July 20th saw me travelling with John and Lindsey, my brother and his wife, on another 'holiday of a lifetime'.  This time I was going to South Africa.  John and Lindsey had very kindly offered to take me with them.  We had done some planning together but on the whole I left them to make the decisions.  Everywhere was going to be exciting to me but I knew John and Lindsey had visited some areas before.  I said that I would particularly like to see the penguins at Boulders Beach and elephants.

We travelled by Lufthansa from Manchester to Frankfurt and then on to Johannesburg and finally Cape Town. It was a long journey but that didn't matter because I was so excited.
21/7/04
 It was afternoon when we arrived.  We found our guesthouse, had a shower and then went up Table Mountain.  The cable car was wonderful!   It had a revolving floor which moved slowly giving great views, well not on our journey!  The weather wasn't in our favour so we didn't see much either looking down or on top of the mountain. I had hoped to see Dassie but there was no sign of them.  I had my first sighting of cape sugarbirds and red-winged starlings.

We went to the Waterfront and looked in a few shops.  most of our time was spent in The Red Shed Craft Workshop.  we enjoyed looking round and spending our money even when there was a power cut!  We then ate at The Africa Cafe which we had seen advertised in our guesthouse.  It was well worth the visit!
22/7/04
We spent the morning on Robben Island.  This was a first for John and Lindsey too.   We were shown around by ex prisoners.  The whole visit was very moving especially reading the boards in the cells.  Lindsey and I were so engrossed that we didn't hear our group move on!  This was Mandela's cell, just proving I was there!    We walked through the prison yard.  We had a quick look at the penguins before the boat took us back to Cape Town.  As we walled up the steps we saw some lovely cape fur seals, including babies.  'Ingculaza' were signing and dancing as we came off the boat so I bought their CD.  We then had a lovely scenic drive to Boulders Beach, including Chapman Peak's Drive.  I saw Dassie on the cliffs when we stopped to admire the view.  John took photos of the birds and Lindsey took the scenes and I took them!
There was time to see the penguins before going to Avian Leisure.  The penguins were free to go where they wanted and we were entertained as they lined up at the gate when they saw us approach.  Later we watched two young penguins trying to get food from their mother.  I was really glad we had time to see them.  Our accommodation was lovely.  It had beautiful views out to sea too. 
23/7/04
We had planned to visit the penguins in the reserve before having breakfast but the rain was very heavy.  We were shocked when we got to the car to find water coming in through the top of the windscreen.  The seats and carpet at the front were wet as it had obviously rained most of the night.  We drove down to the penguins and decided to have breakfast in Penguin Point Restaurant.  (Click on 'eat' for the link) What lovely people we found.  Firstly we sat in front of a newly made fire and drank coffee as we dried out and then we had a lovely cooked breakfast.  Sam looked after us.  He even came and sealed our windscreen with silicone when he heard of our problems.   I then had a spending spree in the gift shop below.

 Once we knew that the car was okay we were able to set off for Cape Point.  We were concerned about the weather but we did have spells of dry weather which enabled us to enjoy the visit.  I was particularly excited at our first views of ostrich and baboons.  Of course we saw lots of interesting birds but I haven't room to mention them all.  There was a lovely view from the top of Cape Point.  There were lovely beaches too but we didn't have time to do everything.

We found a laundry on the way home and enjoyed a pizza in a local restaurant as the washing was done.
24/7/04
As we prepared to leave we had a lovely chat with the owner of Avian Leisure.  Later John said that it was a shame that having chosen bird friendly places we hadn't allowed ourselves enough time to take full advantage of the views and the support offered by the owner.  We did talk about blue crane and were delighted that we did eventually see some in a field later in the day.  First we spent time in the penguin reserve, which we had planned for yesterday.      I enjoyed watching the penguins running in and out of the sea. 

We called in Rondevlei nature reserve where we spent the morning viewing interesting birds.   Shame about the rain!  Again the reserve was well worth the visit. 

We did a slight detour to call at Hermanus on the off chance that we would see a southern right whale.  I was told that we could only spare 10 mins.  I was worried as I didn't think there was much chance but I shouldn't have worried.  We parked the car, crossed the road and there were whales!  We didn't have time to climb down on to the rocks for good photos but we saw 4 or 5 whales much to my delight!

We travelled on to a cottage near Mossell Bay.  We arrived in the dark but were soon able to relax.
25/7/04
Although we had to leave fairly early we managed a walk down to the beach before breakfast.  What a lovely beach.  The waves were enormous and I enjoyed standing and listening to them.  We had originally planned to visit a cheetah sanctuary but instead went to the Wilderness. (Click 'parks' and then 'Wilderness 'for link) This had nice walks but the weather wasn't good.  We went for a woodland walk starting by the 'big tree'.  We saw a few nice birds.  Later we sat in the hides and watched a few more water birds.

