South Africa!

Pulling into South Africa was one of the most beautiful sights of the voyage so far. I have to admit, I was so excited I would burst into tears at the mention of the name - my sister was meeting me! But aside from that, the mountains and the cityscape along the pier was GORGEOUS.


Shiplife has been treating me well but I've been sooooo homesick lately. Just in need of some puppy cuddles and some good long life chats with my friends and family. Communication with home has not been as easy as i had anticipated (hoped), and I was so excited to see my sister and catch up on everything that is going on in the United States (especially with regards to the family). We were due in port at 8am, and Jac was meeting me there so we could get our tours started! In typical fashion, we were late... well we weren't but the pilot was and due to the timing of the shift change (which our captain was none too happy with) we arrived in port at 9:30 and THEN immigration was late, and long, and I didn't get off the ship until 11! Poor Jaclyn could've started the tour without me or gone shopping or slept in! But it was quite a reunion.

The night prior at our pre port meeting we had to say goodbye to Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I cried at the video they played (remember, homesick and a day away from my sister reunion). It was so sad to see him leave the community that he had become such a cornerstone of, but in his gracious way - he's already sent us an email telling us how much he misses us. Jaclyn got to see his reunion with his family as he got off the ship, and took a very sweet photo of him talking with his granddaughter. I emailed it to him (thanks Sissy). She said he was bombarded by the families waiting at the pier for their students to get off (Cape town was our parent trip/reception) so at least that kept her occupied for a little while.

I FINALLY got off the ship and got to hug my sister. Best moment of the trip so far hands down. We got in the car with our tour guide Ian who wanted to tell us all about Cape Town (we just wanted to chat about life clearly). We were in Cape town in winter so it was a little chilly for me coming from the sweltering heat of India and Mauritius but Jaclyn thought it was great coming from the tundras of the east coast these days! Our first stop was at a palace or fortress or something (I couldn't concentrate), and then we went up to Table Mountain. The cable cars were closed because of wind, but the view was still breathtaking. Then Ian took us to Signal Hill for another view of the city, and then we did a quick city tour before he dropped us off at the waterfront. We had burgers and beer for lunch and were finally able to catch up a little bit! We walked around the waterfront for a little and headed back to the hotel to grab Jaclyn's giant suitcase (good sisters always bring huge bags to take half of your junk back home), and switch out to pack for safari! We weren't on the ship very long - just long enough to grab Craig and Dan for a dinner out and swap out our luggage. We ate at an amazing restaurant on the riverfront where I had awesome sushi. My new favorite is the Philadelphia roll, no doubt because of how much I've been craving cream cheese lately! Great food and great company and then Jac and I headed back to the hotel to make some phone calls and head to bed before our early morning.

Reunited!

 MV from Signal Hill

 World cup stadium

 Table Mountain

 Noble square!

 My favorite Noble Peace Prize winner ever!

From the ferris wheel at the VA Waterfront

We flew out the next morning - if you are ever able, book on South African Air. It was the most amazing service, planes were great, people were wonderful, and they fed you (arguably too much).  We arrived at Hoedspruit airport (which is also officially my favorite ever), and headed with a guide to Shindzela Safari Camp (https://www.facebook.com/Shindzela). We saw animals even driving into the park! It was awesome. The reserves around the area we were in have a no fence agreement. There are boundaries to each park, and unless they have agreements to share they are not allowed to cross those boundaries but the animals can come and go at their leisure. Shindzela is a tented bush camp - meaning we were in fancy tents (but tents none the less) in the middle of the bush. They had a fence around the kitchen/dining room but not around the tents. They were full for our two night stay - but full was only 15 people. Jaclyn and I were nervous as one of the guides walked us to our tent - almost the furthest from main camp!

Jaclyn preparing us!

