Africa - Victoria Falls

Day Eight

In the morning, we all packed our things and headed out to our flight to Kasane Airport (located in Botswana).   This airport is quite small (there is much building going on) and located about 1 hour from Victoria Falls.   We flew here since it is not as congested and also so that we could stop to see the Imbabala Zambezi Safari Lodge located on the Zambezi River.   We did a tour of the lodge and were able to have lunch there as well.

This was our first real hot and sunny day of the trip.

Then we were able to take in a Zambezi River Cruise (similar to a large houseboat) and cruised down the river watching the hippopotamus (8)  and  a large elephant that put on a show for us.  We were able to get quite a beautiful sunset and the temperature on the water was quite nice with a cool breeze.

We then headed off to Victoria Falls Lodge for our evening accommodations and dinner.

Day Nine

Another full day ahead of us and the highlight of course being able to see Victoria Falls (one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World).   Victoria Falls was spectacular and we are glad it was part of our itinerary we were able to take many pictures from the various viewpoints.   As we walked, we were able to feel the mist of the water from the falls.  I guess in April/May, you get soaking wet because the water is flowing so much and so fast.

We were able to stop and shop at a local market for various souvenirs and then we continued on for a tour of the Elephant Camp.    The Elephant Camp is a luxury tent camp that you just can’t imagine.  You would never think you could have such luxury in a tent.  At the lodge, we were able to meet/pet Sylvester their domesticated Cheetah.

I believe he was an abandoned cub, so he has never truly been in the wild on his own.

They do use him for education purposes.  What a beautiful animal.  On their property they have an Elephant Encounter (18 elephants) that you can meet, touch them, feed them and even ride them.   We were able to do all, but ride them.  It was a great experience.

Not done yet, our evening dinner was at the BOMA – Place of Eating, where we were able to have an African Experience (dancing, singing, etc.) and enjoy the Zimbabwe cuisine.

Wow!   Finally in our room at 900PM – what a full day of events!

Africa - Thorny Bush - Day 5

Day Five

 

We were awake before the alarm anxiously waiting for our next game drive.

Today we saw White Rhino, White-back vultures, Baboons, Giraffe, Wildebeest and Cheetahs.  It was a cooler day, misting on us most of the morning.  We put on the ponchos they provided us with to stay warm and as dry as possible.  One of the other  groups were able to see lion, so hopefully this evening we will be lucky to see that too.

 

 

We spent a leisure day at the Lodge, well actually catching up on our blog and getting the pictures downloaded and inserted.

 

Tonight, we did our normal game drive, plus stopped at two lodges to check-out their facilities.

 

 

On our game drive tonight we saw Water Buck (he has a white ring on his rear, the tracker calls it their “follow me sign”), 5 White Rhinoceros, Go Away Bird and Giraffes.  We stopped and took a break along the trail and were served snacks, wine, beer, etc and talked about our sightings and what was yet to come.  Unfortunately, we were cut just a little short due to the onset of heavy rain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day Six

 

Our usual wake call at 500AM, into our land cruisers by 520AM, no time to dilly dally around.  Today, our tracker and guides mission was to find the lions.  Another group at the lodge had seen them the night before, so we really wanted to spot them too.  We spent the better part of the morning drive searching and tracking them; finally, they were located and we did quite a bit of off-roading and trampling trees to follow a lioness and her cubs.  We were successful!  We then headed back to the lodge for breakfast and to pack for our move to the next lodge.

 

 

 

We stopped at Kapama Lodge & Reserve so that we could check-out their facilities.

They are located directly across from the Hoedspruit Airport and their guests are picked up in the Land Rovers.  They have a beautiful facility and they are rated as a 5 star property.

 

We then had an hour transfer to Karongwe Riverside Lodge located in the Karongwe Reserve.  We arrived there at 230PM and immediately had lunch, followed by our evening game drive starting at 4PM.  Our accommodations were roomy cabins with a porch overlooking the water hole.

 

Our new ranger is Betuel and his tracker is Raymond.  Betuel is very knowledgeable

about the various species that we saw and shared great tidbits along the way.  We saw: Bush Buck, Nile crocodile, Yellow-Billed Stork, Guinea Fowl, Giraffe, Nyala, White Rhinoceros, Cheetah and the LION! 

 

 

 

 

OMG!    The Lion viewing is amazing…… At first, he wouldn’t look at us, then he yawned and the ranger said, he’ll yawn 3 times and that means he’ll move.

And he did!  He yawned exactly 3 times and got up and slowly walked by us and moved to another location.   We were able to get some great pictures!

 

Back to the Lodge for dinner, shower, sleep and back on the trail tomorrow with a wake call of 5AM once again……

 

 

Day Seven

 

It is 5AM once again, out to the Land Rovers to see what animals we could locate today.

 

Kudo, Jackal, Baboons, Monkeys, Giraffe, Elephant and the Hippopotamus.

 

 

 

On our way back to the lodge, we stopped to visit the neighboring tented camp (Chisimo).  The camp had just been totally re-done 2 months ago and really was a wonderful place to stay.

