For the past three weeks we have been in full adventure mode
– taking advantage of everything that South Africa has to offer. Honestly, the only thing we didn’t do
was Kruger Park, and that trip is planned for April. We will leave this area feeling like we thoroughly explored
it and know it well. We couldn’t
have asked for a better vacation.
Plus, we got to visit with Sarah’s mom, step-dad and step-sister. It was awesome!
To begin the trip, we drove 4 hours to Royal Natal National
Park in the Drakensberg Mountains.
We actually stopped there last year when coming back from our Christmas
trip, but we didn’t have enough time to explore, so we decided to go back. This time, we had a chance to do two
different hikes and to stay at a backpackers with a gorgeous view of the
park. The most amazing part of the
park is a natural mountain amphitheatre, which we hiked toward on our canyon
hike. Here are some of our
favorite pictures.
After Royal Natal, we made our way a bit south to journey up
the Sani Pass into the Eastern side of Lesotho. We hired a driver to take us up, since the roads can be
intense, and we were glad of the decision when we got to the hairpin turns at
the top of the pass. At the top we
enjoyed a drink at the highest pub in Africa. It was a gorgeous trip.
From Sani Pass, we drove to the coast to enjoy Tsitsikamma
National Park, whose best feature it it’s amazing ocean views. The park is best known for one of its
multi-day hikes called the Otter Trail.
We didn’t have multiple days to offer, but we did manage to do a day
hike on the first part of the trail.
While the walk was a bit intense because it involved crawling over rocks
right on the ocean, we saw otters and the hike ended at a beautiful waterfall
that fell directly to the ocean.
Here is a picture:
As if that wasn’t adventure enough, on Christmas Eve we
arrived at Kalk Bay and met up with Sarah’s family. The flat we stayed at was gorgeous, with a wonderful view of
the harbor, and we hardly wanted to leave, but we did manage to take in the
Cape Town sights. Here are some
Cape Town pics:
Beyond Cape Town, we took a trip to Shamwari Game Reserve
outside of Port Elizabeth and spent time on Safari. It was an extraordinarily fabulous place, where the helpers
attend to guests’ every need and the drivers take their time so that guests
have time with the animals and time to learn about them as well. It was a wholly enriching
experience. We even stopped on our
evening drive for cocktails! We saw a lot of animals, but the most spectacular
were (in order) the elephant who was very excited, the black rhino, and the
male lion. Here are some pictures:
We also managed to take a tour of the winelands and did some
wine tastings. None of us had ever
really done that before, but we learned a lot and had a great time! The winelands are beautiful, and the
wineries were all so unique from one another, which none of us expected.
Finally, Jay went shark diving with Jerry and Jayann in
Gansbaii (about 1.5 hours from Cape Town). They saw three sharks, and one was enormous – about ten feet
long! Unfortunately, Summer is not
the time to view sharks at their best, so there was limited visibility
underwater, but the experience was amazing.
So there it is, folks – our Christmas vacation
2011-2012. We don’t regret one
moment of it and would love to do it all again!
We hope you are well and wish you a very happy new year.
S&J
