guide (Isaac) with a good sense of humor because after 2 hours of riding and having cold wind and water slapped in our faces, and seeing nothing but common impalas and bush babies we were feeling a little grumpy. Eventually we did spot animals. An adolescent elephant, black backed jackyl and hyenas! On future winter night rides, I recommend a ski mask and several wool blankets. ;)
-Noosha, the blossoming blogger and Brian
We are safely in St Lucia and enjoying our trip. Access to the internets has been limited. We hope to have better access in Port Elizabeth with Timo's cousin. We will post pictures of all the amazing animals we saw in Kruger and St Lucia then.
Quick note with no pictures, sorry. We have arrived in bush country. Ltterally, we are staying at Bushwise Safari Lodge. We went on a 3.5 hour night safari last night and had a relaxing day today. Tomorrow we awake at 5:00AM and set off for a full day safari at 5:30AM. Tonight we had a lovely dinner outside over wine, a full moon, and the sounds of lions and hippos. AMAZING!!!
The lodge is right against the fence of Kruger National Park. Noosha and I walked along the park fence this afternoon and Ludwig (our guide) took us on a sunset tour along the fence before dinner.
Hopefully we will have better internet access in a few days to post pictures. TTYL
B&N
Today the weather was not so nice for heading up to Table Mountain, so we headed into the city to shop. We hit up the V&A Waterfront. One of the guide books mentions Cape Town is proud of the gentrification which has taken place at the V&A. It was a nice enough shopping center but it is just clothing shops and stuff. A bit too manufactured and Disneyesque for our liking. Got plenty of that stuff in the States. If we haven't found kitschy African stuff by the time we are back we will head to one of the many African crafts shops at the V&A.
Next we tooled on over to Long Street, City Bowl area. This area reminded us a bit of the Market area in San Francisco with some buildings looking as if they were plucked right out of the French Quarter in New Orleans. Parking was interesting. Pull up to any open street parking spot and before you can get out of your car a parking attendant is there to take your parking toll. You decide how long you want to stay up to the maximum allowed for the area and you're all set.
We found a few really cool little shops with music and African themed tees. Noosha got a little art too. After a while it started to sprinkle a bit so we ducked into a cafe for a milkshake and chai tea. Nice little cafe with a strong alt flair. Two girls purchased an awesome photo of the Beatles circa Sergeant Peppers right off the wall of the cafe just to give an idea of the place. Next we strolled into a music store specializing in African music. We purchased an album playing in the store by Goldfish. Cool stuff.
Given the increasing rain we decided to drive around a bit looking at
neighborhoods and get some photos for Nick Green of the new football (soccer) stadium being
built for the 2010 World Cup in SA. Nick is the husband of Kayla,
whom I work with at the City; he writes the 100 Percent Soccer: Soccer In and Around Los Angeles blog.
The following are a few pics of the stadium:
On the way back to our B&B in Camps
Bay we stopped off to
grab some food for another late lunch. Our original intention was to hit
up this African place we spotted but they were not open yet. So we headed
a few door down to this little place called Caveau Deli. Think of the best
artisan cafe in Napa. Noosha
had fresh handmade ravioli with butternut squash and feta with creamy butternut
squash sauce and I had fresh handmade pasta with this amazing sauce with bacon
in it (that will come as no surprise to some of you), a leak and mushroom
quiche, and a Syrah. Every bite was perfect. This place is a perfect
10! Oh and the best part...the bill was US$22. We are still full now and
contemplating heading back for a dinner of dessert at Caveau.
Tomorrow we are headed to Kruger National Park. We’re not sure if we’ll have internet connection there, so don’t worry about lions having eaten us if you don’t see a post from us for a few days. :)
-Brian the epic blogger, with edits and final comments by Noosha the contributing blogger
Today can be summed up by one word: windy. It was windy out there today kids. The kind of wind that makes you earn every step. We got a nice early start today about 11:00AM and drove south along the Atlantic making our way towards Cape Point.
Here is a nice picture looking south a short distance away from the B&B:
Random Ostrich cruzin' down the road:
After Cape Point we visited Boulders Beach. Sight of African Penguins chillin' on an amazing beach.
Good morning! Our 27 hour journey turned into a 30 hour journey, but we arrived safely and well, AND we got a good night's rest. We haven't left our B&B yet, but the coastal view is WOW. I think we're going to enjoy Cape Town. Here is Brian with the details while I go get ready!
Noosha
As Noosha mentioned, the journey was long. Three movies, multiple magazine articles, countless airplane meals, and several transfers. We arrived at LAX at 6:00AM on Sunday and arrived in Cape Town around 10:00PM Monday. Unfortunately I didn't get to see the terminal in Dakar as we sat on the tarmac and not at a terminal, oh well.
Going to Africa is a bit different than going to other places we have traveled. Namely people come here to kill. We saw several people dressed as if they were going on safari the moment the exited the plane. Seriously, they had the safari shirts, zip off pants, their safari hats with one side pinned up, and camo everything. This one guy had some tree camo shirt and matching jacket and backpack. Too funny.
Interestingly we sat next to a South African Parliament member on the flight from Joburg to Cape Town (in coach no less). It was like sitting next to Dianne Feinstein or something. Very down to earth guy who got us pillows and shared his chips with us. He invited us over for dinner with his wife while in Cape Town and told us to call him if we need anything while in his country.
In typical fashion we threw ourselves into the adventure head first. Nothing like arriving in a new country after traveling for 27 hours with minimal sleep than renting a manual car and driving on the wrong side of the road. Yep. We picked up our little Opal Corsa manual (a week old I might add) at the wrong terminal and were set loose to wreak havoc on the roads of Cape Town. Actually it was not bad at all. I keep telling myself (and Noosha yells to) KEEP LEFT!
We managed to get ourselves a bit lost getting to the hotel. Add to that we really had no directions to the hotel. All we had was an address and a note that it was off the main road. We drove up and down the main road 3 times and no Hove St. As luck would have it we found a police officer patrolling the neighborhood who nicely escorted up to Hove St around midnight.
The B&B is quite nice. I am writing now in the living room looking over the Atlantic with Table Mountain behind us. You can see the cable car out the back from the pool. The winds are quite stiff but the sun is out and the winds are actually kind of warm. Things are shaping up to be a great day!
Brian
(the epic blogger)
Our first post seems to have vanished. *head scratching*
To recap, we are leaving for South Africa on Sunday (yay!) and we are even closer to almost being done with packing than we were the last time we posted. :)
We are thinking about creating a guest account for family and friends who are not on Vox, so that everyone will be able to leave comments. Stay tuned!