 

After breakfast, we headed out for our 6 hour bus ride back to Johannesburg, with a stop for lunch in Dullstroom.  Dullstroom and the surrounding area reminded us all of Napa Valley.  The landscape was hilly and the town was very quaint with cute little restaurants and shops to explore.

 

We are spending our night at the City Lodge located right at the Johannesburg Airport and tomorrow we will fly off to Kasane Airport and travel to Victoria Falls.

 

 

Africa - Cape Town - Thorny Bush Game Reserve

Day Three

Another full day ahead of us in Cape Town, with a trip to the Winelands and a wine and cheese tasting at the tour of the Fairview Winery.  We stopped at the Taal Monument (www.taalmonument.co.za) , where the tour guide provided us with the history and the importance of the monument to the Afrikaan language.

The De Oewer Restaurant located in the historic town of Stellenbosch was host to our lunch.  They are located just across the street from a rugby stadium and today they had a tournament of college rugby games and we were able to catch snatches of their games.

On to visit Table Mountain that overlooks Cape Town and the harbor.  A cable car takes you to the top of Table Mountain with great panoramic views of the city, Robben Island and surrounding areas.

Today, we transferred to the Commodore Hotel located on the V & A Waterfront.   A lovely hotel, located near the wharf that has numerous restaurants, shops and just a fun place to hang out.  We enjoyed dinner at the City Grill and dessert at the Meloncino Restaurant.  We all would have liked to have more time in this area.

So much to do in Cape Town, but tomorrow we are off to the Greater Kruger Park Area and the Thorny Bush Lodge.

Day Four

We left Cape Town at 600AM for flights departing to Huedspruit Airport.

A half-hour transfer and here we are at Thornybush Waterside Lodge.

There was time for lunch and a quick rest, then out on our first evening game drive in open Landrover vehicles.  The goal, of course, to see the Big 5 (Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo).  Ryno, our driver along with his tracker, were confident he could find us some great wildlife.  Well, Ryno did a fantastic job and the first evening we saw:

Cape Buffalo, a Leper Tortoise, Saddle Bill Stork (endangered – only 400 remaining), Warthog, Impalas, Zebras, Elephants, Wildebeest, Hippo and a Leopard.  Three of the big 5 were already scene.  My favorites the Zebras with their fantastic stripes, the Elephants – as we saw 2 young males going at it less than 3 feet from our jeep. Yikes!

Of course, we were all surprised to see the leopard on our first trip – we heard they can be elusive.

Wake-up call 500AM – back on the trail by 545AM, we’ll see what next that we can find along the trail…..

 

Africa - Johannesburg - Arrival Day

We made it!  From Atlanta to Johannesburg, it is a 15.5 hour flight and an 8 hour time zone change.
We got through customs, gathered our bags and headed across the street to the Inter-Continental Hotel for our first night in Africa.

We are settling in and getting our bearings, tomorrow we head to Cape Town and connect with our group.

Our hotel is the Townhouse Hotel located in downtown Cape Town. The hotel has just been newly remodeled and the rooms have a European look to them.  If you are wondering, Cape Town is quite large at 3.8 million people and is currently the #1 tourist destination in South Africa. 

 

 

 

In the evening, we met the other members of our group and we all took a 10 minute walk to an African Dance Theatre to watch their performance.  We all enjoyed the dancing and drums and then went our own way for dinner that evening.  We went along with another couple to a Fish & Chips place located just around the corner from our hotel.  Our fish & Chips were inexpensive at 329 Rand or $3.29 each.

 

 

With an 8 hour time difference, sleep comes and goes for us.  We go to sleep for about 2 hours and then wake up and can’t get back to sleep.  Of course when we need to get up, we had just fallen asleep.

 

Day Two

 

At 800AM we left our hotel to tour the Cape Peninsula.  We traveled to Hout Bay (a fishing harbor), where we spotted a Southern Right Whale from a distance.  This type of whale is a protected species, it was favored by the fisherman because once killed, the whale would float, thus the name “Southern Right Whale”, the other whales would sink.

 

 

We enjoyed a stop at the Original T-Bag Designs, a community project aiming to create sustainable jobs and giving a sense of self-worth to previously disadvantaged individuals.

(www.tbagdesigns.co.za)  All of their products are made or use t-bags – amazing what you can do with an old used t-bag.

 

 

We traveled along the beautiful coast through Table Mountain National Park (Cape of Good Hope) with a stop for lunch at Black Marlin Restaurant located overlooking the ocean.  We had Hake (similar to cod), Calamari, Prawns, salad, rice, etc.  It was a great lunch and more than I could eat.  In this area of the park, there is a population of Baboons; however, we were not fortunate enough to see them.  We did see ostriches in the wild and got a couple pictures of them along the roadside.

 

We continued within the park to the Boulders (located between Simon’s Town and Cape Point) and the home of the African Penguin.   The African Penguin is an endangered species and in 1982, they had just two breeding pairs and now this colony has 2, 200 African penguins.  They were originally named the Jack-Ass penguins because of their donkey-like braying, but were name changed to The African penguin since it is the only penguin species they have in Africa.

