African Adventure 2014 - Chapungu Camp Day 4

Much like the previous mornings, Chris woke us up around 5am. Unfortunately, we did not sleep as well as the previous nights. The wind howled and caused the tent walls to shudder. At around 3 or 4am, Ben thought he heard an animal rustling in the brush outside the tent, but he opted not to go out to investigate further.

After a quick shower, we joined the rest of our group for tea and coffee before the start of our game drive. Unlike the previous few days, it was very windy and overcast. Game viewing was extremely limited. First, we found a family of giraffe then some zebra. All of the animals were very skittish because of the wind, which reduced their sense of smell. Next, we found a herd of buffalo relaxing by the side of the road. They allowed us to get very close, watching them chew their cud and the red-billed oxpeckers dance around eating bugs.

All of a sudden, after leaving the buffalo, we were caught in a zebra traffic jam. Gerhard heard rumors of drizzle over the radio and suggested we don the ponchos. It was a good thing we did. Not only did the ponchos provide protection from the rain, but they aided in warmth retention, as we zip around in the brisk wind. During this time, we had a dry spell with the animals also seeking refuge. We could only find the occasional bird, such as the African Cape Vulture. Even they were hunkered down as best they could on the tops of some dead trees.

The drizzle continued to pick up as we came to the first dam, hoping to spot some hippos. Unfortunately, there were no hippos to be found, only a grey heron and a cattle egret. The next dam was more successful with four hippos playing in the water. They put on a pretty good show for us, romping about in the water.

After leaving the hippos, the drizzle continued to pick up and turned into a light rain. We searched out a spot to have a quick hot chocolate break. Ben was relieved, since he really needed to pee. At this point, our original plans to go for a safari walk were quickly evaporating, with no one desiring to go tromping through the soaking wet bush. Bummer! Hopefully, we will be able to go for a safari walk before we leave tomorrow.

Following hot chocolate and rusks, we dashed back to the lodge to get warm by the fire and have some breakfast. The rain continued during much of the break, thwarting any plans to be active. We chose to relax on the couches by the fire in the lodge while waiting for lunch.

Lunch, like all previous days, was spectacular. We had some grilled chicken, various salads, and a South African peppermint cream and chocolate dessert. Very yummy.

The weather started to clear up a bit prior to our last evening game drive, generating some hopeful desire to see the lions one more time. We had some newcomers join us, Christine and Debbie. Debbie is from New York and Christine is from LA. They were very friendly and a fun addition to our group. We found some wildebeest and buffalo before finding some giraffes, two males, a female and a baby. The giraffes were between us and our river crossing, so we patiently waited to see what they would do. After eyeing it up several times, the female giraffe awkwardly attempted to cross the river. Baby, without a care in the world, bounded across the river. The two males followed suit, delicately placing each and every step, similar to a house cat entering a tub of water. So funny and cute.

We then found a whole troop of baboons that climbed trees to be able to watch us while we watched them. Just as the sun was starting to set, we found some elephants browsing through the brush, in search of marula fruit among other things. It was a fairly beautiful sunset that we were able to enjoy during our sundowner.

The drive back in the dark was mostly uneventful. We saw some hippos out of the water, one even crossed the road in front of us. We saw a small owl fly past and land in a nearby branch. While looking for more hippos, we heard some lions roaring in the distance. Absolutely amazing. Hopefully, we will be able to find them in the morning on our last game drive at Chapungu.

Not far from camp, two gunshots rang out through the bush. This caused Gerhard to stop immediately and radio into the main lodge for more information. Ben asked Gerhard whether it was a ranger firing at an animal in defense or something related to poaching. Gerhard was able to find out that it was the anti-poaching team, but that was the extent of information that was shared with him. We drove most of the rest of the way back in silence while Gerhard communicated on the radio.

Back at camp, we were surprised by Chris and the housekeeping staff to a tent with flower petals arranged in a heart on the bed with champagne and two glasses. They also drew a bath for us, that was still hot and lit some candles. It was very romantic, minus the gigantic bugs that had already fallen victim to the water. With little time before dinner, we quickly changed and waited for our escort back to the bar. Ben purchased Gerhard a double Jagermeister, having learned earlier in the week that this was his drink of choice, while we chatted with him, Serge, Christine and Debbie. We got lost in conversation before Chris came to bring us into the boma for dinner. It was yet another fantastic meal followed by some of Beth's chocolate on chocolate birthday cake. Yum yum!