We spent the night in Knsyna.   We had a meal out in a pub where I tasted ostrich.  I had ostrich fillets in a creamy mushroom sauce.  The whole meal was lovely.
26/7/04
John and Lindsey went diving in the morning so I just wandered, read a book and updated my diary. As we pulled up in the car park a giant kingfisher landed on the fence.  It then sat for ages on the rock giving us an excellent view of it.

Next it was Addo Elephant Park.  We arrived there early evening.  We each had a round hut with a view out over a water hole.  The water hole was lit at night.  We saw a family of porcupines there soon after 6pm but then it was very quiet.  I stayed up longer than John and Lindsey and saw spotted genet and a few animals which didn't stay long enough for me to be sure what they were.
27/7/04
We spent the full day going round the park.  I enjoyed everything I saw but the warthogs and meerkats were particularly entertaining.  We were watching the warthogs when the meerkats started appearing.  Nobody else seemed to notice them so we were able to enjoy them in peace for a good length of time.  It was round lunchtime when we spotted them.  We got some good views of elephants too which I was very happy about.   We saw buffalo but they were aware of our presence, despite the screen, so didn't stay long.
28/7/04
We had an early start to the day with the longest drive of the holiday.  It poured and poured with rain.  What a good job that Sam had helped us fix the windscreen!  There were some more good views on the journey although they would have been better in nicer weather.   We even went through a snow storm and saw people building snowmen.  We should have taken a photo!   We were anxious about the time as we knew the office closed early at Oribi Gorge.  When we arrived there we were in time for the gate to be open but not the office. Fortunately there was a board stating where we were staying and the keys had been left in our chalets.  We dashed out to the nearest town to find a laundrette.  We found one just as it was closing.  The owner said he would do the wash in the morning so we could collect it later in the day.
29/7/04
We had an early start to the day and drove down to the start of some of the walks.  We went on a shorter walk to a waterfall.  The ground was slippy in places with fallen leaves and the previous day's rain.  We saw knsyna lourie and trumpeter hornbills amongst many other birds.  We sat near the river eating chelsea buns and drinking orange juice before returning to the chalets.   Lindsey and I went back to town to collect the laundry leaving John to take photos,  unfortunately none of us realised that the tripod was in the car!  We then did part of a longer walk which took us up high and gave lovely views before returning to the baboon walk near the chalets which was supposed to be good for sunsets.   We saw lots of birds and enjoyed watching sunbirds amongst others round the chalets.
30/7/04
The books said that the best place for the birds was from the road round sunrise.  We drove part way down and had a walk before breakfast.  Then we set off for Drakensberg.   We travelled along part of the Midlands Meander.  This a route which passes lots of craft shops.  We visited a few and I spent lots of money!  I got hooked on buying musical instruments for my classroom! John took this photo of me at the stone marking where Nelson Mandela was arrested.    We managed to reach Giants Castle, Drakensberg before the gates were closed.  We had a lovely chalet which had a beautiful view of the mountains.  We could see snow on top of some of them.
31/7/04
Our chalet had a lounge and a bedroom with huge picture windows.  The view was wonderful.
We had booked well in advance for a hide for the day.  We were driven up into the mountains with a large bucket of meat.  The ranger placed the meat near the hide and we settled down for the morning.  Wow what good views we got.  The Cape Vultures were amazing.  I wish now I had tried to take a photo but I was worried that I would get in John and Lindsey's way.We did see the bearded vulture or lammergeyer vulture as we had hoped.  The ranger had told us that the vultures were afraid of the white necked raven so we only saw the juveniles land as the ravens were there most of the time.  We did see adults fly overhead and we suspect that the one we saw as we were leaving would have landed if we had stayed a little longer.  There was also a pair of red-winged starlings. The male starling kept banging on the window of the hide.  They were very entertaining even though the male made us jump lots of time. 

We packed up at 12.30pm and started the walk back down the mountains.  We wanted to go to the caves and see the art of the San people.  The last tour was 3pm and we had another half hour's walk from the chalet to get there.  Again it was well worth the visit!  What a superb day!  We arrived back at camp and could hear a drumming sound.  This sound started getting nearer so we decided to explore.  It was Zulu dancers from the local village.  They were very good and we stayed and watched until they finished.  It was very cold as we watched and the dancers didn't wear much so they must have been cold too.