 

 

 

On our way back into Cape Town, we stopped for a hotel tour and refreshments at the Vineyard Hotel & Spa.  A lovely hotel that was started back in the 1890’s with beautiful rooms and located along the river and acres of gardens to walk through.

 

Well, back to the hotel with dinner on our own. 

 

Olympic National Park - Hurricane Ridge - Lake Crescent

August 16, Friday

 

        Our flight left at 230PM and arrived in Seattle around 430PM.   We got our car and headed for Port Angeles (approx. 3 hour drive).   We stopped for a quick bite and traffic was busy at that time, we arrived in Port Angeles approx. 900PM.

 

August 17, Saturday

 

           We were up early, since we are still on Minnesota time.  Had breakfast at the hotel and then headed out to Olympic National Park.  We stopped at the visitor center and the park ranger suggested a hike along Hurricane Ridge.  The trail climbed 650 ft and was 1.6 miles into  the park.  It was quite steep in parts and wore me out, then we had to go down (my toes hurt).  The views were spectacular and we saw black-tail deer, marmot (similar to a ground hog, but the size of a raccoon.  The trail seemed like 3 miles one-way, so I was glad when we got back to the car.  We stopped at the picnic area and had some lunch and relaxed.

 

We moved on for a stop at Lake Crescent and a hike to Marymere Falls (1.5 miles roundtrip).  This trail was more flat, some stairs, but not too bad.   The trees were tall, like Redwood and they were completely covered with moss.  The sun doesn’t penetrate in, since the trees are so thick.  Back to Port Angeles for dinner and an evening of relaxation.  Tomorrow we take the ferry to Victoria!

 

 

 

Victoria, Vancouver Island

August 18, Sunday

 

 

 

.          We took the 815AM M.V. Coho ferry across from Port Angeles to Victoria (90 minutes).  We left our car in Port Angeles and traveled across.  Upon arriving in Victoria, we were able to see the Dragon Races, the Empress Hotel, the Government building.  It is quite a busy harbor and very different from Port Angeles.   We dropped our bags at the Marriott and went to get a quick bite to eat.  Next, we boarded our  double-decker bus for the Butchart’s gardens (12 miles out of Victoria or ½ hour drive).  The Butchart’s gardens were spectacular and we snapped numerous pictures to try to capture the scenery as best we could.  We learned the Butchart’s owned a cement business and quarried for limestone.  As they finished quarrying out the limestone, it left a big hole and Mrs. Butchart decided to fill the holes in with flowers because she thought it was too ugly the way it was.   The gardens are still owned and run by the Butchart family.

 

 

Things we learned about Victoria/Vancouver Island:

1)      The largest island in North/South America (350 miles long, 60 miles wide with 4,000 miles of shoreline

2)      Victoria is the capital of British Columbia and has a population of 350,000 (750,000 on the whole island, majority in the southern half.

3)      Victoria is the retirement capital of Canada – moderate winters/temperate summers

4)      1,800 flower baskets (1,200 sunny, 600 shady) that are scattered around Victoria and are watered nightly

5)      In each basket, 27 plants, 9 varieties (3 of each)

6)      We also saw the narrowest alley in the world (Fan Tan Alley), which is famous and used in movies frequently (.9 meters at the narrowest point

7)      Victoria is actually south of the 49^th parallel (which divides US/Canada)

8)      Over 700 islands

 

We had a wonderful dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, back to the Marriott for a dip in the pool/hot tub and back out in the evening to capture some evening photos.

 

 

August 19, Monday

 

 

 

 

 

           At 900AM, we rented biked from The Peddler.  We toured Victoria around the harbor front and into various neighborhoods.  We stopped for pictures at the Craigdarroch Castle.      After completing our 2 hour bike ride, we headed back to the Marriott to check-out and then grabbed a quick bite to eat at the local pub. 

 Then we grabbed our bags and headed to the pier for our 300PM ferry back to Port Angeles.  We headed out for  Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort, arriving by 700PM with plenty of time to hit the hot springs.  They had a kiddie hot spring and 2 adult hot springs - one warmer than the other)  and a large swimming pool.  Our accommodations were cabins and they were really quite nice and roomy.

 

Olympic National Park - Sol Duc Hot Springs - Forks, WA

August 20, Tuesday

 

 

In the morning, we hiked 1 mile up to the Sol Duc Waterfalls (30 ft. waterfall).  Then we stopped at Salmon Cascade and were fortunate to see several salmon trying to jump upstream over falls.  Then we headed for Forks, Washington (known for the Twilight series), better yet we are staying at the Dew Drop Inn in the Belle Suite (decorated for Twilight fanatics).   Forks really embraces this Twilight connection with a Twilight Tour, as well as their radio station is called “Twilight”. We ate a quick lunch/ice cream cone and then headed out to Hoh River within the Olympic National Park.  This is the rain forest area of the park, toured the Moss Trail (.8) which covered information about the trees and hanging moss.  The trees were Douglas Fir (photo op at the largest Douglas Fir in North American – 550 years old and 300 ft. tall) and the Sitka Spruce.  Then we took the Spruce Tail (1.2 miles) that took us to the Hoh River.  Tonight we are heading to the ocean to see a fabulous sunset and the Sea Stacks at Rialto Beach.