Zimbabwe and South Africa
Trip Start
Jun 29, 2006
1
8
11
Trip End
Jun 29, 2007
Johannesburg,
South Africa
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
After a few sleepless nights fighting with mosquitoes and listening to the village bell chime each hour throughout the evening, we flew to Victoria Falls on the great Zambeze River
1. Boortrekker Monument
. Stupidly I used my British passport and was stung by a US$55 entry compared with everyone else paying $30. They sure don't like the Brits there! A few light comments were passed between the customs officials and I (they found it worth a giggle), and with that we were stamped into Zimbabwe.From here on in it was pretty much organised touring, which took the guess work out of all travel arrangements and meant there were no hair-raising adventures with crazy taxi drivers or the like. There was nothing to do but enjoy your surroundings and be pestered by your dummer than dum fellow tourists who have no brain or awareness of other cultures between them. Fortunately we only met 3 such people traveling together, who amazed us with questions such as:-
1. What is the population here (being Vic Falls) followed by;
2. What is the population of the whole country of Africa?!!!!!!
I won't mention where they were from on the grounds it may incriminate me. I can say however they had no respect for anyone or anything. If the sea swallowed these people up tomorrow the world would be a better place. Hmmmm. Besides these wonderful fellow tourists, Victoria Falls was a beautiful place.
We stayed at the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge which is in the National Park overlooking a waterhole. In the evening you could kick back with a gin & tonic in hand and watch the animals gather for their own kind of sundowner. From our balconies you could watch the whole valley awaken as long as you were cautious to keep a lookout for Vervet Monkeys whose room ransacking could be hugely annoying if they managed to sneak in unnoticed
10. Mum, Dad and I, Vic Falls
.Musi oa Tunya (better known as Victoria Falls), were a delight. I am sure no one has ever visited the falls only to be disappointed. It is always spectacular to view the falls (this being my third time), and this was no exception. Although you can see he falls from both the Zambian and Zimbabwe sides, from Zimbabwe you can walk out in front of the falls. When the water is high, you see nothing but a huge wall of spray before you.
At night we were entertained by artists, storytellers and drummers at The Boma restaurant. The restaurant staff were encouraging us to try a Mopani worm (or Masimbi in the local language). Apparently it is a local delicacy. The only thing delicate about this was our stomachs after eating the awful little grubs! As it seems with most insects, they are dried and/or deep fried in oil so that the only flavour of these insects is the oil itself. Best to be using top quality oil!! A large glass of wine later we managed to finish the remainder of our meals which were great for meat eaters if game is your thing. You could try out Buffalo, Warthog or Impala.
Next on the itinerary was Chapunga Lodge in Thorny Bush Game Reserve, which is close to Kruger National Park
11. Nat in Trackers seat
. We spent three days driving early morning and late afternoon in search of animals to view. We had amazing interactions with leopards, elephants and lions, unfortunately missing a lion kill by only 10 minutes. In the early afternoons we made the most of our luxury accommodation, soaking ourselves in ouroutside, private bath tubs. Looking out into the wilderness from the bath was exquisite although it would have been very nice to share it ;)
We joined a flight to Port Elizabeth to visit River Lodge, on Kariega Game Reserve. What a beautiful place! Our accommodation was on the river with our own private jetty and swimming pool. The morning game drive began with a 15 minute cruise up the river to the 4WD. Down river we were able to visit the beach for a swim at Trenton-on-Sea. Although the game were not as plentiful as at Thorny Bush due to the young age of the reserve, we made up for it in excitement on two occasions. One in which the male lion mock charged the vehicle (a heart throbbing experience!), and again with the lions as we ended up on 3 wheels and were at real risk of rolling the car. Not a happy thought with a lion watching on!
Cape Town was last on our shared itinerary. We stayed at a fabulous 2 bedroom apartment in the waterfront complex where I could work out at the gym every day. Over 4 days we took in the delectable sights of Cape Town including Table Mountain, Green Market Square, Hout Bay and Chapmans Peak, Cape Point, Kalk Bay and Constantia, Camps Bay and Seapoint. After such a hectic couple of weeks traveling we tried to keep
the time in Cape Town relatively relaxed and chilled so it was nice to take it easy and enjoy the chilled atmosphere of Cape Town in the summer
12. Union Building, Pretoria
. We briefly caught up with Sebs and Cinds after a divine dinner at home and ate at some wonderful restaurants around town. Before long though our wonderful holiday together was over and on a fine Saturday morning we flew to Johannesburg where Mum and Dad caught a connecting flight back to Perth. It was a very sad goodbye - Thanks Mum and Dad for such an amazing time! I look forward to seeing you in 2008 for Adam's wedding.
As I waved goodbye to Mum and Dad, my friend James appeared, so we waved together and then they were gone. James and I continued back to his place where I was to stay a couple of nights.....
