South Africa- The Return

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

South Africa is such a big country that you need a lifetime to explore it.  I decided to return to see the Mid to Eastern half of the country in order to see the diversity in people, animals, and landscapes during winter (their summer) of 2016-2017. 

Capetown will i will always remember as one of my favorite cities in the world.  What is not to like about this place?  There is a plethora of places to eat (game meat delicacies as well as fresh sea food right from the ocean), as well as places to just walk around the town and enjoy yourself.  There is not shortage of cafe’s and nightlife in this city as you can find just about anything to do on any given night.  Just outside of Capetown you can enjoy penguin and sea lion viewing as well as a trip down to the wine country of Stellenbosch.  If you fancy going down to the most southern point in Africa, then it is just a short ride away.  Capetown I will see you again soon….

Addo Elephant Park is a great game reserve in which you can find most animals  Located just a short ride from Port Elizabeth, this Park has it all.  Of course the elephants dot the rugged landscape wherever you end up.  There is an abundance of bird watching here, with many species you will not find in other parts of South Africa. We were lucky enough to see a lion cub which is not usually seen out in the wild and also two sleeping cheetahs (one of them got up to look at us, yawn, then went back to sleep.  Very beautiful place where you can spend days or weeks at a time soaking in the peace and tranquility of the animals in their natural environment.

 

No trip to South Africa is complete without a hike in the majestic Drakenberg Mountains.  The rugged yet beautiful scenery is seen throughout this beautiful land.  Animals are seen feeding in their environment and do not care if people are around.  The many waterfalls and streams are seen as you hike throughout the many nature trails.  The highlight here (besides having lunch next to the stream) was seeing the beautiful San Rock Art paintings.  These are perhaps some of the best preserved I have seen as the colors of the different animals have withstood the weathering and pollution of the times….

The Nelson Mandela capture site is an ever growing tourist attraction with a very good museum chronicling his early days of living in a tribal village through apartheid and imprisonment to his election as president.  Probably one of the better museums I saw while visiting South Africa with in depth information about everything

As we passed through Durban for the night (not so much to see here), we were on our way to the wonderful sea side town of St. Lucia.  Some of the best food I had on the trip was here with the freshest sea food you can imagine!!!  Not to mention if you walk out at night, you can see Hippos running through the street, but please take care of these animals as they do attack (more of fear than malice).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our accommodation was raided by a troop of Vervet Monkeys, as all you could do was sit back and photograph them playing around.  We had an early morning game drive to Hluhulwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve.  After a lifetime of waiting, I finally got to see my White Rhino, including a baby!!!!  This was definitely a highlight of the trip for me.

I had the chance to take an evening cruise down the St. Lucia Estuary where we saw hippos galore followed by a few huge crocodiles.  We were able to get pretty close to them as some of them had nasty tempers

Kruger National Park is among one of the best known Game Parks in the world.  It certainly lived up to its expectations.  Where else can you find sleeping lions, leopards staring at your in the trees, hippos swimming close to you as they are curious, and mating lions, pretty much all in one go.   These of course are not the only animals seen here, but among the neatest.  This is a place where you can spend weeks on end, if you like game viewing…….

 

To finish off, it was nice to go down the Panorama route to Joburg (even though it rained a lot), but it was beautiful scenery as I left this trip wanting to come back to South Africa again and again and again!!!!