Following dinner, we were escorted back to our tent to enjoy some quality time on our final evening at Chapungu.

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African Adventure 2014 - Chapungu Camp Day 3

Knowing most of our group had early departures, we arose and quickly made it to coffee and tea. Not really to our surprise did we find many of our companions hung over from a late night of drinking and chatting in the bar. Despite their best intentions to get packed and rest up before their long travel days ahead of them, it was not to be. We later discovered that a lion was roaring near camp the previous night around 2am when the rest of the group went to bed. Unfortunately, we were passed out and missed it.

With everyone ready to go a little early, we were able to pull out on our game drive a little before 6am. When we reached the first meadow, we were treated to an absolutely beautiful sunrise. It was probably the most beautiful sunrise, Gerhard quickly found us a herd of wildebeest in a clearing, looking like they were just beginning to rise from a night of slumber. Next we found some zebra, allowing us to add to our collection of bum photos. Throughout our trip, we seemed to find loads of animals willing to show off their rumps. So much so that an album dedicated to the derriere may be in order.

Not long after the zebras, we came across three white rhinos sleeping on the road. Yesterday, we saw a black rhino and her calf in the distance, which was really difficult to see. These white rhinos were much closer. We watched them sleep for a while, when suddenly, the young rhino awoke and started trying to wake her mom. Her mom ignored her calf and continued to stay in dreamland. While watching the rhinos, Gerhard told us that their eyes are pointed towards the ground, allowing them to focus on their food. Whenever the rhino went to look forward, they have to raise their heads. The rhinos are truly magnificent creatures. It is sad that they are poached for their horns. In fact, Thornybush lost a rhino to poachers a little over a month prior to our visit, showing that even private reserves are not off poachers radars. Very sad.

While watching the rhinos, several small red-billed oxpeckers flitted about, eating ticks and bugs off of the rhino. These same birds can also be found on giraffe and buffalo.

Once we left the rhinos, we stumbled upon some helmeted guineafowl, similar to a grouse or chicken here in the US. The guineafowl are much more beautiful than chickens. We also found our leopard friend again, resting near where we found him the day before. Only then did we discover that he killed a warthog and was still working on the carcass, resting in between meals. Without the show from the day before, we left the leopard to see what else we could see. A family of giraffe appeared to be waiting for us as they posed for some photos. The final animal of our morning drive was a family/herd of elephants. They were kind enough to give us more opportunity to add to our bum photo collection.

Back at camp, we all with Gerhard and Cedrick to take a few more group shots by the Chapungu sign. With everyone getting ready to go, we had a final breakfast with our group before saying goodbyes. It was sad to see them leave, but we were happy to meet such awesome people in such a remote part of the world. Near our tent, a male nyala crossed the stream to walk up to our neighbors. It was such a beautiful animal. It is amazing to see the animals walk in and around camp, coming close to the tents. In the tent, Ben did his laundry from the day before. We only brought a few long-sleeved shirts, which seemed to be hugely important on game drives. Even though the daytime temperatures can be boiling hot, the mornings and evenings, especially in the open-aired jeep, are quite cool. Following laundry, Ben took a quick nap while Kari did some exercises. The daily diet of eat, sleep and game drive was starting to get to her. Speaking of eating, lunch was a fantastic curry beef kabob, sweet potato salad, and salad with apple crisp for dessert. One thing that never happened during our stay here was going hungry. We always had more delicious food available then we could ever eat.

After lunch, we jumped back in the jeeps for our afternoon game drive. We had a new family join us: Alan, Rebecca, Kelly and Beth. Beth and Kelly are from Maine while Alan and Rebecca are Brits living in Johannesburg. Part of the reason for their stay was to celebrate Beth's birthday.

Our first animal sighting was some kudu. A beautiful male was hanging out by the airstrip. There was also a family of warthogs searching for food near the airstrip. Cute little piggies. A red-billed oxpecker was riding on the male kudu's back, hoping for some juicy bugs.

Since Ben pretty much hogged the camera on the previous few game drives, Kari took over as lead photographer for the evening game drive. She did a great job. We found some zebra, impala, wildebeest, a monitor, buffalo, and loads of hornbill. We also went back in search of the leopard. Sure enough, he was still close by his kill, appearing to be resting after another gorging on the warthog. Our next stop was to find some hippos. While we had see the tops of their heads on previous game drives, we had not seen much more. We finally found some. Unfortunately, it was getting really dark before they started getting too active. Oh well. At least we saw them starting to move around and grunt a bit. On the way back to camp, we stumbled across a herd of elephants destroying some trees in search of marula fruit. The females walked closely passed us right before a big bull came into view. He was enormous! Probably the largest bull elephant we had seen. As he was walking by, he let his manhood flop out and drag along the ground. The reason behind this is that he was in musth, high testosterone levels searching for a willing female. Absolutely huge! Kari was a wee bit disturbed though.

