Oct 13, 2006 1:18 pm Atlanta time 7:18 pm Cape Town
Wow. I had told myself that I would blog every night so that I didn't forget stuff but it just has been too action packed. As it is, we are getting picked up for dinner in about 10 minutes so just time for a few highlights.
- Sanbona - our morning game drive was amazing. We saw a white rhino mother and her baby. We then went in search of giraffes and had what even the guide admitted was the best giraffe experience ever. We found a herd of about 6 and drove along with them. They were a little skittish at first but got used to us pretty quickly and once they got used to us, they were great. We drove pretty much within their herd, with them around us and followed them up to a watering hole, where we got to see them eat and drink. We also saw them playing at dominance games, swiping at each others heads. I got some amazing video and pictures. Can't wait to upload!
- On our way out of Sanbona, we ran into a bit of trouble. On the dirt road that leads out to the main gate, we got a flat tire. This was in the area where we had been told 'Do not exit your car. Predators roam free.' And it was near where we had seen the lion earlier. We got out and Christian changed the tire while I tried to swat away the giant evil flies with a sweatshirt and watch for lions! A little scary but we did fine and were on our way soon enough.
- In Ooutshorne, we stayed in a small guest cottage in town. The owner was a friend of Francois' who was very nice and showed us all the good places to go. We had a fairly quiet night and then headed out to look at the town in the morning.
- We visited Cango Caves - a HUGE and gorgeous cave in Ooutshorne. Had stalagtite formations that were over a million years old. Stopped and picked back up 2:30 am Atlanta time, 8:30 am Capetown time, October 15
- We also visited a place called the Cango Wildlive Preserve in Ooutshorne. It is trying to help bring back endangered species with a huge breeding program for white lions, bengal tigers, cheetahs and pymy hippos. They let us go into the areas and pet cheetahs and baby white lions. That was pretty incredible. Christian did the cheetah 'encounter' - these were almost full grown but hand raised so completely unconcered with humans. Cheetahs are the only big cats that purr and Christian petting them definitely made the one purr :) He said it sounded like a lawn mower. I had the white lion encounter. It was two cubs - a boy and a girl - the sweetest things. The boy was really quiet - just sat and let me pet him but the girl was all fussy and growly - she obviously wanted something. She let me pet her too and at one point, tried to climb up on me! I was squatting and she put one paw up on my leg. The trainers in there with me freaked a bit and pulled her off but it really seemed like she was just playing. I got a HUGE pawprint on my pants - that was pretty cool. I took a picture (alas, it faded from the pant) but I am totally keeping those pants dirty until I get home so I can see what the dogs think of them!
- From Ooutshorne, it was on to the mountains near Mossel Bay. We spent two nights in that area. The first was the honeymoon suite at a place called Eight Bells Mountain Inn. It was a gorgeous location and would have been fun had we had a bit more time - they had horseback riding and hiking. They were also overrun by housecats. It was very strange - these cats would wander in and glare at us while we were having dinner. I saw a couple of giant dogs over the course of the day but they were both lying down so I assume they had been murdered by the kitties.
- We went down to Mossel Bay and took a boat out to do some whale watching. The boat tour company that we chose was apparently the only one licensed to go as close as 50 meters from the whales. We got really close and took a bunch of photos and then the whales, apparently not knowing the regulations, decided to come check us out. They showed up probably 10 meters from the boat and did a great display for us. It was very cool.
- We spent the second night in that area at a game lodge called Botlierskop. This was another high-end luxury place. The rooms are actually tents out in the woods but they are really rooms with nice comfy beds and full bathrooms. we were on the other side of a river so the only way to get to and from our rooms were to have a little boat come get us. It was really nice but a little creepy at night. I had gone to sleep before Christian had turned the light off so I woke up in the middle of the night and took my eye mask off and it was PITCH black. No light AT all. But overall, it was a pretyt cool experience. We also got in a couple of excellent game drives. They have 4 lions and we went up the first evening to see them. Found them all pretty much immediately and then they treated us to a roaring display. I caught a lot of it on video - it was very impressive. Our guide was very cool - knowledgeable and very educated about plants and animals (not to mention super-hot). He also took us on what he called a 'nature walk' but I called a 'freakin hike up a freakin mountain to look at freakin flowers.' It was actually not bad and he did show us the little that remains of the bushman paintings on the mountain (most of them are washed away because the silly bushman painted them on sandstone, which erodes extremely quickly). The morning drive at Botlierskop started out without much hope. The weather was crap - very foggy and misting rain so visibility was very low. First thing we saw was a Western Cape hare and I had a feeling that was going to be the most exciting thing we would see! (Side note: Although our hot guide seemed very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna in the area, it is also possible that he just prefixed "Western cape" to each thing... 'That is the Western Cape giraffe - only found in this area...','There you have the Western Cape Dandelion - only found in this area...' etc.) But luck was on our side. We found wildebeeste, eland, antelope, impala and black impala (only about 300 of them in the world), waterbuck, giraffe (yay). We went searching for their rhinos but had no luck. We finally headed back figuring we were pushing our luck (the weather remained utter crap) and as we were almost back to the lodge, found a rhino, right in the path ahead of us. It was pretty funny.
