Our South African Honeymoon Adventure Part 2: Cape Town & Surroundings

Day 5: March 13, 2012 (Tuesday) Continued

So for the next leg of our journey ... Richard (our guide) drove us to the airstrip on the game reserve, about 20 minutes away from the Lodge. As we drove alongside the runway, we observed 3 zebras trotting along. At the end, there was no building; simply a very small aircraft called a Cessna which had enough space for the pilot, co-pilot, the two of us and our bags!! Pretty thrilling; can I now say I've flown on a private jet?! I'm going to say yes...

"In the unlikely event of an emergency, you are absolutely f___ed"

We flew to Nelspruit/Kruger airport. Amazing views from the plane as it flies at a much lower altitude but I did feel slightly queasy even though I took anti-travel sickness pills. The airport was much bigger than the shack at Hoedspruit and had a slight feel like the Koh Samui airport - tropical. Whilst sitting down we were approached by some people - Paul and Jill, the English couple who had left the safari the day before us! They had gone off to do the panoramic tour before continuing their journey from Hoedspruit [Note to self: Panoramic tour sounds interesting, must look up the various landmarks]. The flight itself was uneventful and took about 2.5 hours, most of which I spent dozing/getting neck cramps.

View of the Bush from the Cessna

We were met at Cape Town International Airport by Mark, who will be our guide for the guided Cape Point and Winelands tours. My first impression of Cape Town is that there is a bit of affluence - there seemed to be plenty of BMWs and Lexus in the airport carpark (or parkade, as they call it here). On the way to the Westin, we drove past Table Mountain as the 'Tablecloth' of clouds was settling in; we also drove past the hospital where the world's first heart transplant operation was done in the 1960s (the patient died 9 days later - his body rejected the heart, which had been donated by the parents of a girl killed in a car crash).

The Westin itself is lovely and centrally located. My favourite part is the staff, I think they are very helpful, particularly the concierge who helped us book various activities (shark cage diving) and also restaurants. We were assisted by Christian, from Romania originally. The Consultant was also impressed and tipped him with the Rand that his mum gave us (her leftovers from a previous trip to South Africa) - which turned out to be counterfeit notes. Eeek!

Oh and of course I love the bed here. The Consultant and I may have to purchase one of these 'heavenly' mattresses from Starwood one day!

For dinner we went to Marco's African Restaurant;

• Starter: Mixed carpaccio of crocodile, ostrich and springbok. The crocodile tasted quite fishy but with a firm, meaty flesh. The ostrich and springbok tasted quite similar (both delicious also).
• Main: Serengeti Platter consisting of grilled crocodile tail, grilled warthog and Senegal chicken (like a chicken in peanutty coconut curry). My favourite was the warthog, which had a gamey beef + pork taste. Kind of difficult to describe but definitely more similar to beef than pork. The crocodile tail tasted great but I stopped eating it because halfway through I started to encounter bones and couldn't pick them out beforehand due to the dim light. The Senegal chicken was OK but not particularly spectacular.

Marco's African Restaurant

The restaurant was quite busy and in the background there was a live band beating on the drums, playing the xylophone (probably the African equivalent, rather) and 3 women singing and swaying their hips. I'm not sure if many of the clientele were African but certainly a few were.

Day 6: March 14, 2012 (Wednesday)

Not much chance of a lie-in yet. Yesterday we asked Christian (the concierge) to book the shark cage diving experience for us. Normally the pickups from the hotel occur at 4am!! Luckily we managed to book a later tour starting at 8.15am. So still an early start but not as killer as our 5am starts at the game lodge.

Hopped onto a mini-van that was super cramped and packed full of pople - an English couple (wife a travel agent for Virgin; husband a credit controller at Gatwick airport) sat next to us and we ere chatting away during the journey; an Argentinian couple who spoke NO English, astonishingly; an Australian couple; and 5 smelly Czech men. They really smelled as if they hadn't showered after a heavy night of boozing - this was NOT a pleasant mini-van experience!