Back at camp, we cleaned up for dinner and waited for the night porter to escort us back. Tonight, we had kudu filet, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, breaded fried cheese and chocolate cake. It was fantastic! We sat on the deck of the lodge near the pool enjoying the food. With the new people being a family of four and wanting to sit together, we ended up alone for the first dinner of our stay here. Since we were both pretty exhausted, we decided to go to bed early and headed back to the tent not long after dinner.

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African Adventure 2014 - Chapungu Camp Day 2

Bright and early, wake up time was upon us. Morning game drives require a 5am wake-up call followed by tea & coffee at 5:30am to get on the jeep by 6am. Not wanting to be late, Ben set an alarm for 5am to ensure they would be awake for when our butler, Chris, came down to wake us.

After quick showers, we journeyed up to the lodge to find the rest of our group enjoying tea or coffee. We both grabbed some juice and rusks (a South African pastry/bread thing). Rusks are very hard and dry, designed to be taken into the bush and keep for weeks on end. It is quite delicious, despite being very hard and difficult to eat. Dunking in coffee or hot chocolate seems to soften it up a bit. Once in the jeep, we started our journey back into the bush. We were treated to a very beautiful sunrise as we exited the area around the lodge. One of the first critters we stumbled across was a black-backed jackal. Unfortunately, he quickly darted into the bush, making photos difficult. We also saw loads of warthogs. This was in stark contrast to the day before. Part of the rationale behind this was that warthogs are not able to see well, relying primarily on smell and sound. Yesterday, it was overcast. Despite being cool and more ideal temperature for the animals, most animals are not active in cloudy conditions. Today, the skies were clear and we were already noticing a major difference in the number of active animals.

As we continued our drive, we saw loads of impala. It eventually got to the point that no one in our group really wanted to stop to see them anymore, at least not for long. Soon Gerhard rounded a corner and we were face to face with a herd of cape buffalo. This was our 3rd of the "Big 5". The buffalo, though massively different from the North American Bison/Buffalo, looked similar to very big and powerful cows. In an effort to assist with group preservation, the buffalos all sat with backs against each other, allowing the ones in the middle to sleep while those on the perimeter kept watch. During our time watching the buffalo, we were ravaged by flies. Not quite to the same extent as the buffalo, but they were pretty bad.

The day before our arrival, Thornybush received large amounts of rain, making it impossible to go off road and river crossings dangerous. Unfortunately, to get to the area where one of the leopard's, the toughest of the "Big 5" to find, likes to hang out, a river crossing is necessary. Our ranger, Gerhard, told us that all of the rangers were waiting for one brave soul to attempt it and successfully cross before risking themselves. Gerhard was that brave soul. To the delight of the group, we made the rather rough and bumpy trek across the river.

Following the river crossing, we stumbled across one of the largest termite mounds we had ever seen. It was absolutely massive!

Not to be outdone by Gerhard, other rangers were quickly following suite to cross the river.

From this point on, it seemed we were always finding some critter to view and take photos. Giraffes, buffalos, elephants, various birds, impalas, ... you name it, we were finding anything and everything at will, except for the leopard and rhino. These animals continued to elude us. All of a sudden, Gerhard gets a message through his ear piece, indicating some game was nearby. The rangers use a radio system to communicate, regarding river crossings and game locations to help each other track animals for the guests. Gerhard raced off towards the latest announcement, telling us they found an impala. None of us believe him because he took off at breakneck speed towards the "impala", the most common animal in the reserve. When we arrived at the "impala", we discovered it was really a cheetah! She was beautifully perched on a mound, looking for her cubs. Apparently, she had given birth recently; however, none of the rangers had seen the cubs in a few days. While we were viewing her, she let out a whimper/yip, calling for them. Very sad. Nature can be a cruel place.

Once we continued our journey, Gerhard managed to get us stuck in the middle of a flat road. At this point, we had successfully crossed the river numerous times with little trouble. Flat land, excellent spot to get stuck. To be fair, the ground was soft from the rain in parts and there were some deep ruts that Cedrick, our tracker, was unable to guide Gerhard around. We all hopped out to cheer him on and helped lighten the load. In a few minutes, we were back on our way.

