South Africa 2012
“As usual I’m quite tardy in posting up this blog entry of our amazing trip to South Africa. Easily one of the best places I’ve ever visited. From this blog entry on, I’ve divested the actual blog part of my pho-blog to Neethu. Before we provide the details of the trip itself, a few background incidents leading up to the trip deserve mentioning. The idea for a South Africa trip came about thanks to a good friend of Neethu from Azerbaijan who was getting married in a town called Knysna, which is roughly halfway between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. Since the wedding was close enough to my birthday, we decided to go for it. Upon hearing our plans, our good friends Avi and Nano decided to join us for the trip as well.
About a week before our trip, hurricane Sandy caused all kinds of havoc on the New York/New Jersey area. As luck would have it, our connecting flight to Johannesburg was from… you guessed it… NYC. Even worse, our flight plan for some reason had us flying into Newark from Houston and then changing airports to JFK for our connection to Jo’burg. As a proactive measure, I called United to see if I should perhaps re-route our flight via Europe since the situation in NY area looked pretty dire. After staying on the phone with them for a while, United in all their wisdom canceled our confirmed booking without confirming an alternate itinerary! Naturally, when I called back our seats were taken up by folks who were already stranded in the NY area due to the hurricane. It took two days of constant calls between United and South African airways before we finally managed to resolve it and get back on our original flight plan.
One would think that is enough drama prior to a journey. Nope. Neethu and I are just beyond happy we’re actually going to make this trip and sitting at the lounge waiting for Avi and Nano to join us when I get a call from him. I knew as soon as I picked up the phone and heard his voice that something was off. Long story short, they couldn’t make the trip due to some passport issues. It goes without saying that we (and not to mention they) were pretty bummed about it, but had to make the most of it now that it went from being a group trip to just a couple trip. So that’s the background story of this trip.
Day 1
We landed in Jo’burg airport after almost full day of air travel, and made our way to the hotel following the directions of the Budget Rental Car Representative, who gave us clear directions to avoid the inner city streets. When we reached the hotel we needed a quick picker upper so we had a cappuccino before heading to Maropeng (part of the Cradle of Human Kind) – a very educational museum that exhibits the birth of human kind and much more, including a really old reptile fossil from Texas. Following the advice from trip advisor, we decided to skip out on the Sterkfontein caves that is about 8 km away from Maropeng. We drove back through another route following the easy to follow roadmap and headed back to Rosebank where we were staying. The concierge adviced us to stay around there as opposed to drive in the city (the locals are not very keen on tourists roaming the city streets by themselves) and so we roamed the malls of Rosebank and ate our first meal at Nando’s, which was the best meal I had the entire trip. The extra hot peri peri half chicken and corn were sooo delicious! The mall by the way was packed with coffee shops – heaven!
Day 2
The next morning, we woke up really early for the long car ride to Tydon Safari. We were supposed to have a stop over at Dullstrom for a coffee break but decided to zip through and end up at Ocean’s Basket (which is a chain with amazing king clip fish and calamari). Our next stop was supposed to be Blyde River Canyon which completely threw us off the map. Piece of advice – always carry a GPS when you’re traveling because you never know when it’ll be handy! This ridiculous detour did take us to some random reserve (Madras Game Reserve?) where we found some not so happy giraffes. By the time we ended up at Tydon Safari, it was pitch dark. I will save the adventure to the camp itself for verbal chit chat, but lets just say we had no idea which side of the fence we were on. We ended the night with a campfire dinner of South African cuisine prepared by our guide Lyam, with a bunch of old British folk. Walking back to the tent, we saw a scorpion on the dirt road, which meant sleeping in peace was out of the question; however the clear blue starry night and the sound of animals humming around us made it an incredible camping experience.
Day 3
The safari started at 5:45 am. We first saw a giant kudo followed by a hyena, and then a field of impalas. After that we easily spotted the big 3: buffalo, rhino and elephant. Unfortunately we didn’t run across a lion or a leopard which was a bit disappointing. Fact: leopard is the hardest to spot. It was amazing to watch our second guide sitting in front of the safari van just sniff out these animals from miles away. Our first safari ended mid morning, leaving us with enough time to make a trip to the mysterious Blyde River Canyon. This time we had a game plan and followed clear instructions. We made a quick pit stop at Gaskrop for food – chicken liver is apparently a favorite in this part of the world. We finally reached the long stretch of a canyon, which was breathtaking to say the least. We made several stops in between to see waterfalls and other picture worthy parts of the canyon.