Drove 2 hours east of Cape Town to Gaansbaai, where we unloaded ourselves from the stinky confines of the mini-van and separated to our respective tour operators. Ours was called the Shark Lady. We had a light breakfast and got briefed by Lance, the dive master. Aside from us, there were a group of young Americans, Brazilians, the same Argentinian non-English-speaking couple, a pair of Australians and a trio of Swedes. Got onto the boat and immediately felt ill despite having remembered to take the travel sickness pills (for once!). We'd been divided into 5 groups of 4 people per group. The boat was driven off shore for about 20 minutes, then the crew started 'chumming' - throwing this nasty fishguts mix into the sea to attract the sharks. 

Looks safe, doesn't it?

Finally a great white shark came into view after maybe 10 minutes! These sharks look so much bigger than any I've ever seen in an aquarium.

I was surprised at the fact their fins usually stayed below the surface. Steven Spielberg and Jaws deceived me!

Fact: The waters off the coast of South Africa contain the greatest concentration of great white sharks in the world. Anyway, we still don't know about the breeding habits of the great white shark. They have never been witnessed in the wild as a pair or a group.

You do NOT want to mess with these badasses.

Group 1 were lowered into the cage and we watched as 2-3 great white sharks circled around them. The crew in charge of chumming would use fish heads (large ones, like the size of my own head) tied to a long rope as a kind of bait to entice the sharks. Group 2 were lowered into the cage after Group 1 got out (they got to stay in the water for about 15 minutes). Group 2 didn't have the same luck - after the first 2 minutes when a shark swam past, then it seemed there were none on the horizon. So the crew decided to move location.

OK. More boat movement = more me feeling sick. we arrived at the second location where a efw shark diving boats were just leaving, and the water was a beautiful turquoise colour. However, this meant that the visibility was much poorer than at the first site. But wow! All of a sudden after a few minutes of chumming, we could see the sharks coming!

Good to go

I ended up not going in the cage with Group 4 after all - too sick and nauseated, plus it didn't seem like one could see very much whilst actually in the cage. So I stayed on the deck and watched while the Consultant went down. Whilst he was in the cage, that was when we saw the most number of great white sharks, probably about 6-7 different sharks ranging from 1.5-3.5 metres long!! When he came up, the Consultant confirmed that the viewing was far better on the boat, as well as the fact that the water was freezing despite wearing the wet suit. So he didn't end up going in the cage more than once and just sat with me at the front of the boat watching the sharks from above.

The allocated 3.5ish hours went by amazingly quickly even though I was feeling sick. Too much excitement about seeing the sharks! Lance said that we saw 10 different sharks overall. It was a super cool experience. We even got to see some teeth - generally the sharks only circled the bait instead of grabbing it, but when the Consultant was in the cage one shark came up out of nowhere, into the air and bit the fishheads .. right in front of the Consultant's face!

We made our way back to Cape Town. Mostly uneventful for me as I was generally asleep although we did have some entertaining moments with the Czech guys - they had a bathroom and vodka shot break, and tried to convince the driver to drive them all to Stellenbosch (with all of us still in the car...). Upon arriving back at the Westin, we had a quick turnaround to get ready for our dinner reservation at Sevruga on the V&A Waterfront.

The bright lights of the V&A Waterfront

Fact: The 'V&A' here for the Waterfront stands for Queen Victoria and her son Alfred, not her husband Albert.

Similar to the London Eye

The waterfront was full of tourists and locals, buzzing with noise from the pavement itself as well as the restaurants filled with people dining al fresco. We watched as a band marched along the streets of the waterfront and listened to a busker serenade us from nearby until he was odered to move on, by one of the several patrolmen. Sevruga was packed full of people, with a chic vibe. I skipped on having a starter as I ordered the seafood and crustacean platter for one - and it was huge!! There was grilled linefish, grilled prawns, 2 types of grilled calamari and rock lobster. All delicious (except for the calamari bodies, which I'm fussy about anyway) but alas even my stomach eventually had a limit.