Next stop, our morning coffee/tea/hot chocolate break. We all hopped back out to relieve ourselves and have some refreshments in the bush. We both had hot chocolate and some more rusks, chatting with Gerhard and the rest of the guests for a few minutes.

Back in the jeep, we finished our morning game drive. We saw a family of nyala, similar to impala, but a little bigger and with white stripes. We hit a stretch of just bird viewing before stumbling upon some dams with a few hippo mostly submerged. We closed our morning game drive out with some impala, waterbuck, and warthogs. The leopard and rhino managed to hide from us for another drive. At least we saw the cheetah, another rare sighting.

At camp, breakfast was waiting for us. Fresh fruit, juice, South African donuts, and made-to-order hot items. Ben had an omelet with bacon, sausage and cheese, while Kari had hard-boiled eggs. It was yet another fantastic meal! After breakfast, Pat found a tortoise near their tent, so we went to investigate.

Following breakfast, we have 4 and a half hours of free time before lunch to do whatever we want. We decided to change and head over to the main lodge to peruse their gift shop and have some drinks on their back deck. It was a lovely way to spend part of the afternoon. We also took some time to do laundry, so we had clean clothes moving forward. With how hot it is here, it all dried by the end of the day.

For lunch, we had a delicious chicken lasagna and chatted with Pat, Rachel, Raj, Debra, Pete and Margi a bit before heading back to the tent to change for the evening game drive.

Much like the previous game drives, we were pressuring Gerhard heavily to find us a leopard. Instead, we kept finding impala, giraffes, and warthogs. Out of nowhere, Gerhard got a call for an animal and told us we need to go fast or it will move. Assuming a leopard had been spotted nearby, we all agreed to his desire to drive fast. Gerhard raced the jeep through the bush like a Formula 1 racer in a ferrari, occasionally having to slam on the brakes to avoid massive ruts. We also speed by other safari groups enjoying the impala and opted to not photograph a beautiful male kudu, believing more and more that a leopard was in our future.

Finally, we arrived to another safari jeep peering down on a male leopard sleeping in the brush. When that jeep moved on, we pulled up closer, stopping only a few meters from it. It was so covered with brush, that we were amazed anyone spotted it from the road. Absolutely beautiful! While we were taking photos of him, he slowly started to wake up, stretching and yawning. Then he gave us the biggest show, outside of a hunt, imaginable, getting up to walk down and cross the road. We could not believe our luck! Incredible!

After he became hidden in the tall grass, we took off and Raj exclaimed that he was emotionally spent. After several unsuccessful drives finding a leopard, we finally did it. Now all we needed was a rhino to complete our "Big 5". It was not long before Gerhard heard over the radio where a rhino had been spotted, so we hurried there, passing baboon and buffalo along the way. Though challenging, we were able to spot the black rhino, both baby and mom, across a field and in a thicket of trees. Spectacular!

WE COMPLETED THE "BIG FIVE"!

During our stay, we learned that it is very difficult to find the "Big 5". We not only did that, but we also found a bonus cheetah!

As the sun was setting, we found a family of elephants, watching some babies play. One baby elephant came really close to the jeep, brushing up against Pete's hand, very inquisitive of our jeep. Pat, not wanting to miss any of the action, decided to wear his Go-Pro throughout. He looked very "special", but we were all glad it was on during the leopard encounter. Amazing!

On our way to our sundowner, we found a wildebeest, some guineafowl, nyala, and impala. Wishing the night would not end, since it was the last night for most of our new friends, we posed for some group photos and tried to extend the sundowner and safari ride as long as possible.

Though we did not see many animals on the drive back to camp, we did stop to look at the stars with it being really clear. Gerhard pointed out the southern cross and orion, among others. Near the airstrip by camp, we found a puff adder, a super poisonous and deadly snake. Deadly and beautiful. Cedrick also spotted a chameleon camouflaged on a tree branch. In the dark. Going ~15mph on the hood of the Land Rover. Incredible!

Back at camp, we quickly changed for dinner and met back at the bar to wait to be called in to the boma for our meal. A boma is a South African fire pit with tables set around, similar to a barbecue in America. Tonight, we were graced with Gerhard's presence as he shared stories about life in the bush and we shared more about our lives back home. Despite only knowing our group for a few days, it seemed like we have known each other forever. Our meal in the boma was steak, grilled chicken, pap, and cooked carrots. Dinner was followed by Malva cake and custard. Absolutely fabulous!

