Reflecting on: South Africa

One morning after we got home, I woke up at 4 o'clock due to jet lag and while trying to fall back asleep, I came up with an idea for a new series of posts: Reflecting On.  I decided that I would publish these posts about a week after I return from a trip.  In my opinion, a week is enough time for me to reflect on my latest adventure and to put my thoughts down into words.  So here we are on my first installment.

What did I love the most about South Africa?
I loved so many things and could talk about each aspect for days, but if I had to pick one I'd go with the people.  Just about everyone we met was incredibly friendly and nice.  Of course, there are going to be some jerks (I'm looking at you slightly racist woman on the plane to Jo-burg) but I just ignore them.  Can't judge everyone based on one bad apple, right?  South Africans love to laugh and tell jokes, which immediately makes you feel as though you've been friends for years.  For me, it was a very welcoming environment.

What did I not love?
The threat of malaria.  Before you start to jump down my throat by saying things like "Well, duh! You went to Africa," I did realize this is something we were going to have to be aware of while in Kruger and KwaZulu Natal.  But we really wanted to go to these places, so taking some malaria medication didn't seem like that big of a deal.  I know that doing your best to stay healthy while exploring new places is part of traveling, and I'm fine with that.  But at the same time, it doesn't make remembering to take our pills and worry about flu like symptoms for the next year any less annoying.

If I had to change one thing about the trip, what would I have changed?
Hands down it would have been spending more time in Cape Town.  Our first "day" we arrived late at night, our second day we went shark diving which ate up a lot of our time, so we really only had day three to explore before we left.  While we did see all the major sites, I would have liked to walk around the city to get a better feel for it.

Would I ever go back?
Absolutely.  Mike and I are already talking about going back in three or four years.  The plan is still incredibly rough, but it would include spending an extended period of time in Cape Town.

Final thoughts
You know it's a good trip when a week later, the thought of spending 24 hours on a plane doesn't bother you.  This was, hands down, the best trip I have ever been on.  When I said that I didn't want to leave, I really wasn't kidding.  I can easily see myself living there, becoming a local, and really enjoying life.  I know I'm painting a super rosy picture and am quite sure that if I stayed there long enough, I would find things that annoy me.  But I have come away from this trip feeling completely euphoric, and that is a feeling I would not trade for anything.

Until my next adventure!

Beach Bums

I love the beach and wanted to make sure we hit it up before we went home.  Our travel agent originally said that we should go to Mozambique, but I wanted to stay in South Africa.  So she found us a great place to stay in the KwaZulu Natal region.

We flew into Durban and spent a night at the Coco de Mer hotel in Ballito.  The wind was so strong when we arrived that when I stepped out of the airplane in Durban, I almost got knocked over.  When we got to our hotel, we decided to walk down to the beach to check it out.  Because of the wind, the waves were massive.  The picture below can't do the weather justice.  It has been a very long time since I've seen waves that big.

So why did we spend only one night in Ballito?  Our next stop, the Thonga Beach Lodge, was four hours north of Durban.  And then, we had to take a 4x4 for another hour to get to the lodge.  It was a long drive and South Africans who live outside of the cities avoid driving at night if they can.  This is mainly due to the fact that the roads don't have lights and cows roam wherever they want, including in the middle of the road.  One of our drivers told us that the cows really like to lie down in the road at night because it's warm.  Imagine turning a corner and having a black cow chilling on the road right there.  So there you go.  That's why we don't drive at night in rural South Africa.

The lodge is located in a World Heritage Site.  The beach there was so beautiful and untouched.  It  went for miles and miles with no one there except for the people who were staying at the lodge.  The Indian Ocean was crystal clear and gorgeous shades of blue.  It was truly beautiful.

Our suite was located all the way end of the property and we had a beautiful view, as well as our own pool.  Every day, we ate under this massive tree and listened to the waves crash against the shore.  And since the lodge can only accommodate roughly 30 people, we never felt crowded.

The lodge itself is located on property owned by a Zulu village located not too far away.  The owners of the lodge are leasing it from the tribe.  As with most other places where we stayed, the vast majority of the staff was from the village.  We learned that when a job slot opens up at the lodge, its owner goes to the village chief and lets him know.  In turn, the chief offers the job to a person in a family who really needs the money.

There was no shortage of things to do while we were there.  On our second day, we went on a snorkeling in the morning and on a sundowner on the largest freshwater lake in Southern Africa at night.  The snorkeling was out of this world.  We saw all sorts of fish and even octopus!  Mike had so much fun that he went back to do it a second time.

On our third day there, we attempted to kayak.  I say attempted because it was so windy that we couldn't go all that far.  There was one moment when Mike thought we were going to tip over, but luckily we didn't.  If you really want to know how to test a relationship, stick two people in a kayak on a windy day.  Luckily, we passed that test.

Mike and I thoroughly enjoyed our time at Thonga, even if we were the youngest people there by at least 15 years.  But once we got to talking with people, that didn't matter.  We made friends with a British couple who invited us to stay with them in London.  Expect some posts from London :)

The beach was the perfect way for us to end our trip.  Being able to do whatever pleased was truly relaxing.   Mike and I could not have asked for a better finale to our trip of a lifetime.