Food heaven for species such as Cape Fur Seals, and me

Day 7: March 15, 2012 (Thursday)

Yet ANOTHER early start - Mark our tour guide was scheduled to pick us up at 7.45am. This sleepy kitty managed to get up on time though. 

He drove pst Bantry Bay, Clifton Beaches and Camps Bay (also past Millionaire's Mile) to our first destination of Hout Bay. Our goal: see Cape Fur Seals! We came aboard the Calypso boat with a Japanese tour group and -even worse- an extremely obnoxious Chinese tour group who sat on the outside deck with us. Every single stereotype about Chinese tour groups rang true for this group as they were so loud, stepped on our feet without apologising, sported tacky clashing clothes, snapped photos of each other constantly with huge professional cameras and carried umbrellas to prevent their skin getting darker!

Back to the seals. They were so cute! As we were leaving the marina, we saw a big one with a trio of smaller ones, just hanging out on one of the marina's rubber floatey things. The boat made its' way to Duiker Island where the seal colony was located - there were thousands located on the rocks there, and many were swimming in the sea. The ones in the water looked so happy! Sleek and playful, turning backflips in the water, playing with other seals. It was super funny to see a couple of them on the rocks, sliding into the ocean.

Happy flippers!

Fact: Their main enemies are man, sharks and killer whales. They are indigenous to South Africa, and breed primarily along the coast of South Africa and Namibia. They feed primarily on fish, octopus and shellfish. They shed their fur every year and can reach speeds of up to 17km/hr. The seal's life span is approximately 20-40 years, with the males (bulls) being heavier than the females (cows), weighing up to 300kg.

Oh! We also saw some dolphins swimming alongside the boat on the way to Duiker Island (they are called Heavisides Dolphins).

I did feel quite seasick - the water's swell was very big especially around Duiker's Island itself.

The boat journey probably totalled 45 minutes. Upon returning to the marina, we saw one of the seal pups pushing the other pup into the water - as if they were siblings bickering - and the dad seal waddled over on his flippers as if to tell them off. Seal drama!

On the land, we bought a few souvenirs - rhino carved bookends and a giraffe statue carved out of rock.

From Hout Bay we moved southwards towards Chapman's Peak, a viewpoint with magnificent views over the entire Hout Bay.

Some random great looking couple enjoying the great view of Hout Bay from Chapman's Peak.

Stopped for a few photos, then continued southwards: 

→ Noordhoek (North Corner)  

→ Misty Cliffs (very misty indeed)

→ Scarborough (their claim to fame is a rock that is shaped like a camel) 

→ Cape Point Ostrich Farm, where we learned that ostriches are monogamous birds and each pair have their own enclosure; also encountered baboons crossing the road

Ostrich.

Baboon.

Protea plant.

→ Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, full of protea plants (South Africa's national plant is the king protea)

→ Cape of Good Hope itself! The most south-western point in Africa, but not the most southern (about 150km away) and it is not true that the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet at this point. Oh! When we were driving away towards Cape Point, we even spotted some wild ostrich! They were grazing on the scrubs near the sea.

We made it!

Wild ostrich!!

→ Cape Point, where we walked to the top of the lighthouse and stared at the expanse of ocean in the direction towards Antarctica. London is apparently  9,623km from Cape Point.

Cape Point.

→ Lunch at Boulder's Beach Café. The food and the views were great, but service was awful. I think they forgot to take the Consultant's order or there was some kind of mix-up; I ordered oysters for starter which took 30 minutes to arrive, and the Consultant's pork belly starter arrived another 20 minutes after that. The mains arrived an hour and a half after we had sat down (I had prawn caesar salad - delicious, huge and very filling). At least our waiter was apologetic and not rude about it, but it seemed like generally the staff were not particularly diligent nor attentive.

→ After a seemingly endless lunch, we made our way onto Boulder's beach itself and finally saw the penguin colony. Also very cute!! One couldn't actually go onto the beach itself - we were standing on a built walkway above observing them.

