South Africa
Our amazing trip to South Africa, mostly our Safar at Thornybush Game Park and then a trip to Cape Town. It’ll be mostly animal pictures with some information about our fantastic visit to Cape Town. I usually do these pages in chronological order (since that is how I organize my brain,) but this time I’m going to start at the end. I’m going to begin with Cape Town and cover the beautiful city and some of what we saw during our day tour around that part of the country, and then finish up with the pictures from the safari. And I’ll of course have all my safari pictures up on my Flickr page. Full honesty, I think the reason that I’m so late on getting this up is because I have so many pictures. Plus since this trip, I’ve been on to other international trips, one of which I’ll include a bit on this blog. Enjoy all the pictures!
Cape Town
The end of our trip but a wonderful coda. It’s beautiful and our day trip to the area around it was fantastic despite the iffy weather. The city itself has much to recommend it, including some excellent museums.
In and Around Cape Town
Cape Town is a really lovely city with some interesting areas. We stayed near the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (for those of us confused because we were expecting Albert, Alfred was her son and was part of the colonization process in South Africa and Cape Town specifically.) The waterfront is really lovely. Lots of shops and restaurants. It’s a nice place to stay near since it’s very easy to find lots of dining options.
In terms of things to see and do in Cape Town, there was more than we had time for. The two places we did visit were the Iziko South African Museum and the Aquarium. The Iziko South African museum is being renovated to transform it from a very dated Natural History museum into something much more modern and it’s amazing. They are grappling with the colonialist narrative that was part of the museum for much of its history in a very interesting and important way. They have an exhibit on human evolution and development that really delves into the indigenous history of the area and is forthright about how colonialism erases a lot of that past. It’s an excellent museum and I’m sure it’ll just continue getting better.
The aquarium was really nice. It’s right by the Waterfront and has lots of local fish species. I recommend it if you like aquariums. We’re big zoo/aquarium people so it was nice to stop in. It was also easy to get to from our hotel and then after we wandered around the Waterfront doing some last minute shopping.
There’s a ton to see outside of the city proper. Of course, Cape Town is near the Cape of Good Hope, which, despite what you may have been told, is not the southern-most point on the African continent, nor is it where you can see the Atlantic and Indian currents collide (no matter how much they are happy to sell you water labeled as such.) Oceans don’t really work that cleanly. But it is very historically significant since it was the sign to the ships that they were almost to the other side of this very large continent and was near safe harbors that could help resupply. So, it’s quite important historically. When you go to the lighthouse, you can walk or take the funicular. We funiculared up and walked down. The park there on the Cape is quite impressive. We even saw ostriches! By the ocean! And baboons!
As I said before, the weather was iffy so we missed out on some parts of the trip. We weren’t able to go to the top of Table Rock, though we got some great views of it. Even when it wasn’t raining, the winds were really high so it wasn’t safe. And part of our drive was not possible due to rock slides. But we got to take a boat out at Hout Bay to see the seals so that was pretty great. And of course, penguins at Boulders Beach! There were so many!
So, if you are going to go to South Africa, Cape Town is a must-see. I hope to make it back someday so I can see more.
Saseka Tent Camp and the Safari
Located in Thornybush Game Reserve right next to Kruger National Park, Saseka Tent Camp was an amazing place to stay and we had the most incredible safari experience. Our guides were amazing, the staff were so kind and helpful, and I can’t imagine a better time. The tents were unbelievably beautiful and comfortable. The food was amazing as was the wine (of course.) There were even animals in the camp! If you have the opportunity, I can’t recommend it highly enough.
The mornings start really early, but they give you coffee before you go. Each excursion had a break for either coffee or drinks (sunsetting.) The guides were always on the radio and the trackers always had an eye out so we had amazing animals spotting. Every safari is different and they can’t guarantee anything (although I do think they said we’d see the big 5 - elephants, giraffe, Cape buffalo, lions, and leopards. We definitely saw all of those. Plus wild dogs (which are endangered so the fact that we saw two different packs was incredible,) tons of different antelope, lots of zebra, hyenas, and so many amazing birds. And hippos. And a crocodile. And chameleons. It really was an unbelievable experience.