Relaxing in the Woods

Like I said earlier, safari is exhausting.  And you don't realize how exhausted you are until you leave to go somewhere else.  So when we had a two hour drive to Cybele Forest Lodge and Health Spa from Lion Sands, I passed out within forty five minutes.

Cybele is a beautiful retreat situated in the woods.  As you come down the main drive, there are massive oak trees that line the lane.  It feels like something out of a fairytale.

Upon our arrival, we were told that we had been upgraded from a cottage to a suite.  No complaints here.  The suite was absolutely beautiful.  It had two massive rooms, one of which was our bedroom and the other one was a living room with a loft that had two single beds.  There were also two bathrooms, a patio, and a swimming pool.  And the view was killer.

We were feeling lazy when we got there, so we got room service for lunch.  That actually worked out because after we were done eating, we were flipping channels and found a rerun of the Red Sox game, so Mike got to watch it since he missed it.  Needless to say, that made him pretty happy.

That night at dinner, the entire lodge lost power due to a storm.  Mike and I were pretty sure that it didn't rain all that much, but the winds were fiercely blowing and there was no shortage of thunder and lightening.  When we got back, we lit as many candles as we could find and it made our suite look beautiful.  At a quarter after one, we got power back.

The next day, we decided to go on a river walk that the lodge had set up.   We decided we needed some physical activity since pretty much all we've been doing is sleeping, eating, and sitting around.  It was a 4k walk, but I'm pretty sure we made it into a 5k.

We got very confused as to which path to take when we started out, so we ended up walking the entire perimeter of the property, and then back.  We were so confused as to where we could have missed our turn.  Of course, I found it when we got back after our hike.

The hike was beautiful.   The scenery was great and the waterfall at the end was gorgeous.  I'm glad that we got out to walk some, but boy are we out of shape.  There was a hill at the end that should not have given us any trouble to climb, but it did.  We are definitely hitting the gym when we get home.

It was nice having our own pool at the suite.  After our hike, we just got right in because we were so hot, gross, and sweaty.  It was a wonderful way to cool off.  But once we got inside, we had some trouble.

Apparently during the lightening storm, something happened (I'm still not quite sure what) but all the faucet handles in our suite ended up with an electric charge to them.  When I first touched the shower faucet, I didn't quite understand what was going on.  My fingers felt all tingly like they had fallen asleep and it wasn't until Mike yelled "I've been electrocuted" from the other room that I realized what was happening.  So no shower for me.

We ended up moving to the cottage where we were originally supposed to spend our time, which was fine by us.  The onsite maintenance guys couldn't figure out how to fix what was going on and they couldn't get an electrician in that day.  We decided to play it safe by moving.  Luckily none of the faucets in the cottage had an electrical charge to them.

After two nights at Cybele, we were off again to the beach!  We flew from Nelspruit (the second smallest airport I've ever been to) to Durban.  And that's where I'll pick up on my next post.

Safari Adventures, Part II

Our travel agent suggested that we should experience safari in a lodge as well as a tented camp, and I'm glad we did. After two nights at Ngala, we were driven down to the Ivory Lodge at the Lion Sands Game Reserve in Sabi Sands, just off of Kruger.  It is the nicest place I have ever stayed at in my life.

There are only six suites at the Ivory Lodge, and they were effectively tiny houses without kitchens. On one side, there was a room with couches and a mini bar. Then in the middle, there was a deck with our own private infinity plunge pool. On the other side was our massive bedroom suite. And did I mention that we had a spectacular view of the river?  I saw a hippo plunge right into the water from our bedroom. Can't say I've ever seen that happen before.

Our pool.

A panorama of our bedroom.

We also had our own butler (what?!) who helped us with everything. His name was Wilfred. He is part of the Zulu Tribe and he tried to teach me some words, but I couldn't get the hang of it. We also had amazing meals and just about everything we could want at our finger tips. It would be very hard to outdo this place.

The boma where we ate one night.

On our first day there, we befriended an Australian couple who was also there on their honeymoon. We spent the evening swapping stories and just having a good time.  They were also in our Jeep for the game drives, which meant that we hung out a lot. I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again: I absolutely love meeting people while we travel.

Our game drives were spectacular. The bush was much greener and much more dense than where we were at Ngala. There were also many more wide open areas, which allowed for us to see cheetahs!  Fun fact: only 8% percent of people who visit Kruger see cheetahs. And we saw them twice - once on the way in and once on a game drive.

This is from our drive in.

We also managed to see a honey badger, which our guide, Landon, told us is incredibly rare because they are scared of humans.  Some other animals we saw on this series of game drives included rhinos, water buffalo, hyenas, and hippos, just to name a few. It's safe to say that we saw the Big Five, and then some.

Safari is exhausting. We were asleep most nights before 10. And you have to be careful about not getting dehydrated, like I did. Upon our arrival at the lodge, I was dizzy and my body temperature kept fluctuating between hot and cold. After I downed some water, I slept while Mike went on the afternoon game drive. By the next day, I was doing much better, but I learned the hard way that the African sun is nothing to fool around with.

Since we were so tired, we decided that some rest and relaxation was in order.  And because we had been so fortunate to see so many things on our game drives, the magic was starting to wane some.  So away we went to a forested retreat. That's what's coming up next so stay tuned.