We had a second safari scheduled for that evening with a bigger group, including a couple from Houston. The safari was more or less the same with no lion or leopard again, but this time we spotted a wildebeest and hippo. I think two of our greatest moments of the second safari was getting out of the van to stretch our feet and watch the sunset with a castle beer in one hand, and having our guide stop the Land Rover and point out a chamberlain cameleon in pitch dark hiding in the bushes as he was driving (some mad skills there). We capped the night with a Malayasian dinner (minced meat) and Amarula.
Day 4
We woke up bright and early again, and decided that we were enjoying this safari business a lot; So, we decided to have a self drive through Kruger National Park. It was more of a rush drive so we didn’t get to stop a lot to enjoy since we were in a hurry to catch a flight, but we did see more impalas, an elephant, a warthog who we named pumba, a tortoise, monkeys and kudus. We stopped over at Skukuza for cappuccino and an ATM run before leaving through the Numbi gate of the park. By the time the drive through the park was over, I think we covered most of our drive to the Mpumalanga Kruger Airport – it’s a long stretch of a park. We squeezed a meal at Wimpy’s (fast food) before heading out to Cape Town.
We reached Cape Town mid afternoon and had our first meal / b52 shooters at Cafe Mojito in Long Street which was a block away from where we were staying. I absolutely loved long street. We ate at so many places that night, and celebrated Jeswin’s 29th birthday in style. Food is so cheap here!
Day 5
Obama won!!! We started the day with breakfast at the hotel lounge where we heard the good news (or at least I did) since Jeswin and I have differing political views haha. The hotel had booked our ferry to Robben Island for that afternoon but once we got to the ticket counter, we found out they had made the booking for the wrong day! With some Rands (ZA currency) thrown at them, we were able to get on the ferry for that afternoon. To kill time while waiting for the ferry, we strolled through the market square to look at neat artifacts (including ridiculously overpriced copper jewelry) and ocean aquarium, ordered lemon poppy seed muffin to go, spotted a BP office (which prompted us to consider moving here), and even booked our abseiling for the following day at the tourist center. All in all, a very productive stroll waiting for the ferry. The ferry was a little late but we finally arrived at Robben Island – where we were greeted by a young tour guide who was very much tip worthy. He took us around the island on a bus and gave us a very lengthy history. The second part of the tour was with an apartheid era political prisoner who gave us his personal account and showed us Nelson Mandela’s prison cell. Jeswin and I were both surprised to find out that there were people from our home state in India (Kerala), who were held as prisoners at this Island. I had never known that about my people and it left us feeling as if we had a deeper connection to this island. As we headed back to the dock to go back into town, we spotted oyster birds and penguins – so odd to see penguins on this prison island.
We decided to walk back to the hotel to explore Cape Town on our own and we found a KFC on the way. Jeswin did make his KFC tasting here but his ruling is “it’s still only second best to Dubai”. If it was first best, I think we would be living in Cape Town by now. After our KFC stop, we walked to the Green Market square where prices were all over the place. I put my bargaining skills to good use here and ended up with a few souvenirs!
We then took a break and headed to Company Gardens. The garden was ok – not so fancy but lots and lots of flowers and trees. We then passed by House of Parliament, National Gallery and Caste of Good Hope. Too bad that day there were no fashion runways in front of the castle! On the way back to the hotel, we spotted a really interesting food spot (which was shown on the movie, ‘Safe House’). It’s called Eastern Food Bazaar and they have all kinds of Indian/Chinese food for really cheap. I ended up eating chicken masala dosa, chili fries ( I give a C for the fries), and gelato for dessert.
We capped the night with a glass of scotch.