The schedule was like this:
5am wake up
530am tea/coffee and biscuits
6am game drive
usually back around 10 for breakfast
free time
lunch at 3
4pm game drive
back at 9pm for dinner

It was AWESOME. Our tour guide was named Sam - he was Zulu and an awesome tracker. He and Brian (from Florida, the other guide) taught us all about tracking, and the animals, and life as a guide, and answered all our dumb questions! It was awesome. We learned a lot, and in retirement may buy a  bush camp (just need to make some big moneys first!).

 

Sam's view

 

Sam teaching us about a GIANT spider.

Our first day brought the following animals:
elephant
giraffes
buffalo
european rollers (which were my favorite birds)
lions
impala
hippos
striped tailed cat
zebras
jackals
cameleon
and the bird that Zazu (in the lion king) was modeled after... who we just called ZaZu 

 

Granny sent us with binoculars that take photos so those were helpful once we figured out how to focus (though we were often close enough to not need them)!

 

Zebra & Impalas

 Waterbuck

 Hippo

 Warthog family in camp

 With the King

 

Artsy pic of sissy and Cape Buffalo.

 

Beverage break!

 Watching for hippos and crocodiles

 home sweet home

 

 

Impala - see the "M" on their butts?

 Not bad! We saw three of the "Big Five" in the first day! The Big Five is what they call the five animals everyone wants to see. It comes from an old hunting term - when the young men wanted to become big time hunters to prove themselves they would have to kill the big five - which are apparently the hardest to kill for a variety of reasons. The big five are: Elephants, Rhinos, Leopards, Buffalo, and Lions... I can imagine why those were the hardest to kill for the tribal hunters. We also learned that the locals call the impala McDonalds (though I imagine they only do this for the tourists) - because they have an "M" on their butts, and they are the fast food of the wild kingdom... seriously, they were EVERYWHERE. By day two we were like "there's something.. oh it's just impalas, keep going Sam!" LOL

 

The sunsets on safari were my favorites yet!

At meals, we all ate together. The food at camp was pretty awesome. We sat at two large tables and were able to get to know our neighbors. We were the only Americans - there were people from France, the UK, Germany, all over. It was super diverse and very cool. Everyone was super nice. Our favorite was a couple from England who were in South Africa for a few weeks surrounding a wedding. They were hilarious and thankfully on our game drives as well. After dinner, we would all sit around the fire and hang out. It was very cool. New on my bucket list - getting my parents to go with us... Maybe if Jac and I have families we can bribe them there with grandkids and fun... we'll see. Night was hard in the camp - you can't walk alone at night (the guides escort you with a big gun... just in case). The warthogs were eating at the grub under our tent and you could hear them scurrying around and snorting. We also heard a bunch of other sounds that we reenacted in the morning to find out what they were... from our attempts the guides guessed buffalo and jackals. Jaclyn didn't sleep much but I slept like a log as usual!

Our second day of safari we saw:
lilac breasted roller
kudu (HUGE... seriously, I was so impressed)
Oxpecker
elephant
zebras
spiders (eww)
buffalo
tree squirrel
spotted Gerat
jackals
sinclairs
springbok (which is the smallest antelope in the wild kingdom)
red crested korans

And some others but I can't read my handwriting between the language barrier and the bumpy roads of the safari jeep!Also, in what may have been the coolest thing ever this day... we saw a kudu. We saw one the day before if you will recall but we spooked it quickly and it ran off... During our free time, after our naps in the daylight, i went out on to our porch before lunch, and RIGHT in front of our cabin, there were three kudus (two female, one male) eating from the trees. It was awesome. I managed to get Jaclyn out there and get the binoculars and cameras and though our photos came out completely fuzzy, it was cool to see just how close the wildlife could get to us... Then a family of warthogs ran through the camp to eat all the grub on the grass around the fire pit. Hilarious. Warthogs are hilarious animals but baby warthogs are just the best. It was great. It was so cool to hear Sam explain tracking (Jaclyn and I always sat right behind him in the jeep so we could ask a million questions). Clearly, from the print they can tell what animal was walking there, but I had no idea how much goes into it. Sam looks at if there are other tracks inside it, what direction the sand around the track was pushed, how fresh the poop in the area is, whether the imprint looks like it's running or not to figure out where the animals went, and how long ago they were here. It was so impressive. I couldn't see most of what he was talking about but maybe one day I'll go back and study it! Haha (for other info on all the animals we saw/could have seen check out this pretty good website: http://www.africanwildlifeguide.com/species-guide/animals-atoz/mammals)

