South Africa with Lynne Miller

June 13 Day 1

After a very long, but pleasant (17 hours) flight from New York to Johannesburg on South African Airways, we connected to a 2-hour domestic flight to Capetown near the southern tip of South Africa. Our luxurious, 5 star hotel, the Mount Nelson, which is part of the Orient Express Hotel group (affectionately known as “The Nellie” to locals), picked us up at the airport with their private car. (Guests must request this service at a small charge.) After a 20- minute drive, we arrived at the hotel entrance which is a beautiful driveway outlined with huge white pillars and lined with flowers and greenery. This old (108 years) and elegant hotel has 5 separate buildings with colonial, antique charm, spectacular public rooms, and lush grounds. Yet it is not pretentious. Check-in includes a personal tour of the hotel and an escort to your room. All room features were explained in our elegant Executive Suite—a lovely sitting area with a welcome note and fruit and wine, a minibar, robes and slippers for our use, wide balcony overlooking the grounds with a table and chairs accessible through a French doors, a safe for valuables, and a lovely marble bathroom with floor-to-ceiling wood closets and shelves and heated towel racks.

June 14 Day 2

We had a wonderful buffet breakfast with many local fruits, fabulous pastries, made-to-order omelets, and the very British grilled mushrooms and tomatoes. Today we had arranged for a private car and driver for a full day tour to the “Peninsula” down to the Cape of Good Hope with sightseeing and stops along the way. Marge, of Trans Africa Safaris, met us in the lobby and we set off beginning with a quick driving tour of Capetown. The Mount Nelson sits at the base of Table Mountain which was beautiful and partially covered in clouds. (It’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere.) We continued on through downtown where they are building a new stadium for the 2010 World Cup Soccer Matches, on to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, past Camps Bay, and then on to the coastal road leading out of the city. This windy and picturesque road was built in the 1920’s and took us by many bays with blue water, huge rocks, and lush vegetation—very scenic. We passed many suburbs with luxury homes terraced down the hills, tall mountains in the clouds, and gorgeous panoramic water views.

We drove into Simonstown which is now home to a National Park because about 20 years ago wildlife came to the people. It all began with two penguins who took refuge on a desolate beach, and it is now the home to a huge colony of 500 penguins. Visitors can observe the penguins as they walk along a boardwalk that winds around the beach and be within a foot or two of the birds. The babies have fuzzy brown feathers, and their mothers fully protect them until these feathers fall off and they can swim. They then become the standard white and black penguin, live for about 30 years, and seem to love living and fishing on this beach.

We stopped for a fabulous seafood lunch at a lovely oceanfront restaurant called the Black Marlin. Instead of a menu, the waitress brought over a platter to show us what “the catch of the day” was—black marlin, prawns, oysters, mussels, kingklip (a local white fish), and more.

After a 20 minute drive we arrived at the Cape of Good Hope—where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean. It is a very historic and strategic spot for shipping and very beautiful—rocky with huge waves breaking on them. Often whales can be spotted here although we didn’t see any. Another short drive brought us to the Cape Point National Park where we rode the funicular to the top of the peak which houses the lighthouse for the Cape. There was amazing view in every direction.

We drove back into Capetown, arriving a little wet and cold in time for High Tea at the “Nellie”. This was served in the Conservatory and had a wonderful selection of sandwiches, fruit, and pastries by the fireplace. There was nice music with waiters in formal dress—a great end to a full and exciting day.

June 15 Day 3

This was a wet and misty day (we can’t even see Table Mountain), and water is glistening on the lush flowers and plants around the hotel. We flew back to Johannesburg where we were met by our safari company, CC Africa (Conservation Corporation Africa). We were picked up in a “snazzy” new Mercedes and driven to the Westcliff Hotel—also part of the Orient Express chain. This building terraces down a steep hill with a windy, cobblestone road taking you up and down. Drivers transport guests in Mercedes vans to the rooms, restaurants and spa. We had a Junior Suite with a wall of windows overlooking lush grounds of trees and flowers and a view of Johannesburg. We had dinner at the hotel’s very lovely restaurant, La Belle Terrasse, at the very top of the property. It was an exquisite and elegant dinner.

June 16 Day 4

After a sumptuous breakfast at the hotel, we did some walking in the beautiful gardens—an amazing array of flowering trees and bushes and green lawns. We were eagerly awaiting the beginning of our safari and our first experience in the bush seeing the South African wildlife. We realized that every person we have come into contact with in South Africa has been extremely nice and smiling and genuinely happy to welcome tourists to their country.