Day 6
We woke up bright and early to abseil off Cape Town’s Table Mountain because we had nothing better to do!! They had cancelled quite a few of these because of the wind, so we had to call to make sure it was actually happening. By the time we parked the car, had a guy “watch” our car (there are a lot of these car watchmen in popular tourist location in ZA) and got to the bottom of the mountain, the line for the cable car up to the mountain was epic. Word of advice – buy your cable car tickets online and you get to skip the line. The view once you’re up there though is worth the wait, but the thought of jumping off the mountain… not so great! We somehow managed to gather the courage to propel ourselves (or abseil) off the mountain and once it was a done deal, we were both pretty happy and proud for doing it. We even made a video for our close friends who were getting married back in US the minute we landed on our feet, to say that “Marriage is like taking a leap of faith…” and how we’re kind of happy with our leap. The hike back up to the mountain is a bit tricky so make sure you have someone tagging along with you.
We then drove to Cape Point but on the way we stopped over at Boulder’s Beach to watch the crazy mean penguins bask in the sun. By the time we reached Cape Point, it was almost sunset. The wind was extremely choppy so we ended up seeing Good Hope from the Light House at Cape Point.
We had dinner at Simon’s Town where we had amazing Dorado fish from Cafe Pescado and then headed back to our hotel.
Day 7
We made the long journey to the little port town of Hermanus, where November is the season of southern right whales chilling by the seaside. Unfortunately we only saw a couple – thanks to global warming! We did enjoy some great King Clip in peri peri sauce and paella at Pan y Vino as we people watched. Then we made our journey back through the Stellenbosch wine country where the view from each winery was better than the one before. We stopped at Meerlust winery where we liked the Rubicon, and surprisingly pleased with the chardonnay. Our next stop was Kanonkop with lots of pinotage options. We ended up buying the Pinotage Rose.
From the wineries, we headed to Camps Bay and Clifton Beach (which was kind of tucked away). I was not so happy with the beaches mostly because you have to walk across the street for drinks. The view however was amazing especially at Maiden’s cove with the 12 apostles by the mountainside.
We then had our last meal at our favorite city of Cape Town at the Malay Quarters called Bismiellah – exquisite to say the least! The walk through the neighborhood may feel like bit unsafe (although it is really quite safe) so you maybe better off going there during the daytime if you’re not in an adventurous mood.
Day 8
Another day of waking up early. We flew via Airlink to George where we had more rental car problems. Whenever you book through a 3rd party, make sure you have a confirmation number from the 3rd party AND the rental car company! We ended up wasting a lot of time at the airport, but we did get out with enough time to stop over at Sedgefield craft market to buy a rhino figure. We then made our way to Knysna, where we tried to find this Tabasco bottle restaurant that was recommended by one of the safari tour guides. Unfortunately, that failed but we did end up at this Tapas n Oyster Restaurant at Thesen Island with yummy oysters, prawns, snout fish salad (looks like tuna), Braii (sticky pork ribs) and Bosun (locally brewed beer). We then headed speedily to our Bay View Guest apartment (owned by a cute older couple) to get ready for Svetlana and Brent’s wedding at Villa Castollini. The view from the venue was breathtaking – gorgeous water and pictiresque view of the town of Knysna. All in all, we had a great time dancing and soaking in South African culture via guests and performances. Side note, we met a guest who has been to over 100 safaris!
Day 9
We left Knysna and headed to George’s airport (terrible Dolce Vita coffee served here!). We arrived at Joburg, ate at Nando’s once again, and took a taxi for 600 Rands roundtrip to Apartheid Museum. Definitely go to the museuem – the lay itself is so meaningful and tastefully done! We absolutely could’ve spent more time here if we had any, but unfortunately we had to head back to the airport to catch our flight back home. We did manage to have a good cappuccino at Woolworth’s, shop at Out of Africa and buy Nando’s peri peri sauce before we boarded our long flight back to Houston.
All in all, we had a great trip with Cape Town being our favorite part. I think we both have finally agreed on where we want to live at some point in our life outside of Houston.
A couple of things that surprised me about the entire trip is that locals don’t know where anything is located – be it Apartheid Suseum, Camp’s Bay, Hout Bay, Simon’s town etc. I’m not sure if it’s my accent that they don’t understand or maybe it’s them that I don’t understand. All said however, super nice and friendly people!
Another thing that surprised me was the food. I had some preconceived notion about Peri Peri after having dined at Houston’s South African Restaurant, but the Peri Peri sauce from the local chain of Nando’s was amazing.
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