Snapshot into the life of African penguins. Clearly, they stayed because the weather is better than in Antarctica!

Fact: African penguins are the smallest of all penguin species. Like other penguins, they are also monogamous.

From where we were standing, they looked like the perfect size for cuddling at nighttime. Their height averaged 2 ft, I think. We saw a couple of them swimming in the sea, but most were hanging out on the beach, waddling along, lying still or grooming. Managed to shoot a short video even with all the tourists around us.

→We had a short drive to Simon's Town, named after Simon van der Stel, the first governor of South Africa. The country's naval headquarters were located here and we could see some of the battleships across the marina. The British stationed their troops there during WWII and had a big great dane as the troops' pet - this dog would make sure all of the drunken navalmen were able to get home at night. So revered was this dog, named Just Nuisance, that he was made an 'Able Seaman' and given a proper naval burial when he died! We saw his statue in the square facing the naval headquarters. The architecture of Simon's Town itself reminded me of 'Wild West' meets 'genteel colonialists'.

Simon's Town

Arrived back at the Westin with enough time to shower, then head out to the V&A Waterfront again where we were due to meet the Consultant's schoolfriend (from Campbell College, N. Ireland) Jonnie, his

fiancée Amy and some of their friends. They had been dating for quite a few years when he finally proposed this past new year's eve - they had lived through an extremely scary moment like the movie "Open Water" where they had been left behind by the diving boat and thought they were going to die!! We met them at a restaurant called Quay Four, alongside Jonnie's colleague/friend Jesse, and his girlfriend Zoey. It was a great night full of laughter, great (I mean really really realllyyyyy tasty) BBQ ribs, an excess of grilled prawns and even more excess of alcohol. Jonnie immediately ordered a round of jaegerbombs and tequilas as soon as we sat down and it seemed as if they were automatically refilled once we had downed them!

An awesome night in Cape Town with friends

A few observations...

• South Africa has a much more relaxed attitude towards smoking than in the UK. We even had an ashtray in our room at Simbambili; mostly everyone who sits outside lights up.
• Few people wear high heels particularly when going for drinks. I mentioned this to Amy and Zoey and they told me CapeTonians are very laid back about dressing up. There didn't appear to be any strict dress code observed at any restaurant along the waterfront. I think I was the only one wearing stilettos!

The evening ended with Jonnie and Jesse having a shot of whisky at the bar, then Jonnie promptly vomiting into the marina. The whisky was a bad idea probably..!

Day 8: March 16, 2012 (Friday)

FINALLY a day to sleep in and relax. And what did these fools do? We both woke up around 7.30am!! I had a mild hangover and the Consultant just couldn't go back to sleep as per his usual style. So we ordered some room service for breakfast (I had the breakfast burrito - egg, turkey pastrami, salsa and guacamole; it was alright, but could have done with some seasoning) and just generally lazed about watching the movie channel. ("Battle for Los Angeles" - like a war movie battling aliens). Also squeezed in some more snoozing.

I need to go back for more loyalty card stamps.

By midday we decided to go exploring a bit more of the Cape Town area. Unfortunately the weather was looking glumly gray, so we couldn't go to the top of Table Mountain, nor would there have been much joy in going to the beach at Camp's Bay, so we took a stroll up Long Street. We passed the CBD (including the Ernst & Young's office, which was like two buildings away from the Westin) and walked for nearly 1km when we stopped for lunch at Kauai. We had been recommended to check out the smoothies - I had the Go-Goji Berry Smoothi which consisted of pomegranate, goji berry, apple and banana; very refreshing. In addition, the Consultant and I both ordered the ostrich burger, and it was awesome! It reminded me of MOS Burger in Asia - juicy and meaty with a non-plastic taste.

A bit more strolling down Long Street combined with getting harrassed by dudes wanting money, then we turned back to the hotel as it started raining and was quite chilly. Table Mountain was hardly visible! So we then decided to relax in the hotel's jacuzzi on the 19th (top) floor. Warm and bubbly. The pool was a small lap pool so I only went in for 1 lap then stayed in the jacuzzi the rest of the time, enjoying the warmth and the view over the city and waterfront.