After dinner, we sat by the fire in the boma and moved to the bar to chat until late into the evening, cherishing the fleeting moments of time with our new friends. As Kari started drifting off in her chair, we had the night porter guide us back to our room. In case not stated previously, the camp does not have fencing or lights, so they require night porters to escort us to our rooms. What a wonderful day!

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African Adventure 2014 - Chapungu Camp Day 1

As we arrived at Chapungu Tented Bush Camp, we were quickly greeted by the staff. Nataly had us sign our waivers and freshen up in our rooms before jumping in the jeep for the game drive. Thankfully, they held the jeep for us to arrive. Chris, our butler, took our drink orders when he finished showing us our room, then we were off onto the jeep. The rest of the guests on the game drive with us included Patrick and his wife Rachel, Raj and his wife Debra, and Peter and his sister Margi. Our tracker was Cedrick and our ranger was Gerhard. We quickly bonded with everyone, learning loads about each other as we set out for the drive. We soon discovered that Gerhard was a wealth of information. As we drove through the bush, we saw zebra, giraffe, impala, lion, wildebeest, duiker, kudu, and a variety of birds. There were also a load of spiders, really big ones, that often spun their webs across the road. Soon Raj was squealing like a little girl whenever a web would hit him. He was definitely the butt of a lot of jokes. Kari also started looking concerned when the rest of the guests said they found them in their rooms. By big spider, we mean huge! About 3 or more inches long! Yikes!

When we stumbled across the lions, they were majestically sleeping. We got right up next to them to take our photos before moving to search out the elusive leopard.

After about 2 hours of driving around the bush, we stopped for a sundowner, a rest for drinks and snacks. We had lemonades, a type of their beef jerky and dehydrated banana chips. It was quite delicious.

Back in the vehicle, we continued our game drive and received a treat of giraffes and zebras walking down the road towards us. It was absolutely beautiful! Near the camp, we encountered some waterbuck, that apparently enjoy hanging around camp.

When we returned to camp, we were given an hour to freshen up before dinner. We both had the chicken dish, while enjoying the company of our new friends. Patrick and Rachel are from Chicago, Raj and Debra are from Vancouver, Peter is from Scotland and Margi is from Johannesburg. It was amazing to see that many North Americans in one spot. We also learned that all of the couples were married last summer and the guys were all the same age. Dinner was absolutely fantastic!

Following dinner, we migrated over to the bar for a night cap and hang out for a bit. It was lucky we did as were able to watch a family of elephants eat their way through the camp. Impressive! Once the elephants left, we all returned to our tents to get some rest before the morning game drive.

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African Adventure 2014 - Transfer from Cape Town to Thornybush

We awoke to yet another beautiful morning in Camps Bay. After we finished packing, we checked out of our room and sat down to enjoy our last breakfast at Primi Royal. It was delicious as usual.

While we were eating breakfast, our driver, Jason, arrived to collect us and take us to the airport. Jason, like many of the local people we met, was born and raised in Cape Town. It certainly seemed like a fabulous place to grow up. During our drive, we were able to learn more about Cape Town and share a little about the US.

Once at the airport, we proceeded to check-in like any other airport. The differences occurred with security. While we do not expect other places to have the same security standards as the US, it was amazing how easy it was to get through. Basically, put things on conveyor belt, empty pockets and walk through metal detector. Ben forgot to take his watch off, so he tripped the alarm, resulting in a pat down by a friendly South African security guard.

Inside the terminal, we set off to find water. We dumped ours unnecessarily out of habit from flying in the US. Before long, we were boarding a bus to catch a ride to our "gate". We use gate loosely because it was more of a parking spot with a sign indicating which gate it was. Our jet was similar to many small regional jets, just big enough to fit relatively comfortably. Unlike the US, we were served a full lunch, despite it being only 2 hours in duration.

The airport in Nelspruit appeared much like you would expect an airport in the bush to look. It was relatively small (you walked in from the tarmac directly into the baggage claim) with a thatched roof. It was absolutely stunning, as airports go.

Our bags were some of the first ones off, but we were in conversation with another couple from the States, one of the first American we had encountered. Our driver, Edgar, was waiting outside the baggage claim for us and off we were on our 2.5 hour drive to Thornybush.

