Month: January 2018

 

So, the problem with bucket list adventures is, every once in awhile, the thing becomes not once-in-a-lifetime, but a passion that one must do again and again!  So it is with whitewater rafting and Lara….and maybe me too.  Whitewater rafting the Zambezi was frightening, fun, frightening, wild fun, FUN !!!   As soon as the guides pick you up, you know it is no joke…they are taking you for serious business.  Briefing after briefing, you get the point.  Their livelihood depends on seeing that nothing happens to you in what is essentially, quite a dangerous activity and venue.   The hike DOWN the gorge to the Zambezi is quite a hike.  Two of the four of us fell…hard.   It is not reassuring to hear one of the guides say, “yes, it’s sad when someone’s rafting trip ends before they get to the water.”

And then after many briefings and lessons and instructions and practices, there was the rafting trip itself.  WOW.  So it is supposed to be the best white water rafting in the world.  It was great fun, and challenging, and pristine.  Simply beautiful scenery that there is no other way to see than by river raft.  And yes, Lara and I are planning a 5 night to do the whole raft-able portion of the river….that has to be done between August and mid-November.  So what we won’t talk about is the hike OUT of the gorge.  Obviously, I am writing this, so I made it.  When Lara joked about throwing herself down rather than continuing the climb (and I do mean sometimes hands and knees climb) up, without a blink the guide responded, “helicopters are expensive.”  The guides were impressive.  They are trained on the river of course, but they also are trained in emergency medicine, and our guide in training, a recent hire, spoke 7 languages.  They simply exude competence and make you feel safe every minute.

We returned home exhausted, bruised and so, so HAPPY.   Lara took a 3 hour nap and I sat on the river lawn with a glass of wine, a book, and 40 of my monkey friends, listening to the singers heralding the arrival and departure of each river boat.

We departed Johannesburg for Victoria Falls on the 15th, after a beautiful drive down from Kruger and a great stay at the Premier Hotel.  A nationwide high school football (soccer) tournament was being held in Jo-berg and the hotel was filled with high school boys and their coaches.  Of note has been how wonderfully friendly the people are here…and as Lara and I have both noted, they are beautiful as well.  So this group of lively, friendly boys and their coaches filled the air of this big hotel with their excitement and optimism.  It was great to see.

We hit Zimbabwe running, and ventured to Victoria Falls immediately after our arrival.  It is simply stunning and goes on forever.  It is hard to imagine being the first person to unknowingly come across this amazing wonder.  One can only hope it was not from up river, in a boat!!!   There is not much more that can be said about it….AMAZING.  The Victoria Falls entrance is just a 5 minute walk from the center of town and the entrance area has a lovely cafe and small information center.  The information area is  small, yet has a ton of really interesting historical and geographical information that really adds to the visit.  “Livingstone, I presume?” was not uttered here, but on the banks of Lake Tanganyika, to the very same enduring Scottish explorer who “discovered” Victoria Falls and was the first European to map much of Africa.

 

After our visit to the falls, we explored our A’zambezi River Hotel.  It was really a piece of heaven right on the Zambezi River.  The river boats came and went from where we sat on the beautiful lawn and the sun set seemingly into the amazing river.  The restaurant was outdoors, under a giant tiki hut with a roaring fire pit off to the side.  The food was good and we were entertained by native dancers and scores of little monkeys and baboons, most with new babies, clinging for dear life to their mommas.  They are the most fascinating creatures to watch, so nearly human, and so scrawny and adorable.  It is amazing to watch their arms and hands, so like ours, work a million miles an hour at some task, their faces darting around and searching each others, then looking directly at you, and then darting on to something new.  Very cute till you realize that adorable little monkey is taking things out of YOUR purse!!!!!  And GONE!!!!!  in a millionth of a second!  This lawn here is probably the most peaceful, placid, beautiful place I can remember.  The tranquility is only interrupted by the African singers greeting the incoming boats, and those sounds seem so a part of the landscape, just a gentle reminder that there are humans here, in this paradise.