Our Mercedes and driver took us to the small terminal for Federal Airways which is the local carrier which operates to all the game parks (and a few cities). While we waited in their beautiful patio filled with flowers and trees, we enjoyed a complimentary buffet lunch and open bar. Our flight was called and we boarded our 12 seater Cessna Caravan (single engine) aircraft. It was a smooth 1 ½ hour flight to Ngala—wonderful views of the Johannesburg neighborhoods which gave way to farming communities to the countryside. Our personal game ranger, Ryan, from our first camp, Ngala Tented Camp owned and operated by CC Africa, was waiting for us at the landing strip with an open-air Land Rover safari vehicle. It was a nice 40-minute drive to the Camp during which he told us about the area and camp; we even saw a few animals (impala and baboons) along the way. As we drove into the Camp, the staff was outside to welcome us by singing to us and we met our personal butler, Richard and the Camp Manager, Clare. After taking care of check-in in the lovely open air lobby (with a welcome drink), we were served lunch on the terrace --shrimp, mussels, homemade bread, several salads, and gazpacho—absolutely delicious! The cook came out to meet us and we praised her highly!

Richard then escorted us to our tent--#1. In front of it, an impala was grazing and some monkeys were playing in the trees. The tent is unbelievable!!! A king sized bed, ceiling fan, sumptuous bath tub, outdoor shower, double sinks, wood floors, wood-framed tent walls and fresh flowers—Bird of Paradise—throughout and it’s very, very comfortable.

This afternoon we had our orientation on the rules of the camp and game drives and our afternoon tea and pastry. And then at 4pm, we left on our first game drive with a couple of other guests of the camp. Ryan drove the safari vehicle with Adam, our tracker, on the jump seat in front. We saw impala, mongoose, kudu, warthogs, hippos, and a huge male lion—he was sleeping and raised his head to look at us—about 25 feet away—and then went back to sleep. At dark we were driving down a dry riverbed and saw lights ahead—it was our Camp Manager and staff all set up with Sundowners and snacks—ostrich kebobs, veggies, cheese straws, and delicious dips. She had excellent local wines and beers and homemade Gluwein—hot spiced red wine which was nice since it was a little chilly. We really enjoyed this and there was a lot of camaraderie as other vehicles arrived and we all shared our stories. Dinner back at the camp (after cocktails) was superb—butternut squash soup, your choice of pork loin or filet of beef and poached pears—with much wine and storytelling and laughing. We sat at a large table with the rangers and the camp manager and enjoyed the excellent and gracious service. The staff has been very accommodating regarding a special dietary need we have also.

June 17 Day 5

We were awakened by our butler Richard at 5:30 am with a tray of coffee, tea and homemade granola bars. We bundled up (the temperature was about 30 degrees Fahrenheit) and joined the group at the safari vehicles at 6:00 am and we were off! We were thrilled with the hot water bottles and blankets waiting for us in the Land Rovers and glad we had brought hats, gloves and jackets! We immediately saw and watched four lion cubs—they were very cute and playful. After much off-roading, reading tracks and listening to the sounds of the other animals, Adam found a pride of adult lions---two males and four females—asleep in the sun. We watched them for a while, excited when one would lift his head and look at us. We then found a herd (20-30) of elephants including a few babies trying to learn to use their trunks. We watched them moving and eating trees for some time. The “gray ghosts” are truly remarkable—so huge, but yet so quiet, and they blend into the vegetation until you almost can’t see them.

We stopped for our morning break of either coffee, tea or the “ranger special” --a combination of coffee, hot chocolate, and Amarula (a local cream licquer) with delicious cookies baked by the Camp’s chef, Oscar. We slowly returned to Camp for breakfast. By now it was warm and beautiful and we all took off a couple of layers of clothes. Breakfast was served at our leisure on the verandah. All the CC Africa lodges and camps offer a cold breakfast buffet of juices, fruit, yogurt, cereals, granola and pastries. Richard took our “hot” order—eggs any way, bacon or sausage and more! Little monkeys were running and jumping all around the open-air verandah, but never coming close to anyone. But after we left our table, one little guy jumped up and stole a remaining croissant and a lemon from the bar in the open-air lobby. Now it was time for a nap and reading until lunch—very welcome time.