Somewhere in the planning, Kari did not realize we had an option to fly all the way to Thornybush versus fly into Nelspruit and drive the rest of the way. Edgar apologized for the route, but Ben said that he picked it, to everyone's surprise. Ben's rationale was that we were going to travel the same duration of time; however, in the car, we would be able to see things we may not get to see on the game reserve. Ben was right about that. Not only did we drive through several towns and villages, our travel agent scheduled a stop at the Marula Market. The Marula Market had a variety of artisans trading their wares along with dinner and cultural demonstrations. Unfortunately, we did not have much time to look around, or we would risk missing our first game drive. We quickly found a few items of interest and jumped back into the car to finish our journey. Edgar was a wealth of information; we learned a lot about the area and people during our drive.

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African Adventure 2014 - Cape Town Day 4

Thanks to the super windy night, Ben had trouble sleeping in on what was turning into a rather lazy day. The weather had already canceled our plans to go shark cage diving, so we decided to sleep in a bit before going to breakfast. Once Kari arose, we headed down to grab breakfast in the hotel. Ben had a cheese, bacon, and sausage omelet with white toast, fruit and loads of the breakfast blend juice. Kari, now knowing that they made fresh-to-order food, had a poached egg, some toast, fruit and yogurt. As we enjoyed our breakfast, we discussed our plan for the day, hiking to the base of Table Mountain and take the funicular to the top. (Note: funicular is their word for tram.) The wind was howling in the bay, causing spray to fly across the water deep out at sea.

Thinking that Table Mountain is likely shut down, we asked before beginning our journey to the mountain. Sure enough, Table Mounatin was closed for the foreseeable future. Silly weather thwarted us again.

Having a rest day forced upon us, we chose to make the best of it. We journey from the hotel down to the beach to watch part of the Argus Cycle Tour. On the walk down, we started to feel the awesome power of the wind, knocking us around as we walked. Many of the roads in and around Cape Town were closed for the bike race, reducing the options of what was available. Near the center of Camps Bay on the main drive, the Cycle Tour placed a DJ, some cheerleaders and a pedestrian bridge to cross the road. We had fun watching the race and listening to the DJ chat on about a wide variety of topics.

Remember the wind? It was super strong and occasionally battering the cyclists around. Having spent a lot of time riding in intense winds, we could understand their suffering. Some were taking the race seriously, while others were having more fun with it, adorning a variety of costumes. Despite being 7km from the finish of the 110km race, most people seemed to be in good spirits.

Perhaps that was why. Only 7km to go!

After a while, we journeyed along the course to Clifton, enjoying the wind assist with our walk. Unfortunately, when we turned around, there was a massive headwind waiting to greet us. At times, it brought us to a standstill, almost strong enough to completely support Kari's weight. We fought our way back through the wind to Camps Bay to have a snack and get cleaned up. The rest of our day consisted of alternating watching the bike race and packing up in preparation for our next stop in our African Adventure: Kruger!

Dinner tonight was at Hussar Grill, one of the best steak restaurants in all of Cape Town. Even though it was only a short walk from the hotel, the wind certainly added to the challenge. Yes, you read that right, the intense winds were still upon us. Our meal was absolutely fantastic! We shared some traditional boerewors (a kind of South African sausage) and cured springbok carpaccio. Ben had a gemsbok filet and Kari had an ostrich filet. All of our new meats were amazing! For dessert, Ben had a sundae with their signature dark chocolate and Kari had the Malva cake, similar to bread pudding. What an awesome meal! We enjoyed it so much that we were wishing we would have tried it earlier in our stay to be able to visit more than once. Now we know for the future!

Our walk back to the hotel was assisted with the wind. At times, we were moving so fast that we had to run for our legs to keep up with our bodies! What a wild experience! Back at the hotel, we got some rest before leaving in the morning.

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African Adventure 2014 - Cape Town Day 3

With a rather late start to the day planned, we awoke slowly and worked our way down to breakfast at the hotel. They offer a variety of fruit, cereal and juices, in addition to fresh, made-to-order meals. Ben had loads of the common "breakfast blend" juice, wishing this was available in the States, some fruit, a cheese omelet (communication malfunction) and some toast. It was very delicious. Kari just had some fruit, yogurt and granola/cereal. Following breakfast, we continued to get ready for our private tour. Ben's stubbornness continued to grow, seeking to not be denied his shark cage diving experience. Before we were ready to head out on our tour, Ben expressed his desire to get onto a shark cage dive, saying that we were willing to do whatever and whenever. We only need to know when to wake up. As luck would have it, before we left on our tour, they found a company willing to take us in the morning. Feeling cautiously optimistic, we set out with our guide to begin our journey around Cape Peninsula.