5pm. Jonnie came to pick us up at the hotel with his pal Ross (and Ross' new baby - a shiny white VW). We picked up Amy, then headed to Newlands' stadium to watch my first ever rugby game, the DHL Stormers (from the Western Cape) vs. the Auckland Blues (from New Zealand). We had amazing seats, about 4 rows from the pitch and right at the centre halfway line. This is because some of the Stormer players were actually some of Jonnie's clients!

DHL Stormers vs. Auckland Blues

We munched on biltong (like South African beef jerky) and hot dogs, watched DHL's Dancing Girls doing their cheering and whipping off their skirts to reveal red panties, and cheered fo rthe Stormers as they battled their opponents on the pitch. Watching live is much better than watching on the screen! Rugby is certainly a lot more vicious in real life (I'm sure I heard some bodies crunching) and I'm just amazed that more guys don't break their necks while doing the scrum. The final score was 27-17; it seemed the Blues were making a comeback after having been dominated during the first half, but alas they could not defeat the mighty Stormers.

With Ari

So those present at the match included the same gang from Quay Four, plus Ross, two more guys called Matt and Tim, and also another Campbell alumni - Ari (aka Tucker?). After the match, we ended up going for drinks at Matt and Tim's super awesome apartment in Cape Town. 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom, spacious kitchen and living room (with pool table), balcony, amazing views of both Table Mountain, the city and waterfront ... all this for 11,000Rand/month (including bills, 3 carpark spaces and security). I want a place like this! I get the feeling that Cape Town might be a place where it's cheap to rent but mucho expensive to buy... Anyway, the Consultant and I were mostly chatting with Ari as they hadn't seen each other in 3 years. He's an artist/furniture designer based in Cape Town.

Midnight was rapidly approaching, and we hadn't eaten a proper dinner, nor had we packed, so the Consultant said our goodbyes while the rest of them headed off for what would undoubtedly be a very fun party night! I would have loved to join if not for the early start looming over our heads ......

Our South African Honeymoon Adventure Part 1: In the Bush

Whilst preparing for our upcoming honeymoon, the Consultant and I came across one website recommending each of us to keep a journal of our safari experience. I thought it would be interesting (plus I have the memory of a sieve...). My journal entries for Days 1 - 5 follow.

Day 1: March 9, 2012 (Friday)

Woke up earlyish (9am) in order to finish packing and wasted 2 hours of our life in Natwest. After being told that we would be able to set up a joint bank account, in the end it wasn't so. What jerks. [NB: Inefficiencies and the excess of red tape in the UK should definitely be another blog post of mine]

Enjoying the Concorde Lounge

Got to the airport about 3 hours before our flight. I never want to fly Economy Class again if I can help it. First Class passengers of British Airways in Heathrow Terminal 5 have their own check-in zone with sofas and orchids - whatever, but the big advantage is that everyone is just so smiley and helpful. The Concorde Room was über cool. The food was delicious - we shared the platter with cheese, cold cuts and paté, then for mains Rick had the BA Burger (awesome chip) while I ordered the club salad in a feeble attempt to stay 'healthy'. A few glasses of refreshing sauvignon blanc and Bollinger rosé bubbly preceded boarding the flight. 

We were born to [work hard to accumulate airmiles in order to] fly First Class

 First Class cabin was definitely better than Economy Class (the seats went down flat 180°) but from what I've seen in photos, Emirates First Class looks better. BA's in-flight selection was pretty poor, the cabin temperature itself was either too hot or too cold, and one air hostess was very surly, unable to smile throughout the duration of the flight which jarred with my expectations of service standards. But overall am so grateful for the Consultant's generous use of airmiles! I'm sure he would have been in a lot of discomfort if he'd had to sit in Economy for the whole flight.

Well I suppose we can't complain too much..