Another delicious lunch and tea time and then the afternoon game drive—and this was the best so far. We saw more elephant, giraffe, python tracks in the dry river bed, and the best part is that we found a pride of lion—three females and seven cubs—that Ryan and Adam didn’t know. Even they got excited! We watched them for some time and realized that they had just eaten and we found their kill—a zebra. The cubs and females were very wary of us—they obviously came from another area and hadn’t seen many vehicles before. We stopped under a full moon for drinks and snacks and returned to camp very happy with what we had seen. Dinner was another fantastic meal—spinach ravioli for starters, your choice of lamb shank or kingklip fish, and a wonderful chocolate molten cake for dessert. We fell into bed happy, tired and full!

June 18 Day 6

Time to leave Ngala. Adam drove us to the airstrip and we took a 25-minute flight to Skukuza for our arrival at Kirkman’s Kamp—our next safari destination. Paul, our new ranger, and Colin, our new tracker, met us, in the now familiar, green CC Africa Land Rover, and we had a short 20-minute drive to the camp. It’s greener here than Ngala with water in the river, and the trees are taller. Kirkman’s was originally a cattle ranch belonging to Harry Kirkman, but has been a safari lodge for many years and is quite famous. There are 18 rooms in 9 duplex buildings set around a round green grass driveway. There is beautiful bougainvillea and trees—and every afternoon you can see Charles, a warthog, who arrives to graze on the grass! The main building is old, colonial African ranch style with many antiques. There is a lobby, library, bar and indoor and outdoor restaurant. Our room, #14, is the furthest from the main building with a panoramic view—absolutely gorgeous to sit on our private verandah (as I’m doing now), and look out at trees, grasslands and even animals. The room is very nicely furnished with all the standard CC Africa amenities and nice furnishings.

Lunch was served outside on the grass courtyard and was a delicious buffet of salads, corn chowder, chicken kebobs, breads, and lemon meringue pie. There is a stunning negative edge swimming pool overlooking the panorama. We met our new chef, Traifina, who is a friend of Oscar from Ngala.

We left on our afternoon game drive with a family from Seattle, and it was great. We saw kudu, impala, rhino, 2 hippos out of the water, and we were looking for a leopard that had been spotted in the area, but we didn’t find him. We were surrounded by a herd of elephants as we returned to camp—very exciting.

We all met again for a drink in “Pat’s Pub” and each group noted their animal sightings on a board and added up their earned points for various ones—very fun. Dinner was a wonderful buffet outside in the BOMA (a completely enclosed arena originally built on ranches and farms to protect livestock from the wild animals at night).  They served steak, pork curry, grilled vegetables, salad, fruit, rice and potatoes. Dessert was a “sticky bread pudding with caramel sauce”—fantastic. We were entertained by all of the black staff in costume with a singing and dancing show which was great. We fell into bed tired and full again!

June 19 Day 7

Paul woke us at 6:00 am and we met for tea/coffee, rusks (hard pieces of bread great for dunking), and fruit. At 7:00 am, we left on our morning game drive. It was drizzling slightly, but we were provided with rain ponchos and hot water bottles. We soon found that elusive leopard—what a magnificent animal; we watched him for 15 minutes. We also saw kudu, nyala and mongoose. It started raining harder so we started back to camp. As the rain stopped, we saw a white rhino sharpening his tusk on a tree and another female rhino with a calf. We returned to camp for another wonderful breakfast with some time to dry out and rest. Lunch was another nice buffet of meats, salads and breads. Back on the verandah of our room, we saw four giraffes and kudus.

The afternoon game drive was amazing.  We came upon 2 lionesses eating a fresh kudu kill. We watched them for some time—strong power jaws that crunched the bones effortlessly. Lions gorge themselves when they eat (and usually only eat every 3 days or so), and their stomachs are completely “pouched out” when they are done, and they must “sleep it off”. We also saw a monitor lizard, Cape buffalo and a huge male lion.

Another wonderful dinner of lamb chops with vegetables and chocolate mousse for dessert—we had coffee on the patio and it was a beautiful night.