- After a big yummy breakfast, we said goodbye to Botlierskop and headed for Kleinmond and the beach! That was the longest part of our drive - we drove for nearly 4 hours and finally made it back here around 3 pm yesterday. We're staying at a place called the Beach House, which is nice but unfortunately, we didn't get an ocean-facing view. I was a bit disappointed but we did spend a bit of time on the beach yesterday evenings, trying to spot more whale sex. There must have been about 8 of them in the bay right in front of us. I would have been a lot more eager to stay longer at the beach had it been summer but the water, even here on the Indian Ocean side, is wicked cold and even the heat varies because there's still a bit of a chill in the wind.
Today, we head back to Cape Town! I can't believe this vacation is almost over! We're going to stop at Boulder's Beach and Cape Point and maybe, if we have time, the Green Market today. Then tomorrow, we leave. I'd like to try to do Robben Island in the morning before we go but am not sure that we'll have time.
Anyway, Christian is done in the shower so I better get moving so that we can get out of here. Hopefully I will be able to post this soon!
Oct 10, 2006, 7:30 P.M. Cape Town, 1:34 P.M. Atlanta
I tried to blog this morning to let people know that we were on our way out of town but the Internet cafe we went to was tooo slow. We are on our way on our 5 day adventure and so far it has gotten off to a pretty great start.
I finally got coordinated with Francois and he put together the following itinerary for us:
Tuesday, Oct 10: Christian’s 1st Safaria) Destination: Sanbona Game Reserve
b) Web-Site: Sanbona Game Reserve (http://www.sanbona.com/default.asp)
c) Nearest Town: Montague
d) Check-in Time: 14h00
e) Must depart: It is a 2.5 drive
f) Next Stop: Oudsthoorn via Barrydale (R62)
Wednesday: En-Route to Oudsthoorna) Destination: Oudsthoorn
b) Web-Site: Steers (http://www.kleinkaroo-promotions.co.za or http://ww.4x4ineden.co.za
c) Contact Person: Johan Grobelaar. He will be your host for the night as well as you contact person should you require any assistance.
d) Accommodation: Johan Grobelaar - He owns a guest cottage in town.
e) Check-in Time: 18h00
Reservation Number: Francois Smit :)
Thursday: Day at the Ranch
a) Johann will arrange / provide you with detail as to where to go and what to see. He is the chairman of Klein Karoo Tourism Association and knows his way around.
b) Spend the day at Oudsthoorn and make sure to go to the Cango Caves, visit a Ostrich Ranch and go to the Cango Crocodile Ranch.
c) Destination: Eight Bells Mountain Inn (Mosselbay): Their Inn is situated in the mountains and provides for real peace and tranquilly – from here you can visit Mosselbay and George … or just hike in the mountains. Horse riding is also an option.
d) Website: http://www.eightbells.co.za/
Reservations@.eightbells.co.za
e) Hosts – Cornelius Kiewiet
f) Must depart – No later than 16h00 – It is a 1 drive from Oudsthoorn
Note – you have been booked into the honeymoon suite :))
Friday: Day in the Mountains / Depart for Bottelierskop.a) Reservation Number 14561
b) Friday Evening
c) Check in 14H00
d) (http://www.botlierskop.co.za).
Saturday: En – Route to Kleinmond – the Beach House
a) Destination: Kleinmond
b) Web-Site: Steers (http://www.relaishotels.com/beach_house/index.php)
c) Check in Time: 17h00
d) Must depart: It is a 4 to 5 hour drive from Mosselbay – so you need to depart in time.
e) Spend at least 2 nights here (Maria’s treat on the beach)
We probably will only spend one night there, alas! We will drive home on Sunday so we can get a few things (like Cape Point) done before we leave on Monday evening.
But overall, pretty cool, huh?
We got to Sanbona today, via an amazing drive through the mountains. This is the most expensive place we're staying at through the entire trip and is a very high-end resort. It's about a 25 km drive from the main gate to the 'manor' where we are staying. We were discussing how it's pretty unlikely that we'll see any game on the drive to the manor when we nearly ran over a lion. Seriously. It was lying in the middle of the road, saw us, glared and then slowly got up and walked over to the side. Very cool.
And it just got better from there. They met us when we arrived with hot towels and it just got better from there. The room we're in is gorgeous with this huge bathroom and an outdoor shower (there's an indoor one as well but the outdoor one looks pretty cool :)).
We had lunch pretty quickly after getting here and then around 4 p.m., went on a game drive. According to our guide, we were very lucky on our game drive - we saw more lions (1 male, 2 females) and a whole bunch of other stuff - zebra, springbok, kudu, antelope. We even saw a big old tortoise walking across the road in front of us. Then we stopped on the top of a mountain and got out and had drinks while the sun went down. Beautiful, of course. On our way home, it just got prettier, with the sky turning bright pink over the rocks and mountains.
The sun going down took the temperature way down pretty fast so we were pretty chilled when we got back. Again, we got met with hot towels and hot chocolate in front of the fire when we got home. We're back in our room now; dinner in about 20 minutes. This is the life!
The other thing is that we appear to be the ONLY people here. We have seen no other guests. It's very strange, but kind of cool. I am not sure if they treat everyone like this or if we are getting special treatment because of Francois and because of the fact that we're the only ones here!
Of course, there is no internet access here. I'm writing up the days so I don't forget and will post when I can. I don't even have cell service out here. Very strange, but cool :)
Ok, more later!
M