We finished the evening with a meal at the restaurant.  The meal was nice but we would have enjoyed it more if it had been more traditionally African.  We packed a lot into the day but I am glad we managed everything.
1/8/04
Today we set off to the next game reserve.  We were glad to get petrol at the entrance to Giant's castle as we were travelling on empty! We took more photos as we left.  This was looking back where we had come from.   We drove through or near many historic sites from the Boer war.  It made interesting reading in the guide book but I wouldn't have wanted to tour these places as many people do.  We got to Mkhuze Game Reserve by late afternoon.  We had a quick tour round and reached our chalet when it was dark.  We heard the fiery-necked nightjar from the chalet, it says 'Good Lord, deliver us!'
2/8/04
We were out and about by 6am.  We watched hippos for the first time. Some of them had little egret on their backs.  We found time to visit the 'cultural village' where I had fun choosing crafts made by local people.  We had booked on a night drive.  John spotted a bushbaby as we waited for the ranger and the passengers.  We saw a baby giraffe and a few other things but for me the bushbaby was best!
3/8/04
We were booked on the morning 'Fig Walk'.  It started at 7am and there were just us and another couple.  We saw a suni running and a lizard buzzard as we travelled to the start of the walk.  I was scared on the rope bridges and amazed that Lindsey could stop and video the baboons when all I could think of was getting to the other side!  Mind you the baboons were entertaining and that was the best view point!  The guide spotted all sorts of birds.  I tried to keep close as I am slow at spotting birds even when they are pointed out!  As I was so close to the guide I was lucky to see the narina trogon fly off.  What a lovely bird!

We didn't have far to travel to our next spot.  We drove through to Hluhuwe Park to reach our chalet in Umfolozi Park.  The first thing we saw was a rhino asleep by a waterhole.  We had a quick drink before driving round Umfolozi.  We saw lots of giraffe walking along the road.   We saw spotted hyena near the road.   Later we had to stop at a zebra crossing point.  It seemed funny stopping for zebra crossing in front of us.  We had a very good view of a spotted hyena before getting back by 6pm when the gates closed.  The electricity went off at 10pm but we were asleep by then.
4/8/04
I had forgotten about the electricity being off which made it difficult getting up and out as early as we had planned.  What a good job that John had brought torches for each of us!

We wandered around the game park for a while and then headed for Swaziland.  We travelled through the border filling in the appropriate forms.  John and Lindsey saw a number of long-tailed shrikes on telegraph poles but I missed them!  We arrived at Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary in the afternoon.  We asked for directions to Swazi candles and then visited before settling into our beehive huts.  We had a fun time choosing candles to buy and also visiting the craft shops beside it.

We went to a lake where we enjoyed watching ibis, herons, cormorants and kingfishers coming to roost.  I saw my first hammerkops.  It was very noisy!    We returned to our beehive huts and got ready to go out.    We ate in the park's restaurant.  It was a buffet style meal.  We were offered impala with our chicken. I didn't see the hog on the spit which was on the menu.  It was hard eating impala after enjoying watching them.  I preferred the ostrich from earlier in the holiday.  We stayed and watched some of the entertainment before accepting that we were really too tired.

This park had some hippo by the restaurant which were fed.  The game park wasn't as interesting as the others but I did like the beehive hut and the birds roosting.
5/8/04
We aimed for an early start again.  We had a short look round some more of the park before heading off again.  We stopped on our route to buy some soap stone ornaments to take home, packing was going to be fun!!

Back through the border and off to Kruger National Park.  We entered by Crocodile Bridge Gate.  We stopped at Lower Sabie so that John could book a night ride for later in the week.  We spent the night at Satara.  We arrived a few minutes late so were given a warning and next time would be a fine.  There were lots of interesting noises as we ate our meal.  We had a nice view of the batleur today and more hippos.  I have fallen in love with hippos!  I love the noise they make apart from anything else.    We also saw lots of baboons. Some sat on the road and didn't want to move!
6/8/04
We spent the day touring round.  We had a few stops in picnic sites as we travelled around.  Although you are not supposed to feed birds or animals we found some definitely were used to it!     We ate our lunch in Letaba and enjoyed watching the birds around. 

We spent the night in Mopani. We had looked carefully at our route to make sure that we were not late.  We nearly didn't make the 6pm gate closure as some elephants blocked our way on a cul de sac and we had to wait ages before they would move.     We had a nice place for the night.  We were joined by mice and francolin and other birds looking for a share in our meal!
7/8/04
Today we saw brilliant birds.  Soon after 8am, when we were busy watching and identifying small birds in the bushes, we heard some grunting.  I was looking low down but as the noise continued John suddenly said "that it is a great eagle owl".  We reversed back slowly looking in the trees all the time.  There it was.  What an amazing sight.  It flew to another tree and watched us and then flew back to its original place.  We didn't stay long as it didn't like us being there.  We later saw good views of saddled-billed stork and kori bustard.  We toured around as yesterday but were a little more relaxed over timing.