June 20 Day 8

Our morning game drive was very successful. We saw more rhino, lions and giraffe. We watched 2 lions mating and afterwards both roared as we watched and listened—a truly magical sound. We checked out of Kirkman’s (after a little shopping in the Safari Shop) and were driven to our next CC Africa stop—Exeter River Lodge. As we left, Charles the warthog was grazing with his family—the babies were playing and jumping and enjoying the green grass. The trip was 45 minutes to Exeter in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve and was uneventful except for a stop to let a giraffe cross the road!

Exeter River Lodge is stunning—a huge open air, thatched roof main lobby/restaurant overlooking the Sand River. It has eight thatched roof safari suites; We had #8 on the far end of the unfenced property. Two walls of glassed and screened doors and windows open out onto our deck and private plunge pool. We see water bucks, baboons and squirrels as we look towards the river. The suite has a nice sitting area, luxurious tub with huge window, indoor and outdoor shower, and double sinks—very luxurious, but in a jungle lodge type style. Lunch was a beautiful buffet of salads with pork roast.

We met our ranger Craig and the rest of our game drive group for tea and lemonade. Our tracker Patrick met us at the Land Rover and off we went. We saw rhino, hyena in a den, and many birds. Craig gave us quite a lesson on the stars and constellations and we saw the Southern Cross constellation. Dinner was excellent again—potato leek soup, spicy prawns, filet mignon with vegetables. It was served in the open air restaurant with a wonderful breeze and the sky full of stars.

June 21 Day 9

Wake up call was at 5:45 am—we had tea and coffee, fruit and rusks and off we went. As we crossed the river, we saw a huge crocodile lurking. Soon we saw a male leopard in the grass under a tree—he was guarding his kill—an impala he had put in the tree. After passing several impala herds, we came to a large elephant herd near the river. It was extremely impressive to watch them feeding on the green bushes and trees. We went back to check on the leopard and he was now in the tree eating with a hyena at the base of the tree cleaning up anything that dropped. When the leopard has eaten all the meat, the hyenas will eat the bones and anything else that is left. The circle of life in nature! We returned to the lodge for breakfast and a rest on our deck.

Another great lunch and a new game drive. As we were driving, Craig got a call on the radio that there was a leopard outside of Room #2 at Leadwood Lodge (another CC Africa lodge on the Sand River. We raced over there and waited for the female to make her move on the bush buck she was stalking. Craig assured us the chase would be on soon and go right by us, so we waited. Somehow the bush buck escaped, but soon the leopard walked right by us and we followed her—through the bush, through the lodge owner’s home yard, around his swimming pool and down a road. Soon she came into another female leopard’s area (they are very territorial) and there was a lot of hissing and growling going on as we watched and listened. Because both females had cubs, they were reluctant to fight, which otherwise would have happened. The ironic thing was that the two leopards were mother and daughter! We finished the drive watching a pride of seven lions that had recently eaten and were sleepy. Even with the spotlight shining on them, they slept like docile house cats.

We returned to camp for a very exciting evening in the BOMA. We started out with drinks and moved to our table. Here 10 people sat down together—as strangers—and two hours later we stood up as old friends! Much laughing, story-telling and good food. They served pumpkin soup, pork chops, beef potjie (like a stew), potatoes, rice, vegetables, salad and desert. The staff then donned colorful costumes and sang and danced for us around the fire ring. We fell into bed at 11:00 pm—it’s amazing how tired we get doing nothing!

June 22 Day 10

We’re leaving Exeter River Lodge today and saying goodbye to new friends as we leave on our last adventure. We were driven to the airstrip where we boarded a six-seat, double engine aircraft to Phinda—a one hour flight. We were met by our new tracker Josiah and driven to Vlei Lodge. This area is much more tropical and green—it is only 60 kilometers from the Indian Ocean and at one time was under water. They do offer optional excursions such as a flight to the beach, diving and snorkeling, deep sea fishing and sea turtle viewing (in season). You can definitely feel the humidity in the air. Vlei Lodge has 6 bungalow suites which are beautiful—wood floors, three walls of windows, a deck with a private plunge pool, a porch and all the regular CC Africa amenities—huge soaking tub, safe, great king sized bed, double sinks and a large shower. We met the staff and had a nice lunch on the deck of lamb wraps, salad and homemade berry ice cream.

We left on our game drive with our ranger Martin and the other five guests. We saw giraffe, zebra (finally) with a nursing baby, wart hogs, a rhino with a 3-day-old calf, hippos, crocodiles, porcupine and elephants. Another great dinner—lamb chops with rice and spinach, tomato soup and cheesecake.