The first stop was in Muizenberg. As we discovered, Muizenberg is a surfer's mecca. Situated on False Bay on the Indian Ocean side of Cape Point, the surf and warmer water temperature created relatively ideal conditions for those just learning how to surf. During our time there, there must have been hundreds of surfers throughout the beach and first 50 meters in the water. Our guide, Netemba, said we should feel the Indian Ocean, so we took our sandals off and walked down into the water. While it was warmer than the Atlantic, it was not much warmer.

Following Muizenberg, we set off along the peninsula to Kalk Bay. We stopped at the harbor to walk out onto the pier. Right as we stepped onto the pier, some Cape fur seals were playing below us. We stopped to watch before continuing on to see the fishermen on the rest of the pier. Unlike most dock fishing that Ben is aware of, these fishermen were using poles designed for deep sea fishing. There were even slots in the pier for the fishermen to put the poles in while waiting for a fish. Ben asked one of the fishermen what he was hoping to catch. He said that it changes based on the weather and they never really know what why may catch.

Once we took a few pictures of Kalk Bay, we proceeded back to our seal friends, watching the little ones fight for a dominant perch below the big, dominant seal. Essentially fighting to be #2. At this point in our journey, Kari was already super excited about the rest of our day. Our first two stops had been great. Now off to Simonstown and the Boulders Beach Penguin Colony.

When you think of animals found in Africa, what comes to mind? Camels, giraffes, lions, elephants, cheetahs, rhinos, hippos, etc. Penguins? Not so much. Sure enough. There is a fairly large penguin colony of African Penguins on the coast of False Bay in Simonstown.

Before entering the penguin colony, we walked along the boardwalk towards Boulders Beach, encountering several penguins and dassies along the way.

What is a dassie? That is a great question! Dassie is the Afrikaans word for rock hyrax or rock rabbit. This strange little creature's closest living relative is the elephant. When you look at this furry, brown creature about the size of a small dog or cat, the last thing that comes to mind is elephant, but so it is!

After our journey along the boardwalk, we ventured into the penguin colony. We commenced our typical zoo/museum protocol: read every sign throughout. As we got closer to the water, the air temperature, thanks to the wind, continued to plummet. Along our way, we discovered that the penguins had man-made burrows designed to simulate a nest, in addition to lots of plants and trees to provide the necessary resources to build their nests. Like all of the other tourists, we snapped many photos of the penguins relaxing on the beach, trying to identify the young ones from juveniles from adults. On our way back out, we stumbled across a penguin warming an egg. Super cute!

Before getting back on the road, we grabbed some drinks from Cafe Penguino. In America, we have deer crossing signs; however, in Cape Town, they have watch out for penguin signs. They sure mean business. No sooner had we exited the parking lot had we stumbled across a penguin in the road.

The drive from Simonstown to Cape Point was absolutely beautiful. It hugged the coast line part way up the mountainside, providing stunning vistas to the mountains across the bay. One strange sign we encountered along the drive was "Baboons are dangerous and attracted to food". We both ask our driver about the baboons, completely surprised for the potential to see baboons on this leg of our journey. Sure enough, within a few minutes after entering the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, we came across our first of several baboon traffic jams. While we are fairly used to buffalo traffic jams, this was our first baboon traffic jam. Unlike buffaloes that generally just use roads as convenient and easy methods of travel, baboons spread out and bask in the sun on them. A few stay off to the sides to watch and others will walk towards the cars; however, a good number were just laying on the road getting a tan. One baboon made it onto the roof of a car in front of us, trying to get closer to the humans and their tasty treats inside. It rode along on the roof for a while before jumping off and continuing its day.

What a wild experience!

Before long, we arrived at the parking lot for the ascent to Cape Point. We jumped out and stared in awe of the site. Only a few hundred meters from us was the tip of Cape Point and the confluence of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. We admired the coastlines before we began our assault on the climb leading up to the lighthouse and the point itself.

Of course along the way, we stopped to take the typical tourist photo next to the sign. Who doesn't?