We stayed in a special hide over night.  It was booked and we had beds in there.  We could use the hide from 5.30pm and had to be packed and out by 6.30am. We ate outside, behind the hide, and enjoyed watching the stars and listening to the hippos and other sounds.  John and Lindsey went straight to bed.  I lay on my bed listening to noises.  We had mice rustling round our carrier bags and I heard snuffling sounds outside the hide. 
8/8/04
Unfortunately we didn't have a chalet to return to and get a shower.  John had assumed, when he booked, that we would still have the use of the chalet we spent the previous night in.  Mind you the hide on its own was cheaper.  We did manage to get a wash as we waited for the manager to arrive so we could hand over the key and get out deposit back.

We stopped at Olifante for a cooked breakfast. There were some lovely views there.  We took a more direct route through the park as we headed for our next stop. 
We arrived at Lower Sabie at 4.30pm.  There was a lizard on a tree eating ants.  We soon found out that the night ride started earlier than we expected.  We had to be ready for the night ride at 4.45pm!!  What a rush.  We managed to book a meal for after the night ride.  The night ride or 'sunset drive' was good but in the hurry I had forgotten to grab my camera.  We had a close view of waterbuck which I really wanted  a photo of!  We enjoyed the ride. the highlight was definitely the two cheetahs.  They were brothers and we were able to watch them for quite a while.  We watched hippo running into the water, now I knew what the splashes were that I had heard the previous night!  We finished the evening with our meal out, again it was a buffet style but was very nice.

The night was spent in a tent.  We had a tent each with a view out over the river.  They were very posh tents with shower and toilet.  I had a winged creature in mine which kept climbing the side of the tent and then falling down before starting again!
9/8/04
We had a relaxed breakfast enjoying our views and the birds which were in the bushes beside us.  Still no lions or leopards!  But yet more views of hippos!  We looked round all morning before travelling to our final night at Biyamiti Bushveld camp.  We had a beautiful cottage with a large garden which included a bird bath.  We decided to book another night ride on the off chance that we would see a big cat.  It was very quiet.  Towards the end of the trip the guide pointed out a chameleon but it didn't look as I expected it too so I was extremely slow to see it, having been staring at it for a while!  Just as we neared the camp we passed a male and female lion.  Unfortunately the guide  made a noise and frightened them off!
10/8/04
We were at the gate by 6am.  We found the lions and spent 2 hours watching them.  Wow!!!  There were two males and 3 females.     We saw them mate and roar with each other.  One of the big highlights of the holiday!!!  After breakfast and packing the car we were off again. We wandered around until we stopped at Berg-en-dal for lunch.  We left the camp by Malelane Gate and set off for Johannesburg.

We arrived at our next guesthouse at 6.15pm.  We were staying at Nederport.  The owners delayed their holiday so that they could welcome us.  John and Lindsey knew them from previous visits.  We enjoyed coffee and chat with the family before we left to eat out.  We went to a restaurant which John and Lindsey had been to in the past. There we enjoyed pizza.  I sat and wrote up my diary and read before going to sleep. 
11/8/04
John and Carmen had kindly arranged a Soweto township tour for our morning.  We were picked up and shown the sights by Willy.  He was a lovely guide.  We saw the houses where Winnie Mandela and Desmund tutu used to live.  We were shown around the house where Nelson Mandela lived before going to Robben Island and the two weeks following his release.  We moved on to the Hector Pieterson Museum which was very moving.  We had a meal, a buffet style again, before being dropped off at a shopping Mall.  I bought a book on South African Mammals.  We rushed back to the guest house, packed the car and had a quick wash before heading for the airport.  Our holiday was finished!  We flew to Frankfurt and then had a 5 hour wait before our plane left for Manchester. 
12/8/04
The wait in Frankfurt was very difficult and tiring.  On arrival in Manchester we discovered that a bag was missing.  It took time to fill in forms etc.  It was Saturday, two days later, before John and Lindsey's bag was returned.

I would love to visit South Africa again and can highly recommend all the places we stayed.  There was so much to see and so much to remember that I can't give a favourite!!  But I know the holiday wouldn't have happened if John and Lindsey hadn't offered to organise the holiday and let me join them.  Thanks! 

Visit John and Lindsey's home page and see their wildlife photos from many years of travelling.
Photos on this page by John and Lindsey are:
Bearded Vulture
Meat outside the hide