Day 2: March 10, 2012 (Saturday)

Arrived safely at Johannesburg with plenty of time to spare before our connecting flight to Hoedspruit. Totally got taken as chumps by the airport 'porters' who persuaded the Consultant to hand over a tip after he took charge in escorting us to our check-in for the connecting flight. Oh well. (He probably had a family to raise.) Stopped for a coffee and milo milkshake at Cappello, where the waiters and waitresses were wearing Al Capone hats. My overall impression of the airport - CentralWorld Mall in Bangkok, but with airplane terminals. It's huge.

The flight to Hoedspruit was fine - we went on one of these small planes with turbo propellers - when we landed, it took us ages to finally arrive at the airport building, and we were the only plane. I thought to myself 'That's when you know you've landed in the middle of nowhere....' The airport building itself was basically just a shack containing 1 living room inside furnished with sofas and animal skins. Our driver George from Eastgate Transfers was waiting for us and he was polite and friendly. Originally from Mozambique and trained to be a tour guide. Sadly his car's air conditioning seemed to consist of fan only so I was sweating pretty quickly and for most of the car journey (1.5 hours). My first impression as we were driving along is that it is far more green and wooded than expected - I guess I have been watching too many documentaries on the open plains of the savannah.

Our awesome villa at Simbambili Game Lodge

Finally we arrived at Sabi Sands Game Reserve, then at Simbambili Lodge 6km later. This place rocks!! We were shown around by Carrie, who has 'lived in the Bush' for the past 8 years. All of the staff are very friendly and introduced themselves right away. Our room is super nice - reminds me of the pool villa in Bali where we stayed 2 years ago. More detail on this later. We had lunch soon after we arrived but we were so brain dead due to not having properly slept on the BA flight that we had to have a nap after lunch until our game drive at 4.30pm.

We got into this open air big vehicle with Richard (our guide), Service (our tracker), an American couple who are also from their honeymoon, from Chicago (Dan and Mindy), and a couple from Suffolk (Jill and Paul).

Lucky on our first game drive!

Managed to see some cool stuff on our first game drive! 2 hippos (at 2 separate watering holes), loads of cute impalas, birds, some type of buffalo that had giant testicles and were peeing and defecating, an animal called a Waterbuck (like a big grey deer with antlers) and very cool, 4 LIONS!! They were totally nonplussed by our cameras flashing; one lion even sat down in the middle of the road, but then they got up as if they were tracking. We tried to follow for a bit. At one point they were actually up against the left side of our vehicle!!!

Day 3: March 11, 2012 (Sunday)

Started at 5am with a knock on our door by Richard. After getting ready quickly (including clumsily bashing my knee into the vanity corner - ouchie), the Consultant and I had a debate about leaving because I was convinced the drive started at 5.30am, but the Consultant refused to leave our villa as it was too dark. [I forgot to mention yesterday that we are not supposed to stroll on the grounds when it is dark because there are no fences - the animals are free to roam around the game reserve as well as through the lodge's property; Carrie mentioned that a rhino had walked through near our room the previous week, and that a baboon had tried to break into our room the day before we arrived...] Finally we made our way to the main area of the lodge where hot tea and coffee and cakes awaited us along with the rest of our vehicle's gang.

Make it quick, I'm eating breakfast

We set off on our morning game drive around 5.45am. About 1 minute in, our tracker spotted the tracks of what looked like a big cat, on the road near the lodge. Our first animal sighting occurred not long after, with 3 giraffes nibbling on some tree leaves nearby the lodge and generally looking content with eating their breakfast. I'd actually dreamt last night about spotting a giraffe and was recounting my dream to the gang when the Consultant spotted the trio, so I may have some ability to be a fortune teller after all (let's hope I dream of rhinos and leopards tonight!!)

We saw a few more groups of impalas at various points while we were driving; unlike other animals, they seemed easily spooked when the vehicle approaches. Oh!! We saw a lone hyena strolling along the bush and it crossed the path in front of us without having any regard to us whatsoever. It was much bigger than I thought hyenas would be. 

Hyena.