 

Tracking

The food at camp (but really in general in South Africa) was delicious - we had everything from macaroni and cheese to boerwurst sausage. YUM! I wish I was still eating the food from South Africa today.

 On our last morning in camp, we were able to sneak in one more game drive before our flight. We went out on the early morning drive and say a lot of birds, a waterbuck (which has a hilarious circle on their butts like a bullseye), giraffes, short tailed eagles, african hoopoos, mongoose, hippos, crocodiles, and the family of warthogs again. We had another great guide drive us back to the airport from the lodge and they just love animal spotting, so we took our time, and back roads to see what last minute sightings we could get in. It was so cool to spend a few days in nature and just watching the animals in their natural habitat. We learned a lot from our guides about life and growing up "in the bush" and about the animals and their behaviors and how the humans (especially poachers) impact them. It was easily one of the best things I've done in my life, and if you are planning a trip to South Africa (which you all should), check out Shindzela - we'll definitely be back!

Our flight back was just as lovely as our flights there, and the airplane food was pretty decent yet again! We headed back to the ship to do some more packing and so Jaclyn could get a ship tour, and then headed to Mama Africa's for some authentic South African cuisine (on recommendation from our tour guide). We got a game platter (we just saw them all-  it's only right to know what they taste like), and a warthog platter. The game platter included kudu, springbok, crocodile, and ostrich. It was delicious.. of course, in typical Lenez fashion we ranked our top five favorite animals to see and eat (yea yea... we know it's a little weird).

Jaclyn (to see)
1. warthog
2. lion
3. kudu
4. elephant
5. buffalo

Nicole (to see)
1. kudu
2. warthog
3. springbok (they were hard to find but somehow I had an eye for spotting them weirdly)
4. birds (especially the owl!)/lions (they had to tie)
5.buffalo (even though the giant herd we were in the middle of was a little scary!)

Jaclyn (to eat)
1. warthog (her exact words upon first bite were "where can I get this in the US?!")
2. springbok
3. kudu
4. ostrich
5. crocodile

Nicole (to eat)
1. kudu
2. springbok
3.warthog
4. ostrich (now I have to say.. if Mama Africa's would have served the ostrich I had on the wine tour... well let's just say it would move high up my list but we'll get to that).

5. crocodile

YUM!

Day 5, we went with our new tour guide, Ryan (a nice South African surfer dude) to a winery tour! Because it was Good Friday, he hunted down 3 wineries for us to tour and was going to take us to the cheetah rescue place. SOLD! Wine then cheetahs? Of course that sounds like a great idea!  On our way to the winelands, Ryan told us all about the townships surrounding the cities. It was unreal to think that segregation was still very much active here in the 90s and that people are still suffering after the reign of apartheid. I'm interested in learning more about the community and it's struggles. Arch told us that South Africa was the most beautiful yet most unfair place in the world. Seeing the children play along side the highways next to the shacks made that so clear. Ryan was super interesting, we talked to him about apartheid, healthcare, online dating, September 11, life in general in South Africa, and of course, surfing. Being as this was our first port without a language barrier (most of the other countries people spoke minimal English), it was so nice to pick the brains of our guides and learn so much about the culture.