After sitting in the car all morning, it felt nice to get out and stretch the legs a bit. We often wondered if our guide was going to make it. He often looked winded and struggling to keep up. Granted, he did have the challenge of trying to keep up with us and we certainly enjoy pushing ourselves. Once we reached the lighthouse, we took some photos and noticed the sign indicating distances to major cities around the world. Ben asked if it was possible to see Antarctica, to which our guide responded that it would have to be a really clear day. We saw a path to get to the tip of Cape Point and the currently functioning lighthouse and naturally set off. We scampered on some ruins along the way, really trying to soak in the moment. When we reached the end, we stood in awe for a few minutes before heading back out to find the Cape of Good Hope.

On the drive down to the Cape of Good Hope, we spotted some ostriches, yet another interesting critter on our journey for the day. The sign at the Cape of Good Hope seemed much more crowded than Cape Point, so we bypassed the sign to climb to the lookout point instead. Able to see the Atlantic, along with the functioning lighthouse on Cape Point, it provided a stellar view. The waves crashed hard onto the rocks below, demonstrating the sheer power of the water. We later learned that the Cape of Good Hope is also known as the Cape of Storms and that there are many shipwrecks off shore.

When we climbed down from the lookout, we waited in line to take a picture with the Cape of Good Hope sign. Ben felt really bad for the guy in front of us as he was stuck with the chore of photographing a lot of people, individually and as a group. We walked to the shore to get closer to the waves crashing onto the rocky beach. Very powerful.

Noting that it was getting late in the day, we opted to skip the ostrich farm and begin the journey back. It was a good thing we did.

As we arrived at the gate to Chapman's Peak Drive, the gate attendant, appearing ready to close the gate, waved us through. Whew! We made it with about 2 minutes to spare. We had been told this is one of the most beautiful roads in the world with some absolutely stunning views. They were right! It ranks as one of the most beautiful drives Ben has ever been on along with the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park. Ben had our driver stop in the middle of the road to take a picture of one of the bridges/tunnels. Kari thought this was a bad idea; however, there was no traffic and Netemba agreed.

When we made it to Chapman's Peak, we were signaled by security personnel to keep going as they were closing the road in preparation for the Cape Argus Cycle Tour. In case you are unaware, the Cape Argus Cycle Tour is the largest cycle race in the world with over 35,000 participants. Trying to heed his wishes, we quickly snapped photos of Hout Bay and continued on. It was a little disappointing that we could not capture it all in pictures.

After leaving Chapman's Peak Drive, we drove into Hout Bay. We were told there was an amazing working harbor and boats we could catch to go to Seal Island, home to over 60,000 seals sometimes highlighted during Discovery Channel's Shark Week. Unfortunately, we arrived into town too late and all of the harbor and boat rides were closed for the day.

Not wanting to end the day on a bust, Ben asked Netemba if we could go to Signal Hill, seeing that there was a little daylight left. Kari had asked what Signal Hill was over the few days previous, so Ben figured we could go find out together.

Signal Hill overlooks Cape Town and Camps Bay. With the sun setting rapidly, hordes of people were getting into position to watch the sunset over the Atlantic. Signal Hill provided exceptional views of Robben Island, Table Mountain and the Mother City below. It also marked the end of a long and exciting day.

Back at the hotel, we were informed that our shark dive for the next day was cancelled due to weather. Bummer! We totally struck out with shark cage diving on this trip. Next time we are in South Africa, we will have to do that, perhaps even take the PADI Great White course offered by Shark Diving Unlimited. We were also informed that though we were unable to get into Hussar's, they were able to get us a table at the Codfather.

While waiting for our reservation, we went up to the room to change and drop our stuff from the day. The Codfather is an internationally known seafood restaurant. Also, they do not have a menu, only a wine list. Their menu is either at the sushi bar on the rotating carousel or in the glass counter in the seafood portion of the room. If you know anything about Ben, you probably know that he does not like seafood. Strange choice of restaurant for someone with his culinary interests. Cape Town is internationally known for its seafood and Ben wanted Kari to have the ability to try their fresh seafood at its finest. Plus, they did offer two non-seafood options: beef or chicken stir fry. Kari excitedly picked out her meal from the counter: a few different kinds of prawns and some butterfish. Ben chose the chicken stir fry. Boring, we know. Kari absolutely loved her meal, especially one of the prawns, noting that they did not require any of the provided sauces. Ben's stir fry was ok. Kari was happy and that was all that mattered. Following dinner, we tried to get gelato on the beach, but we were unsuccessful as all shops had closed.

Back at the hotel, we made another booking at Hussars for the next night, hoping to sample some of the best steak in Cape Town before we left. We wrapped up the evening with a quick Skype call to Kari's Dad before getting some rest.

Click here for photos from our African Adventure!