11 January. Our first day in Kruger National Park, South Africa’s great game park, started with an am game drive. The driver picked us up at 5 am and we proceeded with another couple from another lodge to a private game reserve that is adjacent to Kruger. We joined another couple there and climbed into the open viewing vehicle. Being familiar with safari in Kenya, the thing we were not expecting was to be COLD! We bundled up with blankets and coffee and hit the park in search of … The folks on the drive remarked that on their evening game drive the night before, their lodge had sent them off with vodka & tonic fixings as well as tea time acoutrements. The lodges here are amazing and famous for their over-the-top hospitality. Almost immediately, we saw wildabeast, huge herds of water buffalo, and fairly quickly, a lion pair. Impala, kudu and a plethora of small deer-like creatures abound…simply millions of them everywhere. Your head never stops spinning, searching, for the elusive carnivors. After seeing the two young lions first thing, we didn’t see any more this am. We were back at the lodge by 10 for a wonderful breakfast, a few hands of Canasta, then we packed up and headed for Kruger National Park proper! We entered Orpen Gate, on the western side of the park. We were immediately overwhelmed by the wildlife everywhere around us. We saw herds of every type of hooved animal imaginable, tons of adorably ornery, impossible to domesticate zebra, groupings of the ever elegant, magnificently lanky giraffe, so many elephants of all shapes and sizes, birds of unimaginable colors, and monkeys with an ilk for exhibitionism 😊. We stopped at Skukuza Lodge to poke around and check out South Africa’s version of a national park campsite. Both Skukuza and Lower Sabie were amazing and I can’t wait to stay there next time. We ended up flying down gravel roads, running a bit late to make sure we made it out of the Melalane Gate by 6:30 pm when the park closes for day visitors. So every animal known to man was on their way to cocktail hour as well. We drove through herds of everything, hundreds of zebra and giraffe on the move, never ending trains of elephants crossing the road, and agitated baby elephants separated from mom! We made it out Melalane Gate at 6:30 on the nose and within minutes were settled at our charming home for the next three days: Hsusha Hsusha.
It is hard to believe that you could spend days driving around in the dust at 20 km an hour, searching for leopard, lion, cheetah, rhino, hippo, elephant, buffalo, baboons, etc., and never get tired of it. The days just fly by, the landscape everchanging and beautiful. During breakfast our first morning, one of the guests was giving us advice on getting “sightings” and laughingly said that there would come a time when you thought, “oh, just another freaking elephant.” It’s true. There are millions! But I never tire of seeing them, especially watching them gently steer their babies around with their long trunks. I am not a bird watcher, but the huge variety of stunning birds is incredible. Lara and I had a couple of favorite spots for hippo sightings. There are two restaurants across the river, the Crocodile River, that serves as the southern border of Kruger. From both The Deck Restaurant and from the deck of the Pestana Kruger Lodge, hippo sightings are a sure thing. We had been watching a couple of hippos from the deck, when one of them let out a HUGE snort, and in unison, about 10 huge hippos stood up out of the water! They are an amazing sight! There were lots of leopard sightings while we were there, but we missed them. They are pretty elusive, except for the one that was siting by a road sign. Very “right time, right place” dependent here. Our time at Kruger was too short. Had an amazing meal at Lower Sabie lodge, where you sit on the river and watch the animal kingdom stroll by. One lovely evening with friends, we ate at The Deck Restaurant and were entertained by 2 dozen elephants playing in the river.
Kruger is a wonderfully run park. They artfully balance people’s enjoyment and the delivery of an amazing experience, while maintaining the very serious undercurrent that this is a big and important project: To display and thereby protect the wildlife that is the South African national heritage. One feels honored to be part of the project. On another note, the nearby towns of White River and Nelspruit are beautiful, beautiful cities. White River is a very charming old world city, which wears its Dutch origins on its sleeve. The food and wine have been extremely good and also very, very reasonable.

Lara and I departed Joberg on a 9 hour treck toward Kruger.  The “motorways” are first class, as are the rest stops with built in tourist “frames” for photo opportunities!  Once we departed the motorway for the Panorama Route, things got foggy.  We missed a few of the viewpoints, but by the time we reached the spectacular Blyde River Canyon, the skies had cleared.  It is like trying to photograph the Grand Canyon.  Impossible to do justice.  Lara got her first, and apparently last “lesson” in driving a 6 speed manual….and is determined to return home to buy a car with a stick shift.  Can you say “Maria Andretti?”   Having never driven a stick shift before, she was not plagued by the left vs right that took me a day to get used to.   We drive through some amazing countryside, finally arriving at our destination for the night…Ngama Tented Safari Camp.  Simply lovely.  I have never enjoyed a bath so much…in my big colonial clawfoot, in my “lantern lit” tent.  The food was good, the wine excellent, and the monkeys hung around just enough.  Lara and I played Canasta in the camp area til late.   Kim and Devon were great hosts and we got set up for our 5 am departure for our am game drive….  Again, finding myself in one of the most romantic places on earth….with one of  my kids  :-).  Life is good.

where we were treated wonderfully, had a  good meal, great wine, and 12 hours sleep….   Ok, that’s if we were smart.  Instead, we were treated wonderfully, chatted like crazy with the flight attendants, had too much wine, watched 4 movies, and got no sleep…    🙂  Great Flight!!!

Likewise, flew through immigration in Joberg, not even having to leave the building to pick up our rental car.  Easiest process EVER!   So my first car was a stick and I have lots of practice driving on the “wrong” side of the road, however, I have NEVER driven a 6-speed stick on the wrong side of the road.  Good thing its Lara in the seat to my left.  I keep grabbing the wrong everything!!!!  And every blinker is preceded by a spray and wiper swish!  Actually, I’m having a ball and thrilled to be flying across the African landscape, with Lara at my side, music blaring, and under Africa “rules.”   Faircity Quartermain Hotel as advertised!  Highly recommend this charming hotel with all the amenities and quiet comforts.  It is second home to a myriad of interesting business and leisure travelers, has a bar and lounge that feel like your living room, and is minutes in the free shuttle to Sandton center.  Made friends our first night in, and was invited out to dinner for our second.

First day ventures included visits to the excavation site and exploration center at the Cradle of Mankind center and then, Soweto.  The Cradle of Mankind visitor center and caves is about an hour out of town.  It was amazing and a top notch educational site for any age.  If you are short of time, drop the cave visit in lieu of more time at the educational center.  The caves are interesting for their archeological value, though fairly average as caves go.  Soweto was interesting, though not certain a “tour” is required beyond visits to some of the historic sites if there is a particular interest.  Sandton is simply lovely, and dinner at the Hotel Michaelangelo Chophouse was spectacular!  One of those very special nights where the wine, conversation and laughter just flow!