We went to Lynx winery first and got the star treatment as the only ones there. It was beautiful property - the winelands in South Africa are just gorgeous - and the Assistant wine maker gave us a great walk through of the process and tasting. We bought a case of wine (which in SA is actually two cases of wine because for them a case is 6 bottles...) - they ship from California so it was easy. Mom and Dad will have a big heavy box of wine coming soon but we picked out two bottles for mom as payment LOL After Lynx, we went on to Rickety Bridge. The wine here was delicious - it was one of my favorite Cabernet Savignons I've ever had. Super delicious but we refrained from buying more. We also tried a pinotage which is apparently a SA special - there is a grape that alone tastes like tire rubber (so I've heard) but together makes a great wine. It was pretty good too.  After Rickety Bridge we went to Franschhoek to go shopping and it was so cute. We didn't have enough time, so we met Ryan to go to lunch, and then decided to forgo the third winery to come back to the town and do some more shopping. Lunch was AMAZING! Ryan took us to his friend's restaurant/winery. I can't remember the name of the place we went to (sister - help me out) but the ostrich was amazing - honestly, one of the best meals on my voyage so far. SO STINKING GOOD! 

 

Grapes

 

  

Wine tasting!

 

At a delicious restaurant with a great view! 

 and SUPER delicious ostrich steaks!

After lunch we went to the Cheetah Outreach. Since Cheetah's are on the endangered list, this organization tried to help conservation efforts buy raising money and education. It was very cool. We got to pet a cheetah, who was very sleepy, and see the numerous other animals that lived at the Outreach center. They had meercats and a number of cats. They also raise and train Turkish Anatolian shepherds (which are an amazing breed of dog that looks like a slimmer mastiff) and give them to farmers for 6 months. The dogs assimilate into herds of cattle or sheep and protect them from Cheetahs. They will run the cheetahs off if they get too close to the livestock - giving farmers an alternative to killing the cheetahs. They were pretty impressive and quite adorable. They wouldn't let me in to get any puppy hugs though unfortunately. After all this fun, we got dropped off at the waterfront for more shopping, dinner, and drinks. We ate at the sushi place again (YUM!) and the bartenders made us a bunch of shots with the local booze (Amarillo) in them. That stuff doesn't go well with sushi! :P

 QT with the Cheetah

On our last day in South Africa (when we both DREADED having to leave this beautiful place) - we went on a very windy tour of Cape Point and Boulder Beach. We visited the penguins, ostrich, antelope, and saw breathtaking views. We were almost blown away at Cape Point and on our visit to the lighthouse! We were dropped off at the waterfront for lunch at the little brewery, and after begrudgingly realizing we ordered salads as an appetizer before we saw how good the nachos look, we shared pizza and headed back to the hotel to wait for our transfer to the ship/airport. This is where I sobbed a lot. See you in May, sister dear!

 

View from the hotel 

 

Hewwo!

 

It was so windy it was hard for them to walk much... us too. 

 

The babies are as big as the adults!

 

lighthouse

 

Didn't quite make it to the top! Too windy for us!

 

We passed some ostrich on the way around the park

 

Almost blown away (literally) at Cape of Good Hope!

 

The views along the coast were GORGEOUS!

The ship was supposed to leave at 2000h that evening but we had to stay docked that evening due to the wind. The wind was so bad, we couldn't safely leave the harbor. We got 24 more hours in Cape Town but weren't allowed to get off the ship. :) Talk about torture!!! :)

My friends, Matt and Ashley came here a few years back during the World Cup. It's very easy to see why they fell in love with it, and we clearly did as well. It's not the safest port - at night, the city can be very dangerous so you need to be very careful of not walking alone, making sure you get into legitimate cabs, and generally being aware and making good decisions, but overall the people were so friendly, lovely, and nice.

In other news, check out more photos at Jac's google page (She has the best of hers and mine on there!):
Cape town album: https://plus.google.com/photos/113758531688519956672/albums/5862074572598410577?authkey=CKb8-vTB0N2Xfg

Safari album: https://plus.google.com/photos/113758531688519956672/albums/5862061308630341169?authkey=CIT-r_vdmdj-HQ