We also heard some baboons fighting in the distance, but Richard didn't want to drive in that direction because he thought it sounded as if it would be unsafe for us.

Richard motioned for us all to get out of the vehicle and pointed out a rock python to us. These bad boys can grow to be 3 metres in length and have been known to eat baby impalas! They are non-venomous constrictors and move in a caterpillar motion as opposed to S-shaped slithering. When we approached it, the snake lay perfectly still - Richard explained it could feel our vibrations and it tasted us in the air with its tongue. Creeeeepy~

Really big rock python that would kill me if I had more fur, probably.

At the Rock.

We dropped off Service (our tracker) who disappeared into the bush with a large slingshot, for the purpose of tracking a leopard. (Not sure how a slingshot would ever protect him if the leopard turned on him... even if he had great aim) Richard drove us to 'the Rock' where we could enjoy a great view of a large group of impalas - the idea was that Service would track the leopard and get it to chase the impalas for a kill while we watched from a distance. That didn't happen, but we did enjoy hot chocolate on the Rock, while observing 2 varieties of lizard (one brown, like a super-miniature komodo dragon; the other was stripey coloured) and 2 blue starlings with beautiful oil slick feathers - all while zooming in on the impalas using the binoculars. 

Eventually we hopped back onto the truck as the impalas had apparently given out alarm calls - we didn't find Service or any leopards, but we did meet the family of 4 lions that we had come across last night. The lion family are SO COOL. The family consists of all female lions. They were tracking something - perhap one of the giraffes we saw earlier (today was a good day for giraffe spotting - in addition to the first 3, we saw 2 and then one more). So we, along with 2 other vehicles, stalked those lions while they stalked their prey. They were totally at ease with the vehicles, coming up alongside ours several times. They are truly magnificent animals - instantly commanding respect.

Aren't they awesome??

Apart from the above-mentioned animals, we also spotted a gang of hippos at the watering hole (about 7-8 all in the water), more impalas, some waterbucks and an endless number of giant spiders (with body and legs extended, on average they are a quarter of the size of my palm). They are the non-dangerous ones - one has to be careful of the small spiders with big sacs. I'm grossed out either way.

It's a wonderful dream come true, to be here and experiencing all this with the Consultant. I'm so glad he thinks the animals and safari adventure are cool, too. It's super relaxing in between the game drives and as our bed faces the outdoors you can just lie down under the fan, look outside and feel at one with nature.

Voyeur

Funnily enough as I was telling my feelings about this to the Consultant, he spotted a little monkey with a black face watching us from the side window! The really hilarious part was that his monkey facial expression was that of 'guilt' as if he felt guilty about being so voyeuristic haha. He ran off as I approached him but I managed to capture him on my camera with one of his friends, who I think was a baby monkey or a very young one. He did come back again to stare at us through the window once more, what a cheeky little creature.

Aside from the amazing service, friendliness of the staff and awesome villa, a note should be mentioned about the food. I'm going to gain so much weight here!! Yesterday's lunch was excellent (I had salade niçoise, veggie springrolls and meatballs with tomato sauce); yesterday's dinner was outstanding (curried butternut squash and orange soup with coriander mascarpone for starter; kingklip fish with asparagus on top of potato rösti and served with carrot purée for my main); this morning's breakfast was highly satisfactory with cold cuts, poppyseed roll and giant stuffed omelette. I really should have joined everyone on the bush walk after breakfast but I just felt so exhausted that I napped on the lodge's sofa while they were out.. I'll be sure to go tomorrow.

Another rare species

When the bush walk finished, the Consultant had a nap back at our villa while I sunbathed outside and listened to the sounds of wind, birds and insects. Being here has definitely made me appreciate birds more, since I've been able to observe more than just the scary pigeons of London Bridge Station and thieving seagulls of Brighton Pier. While sunbathing I watched 3 birds (long grey tail feathers, grey mohawk - Richard later informed they are called "Go-Away Birds") carry out a little scene that was quite amusing. One flew down from the tree to the plunge pool and seemed curious to try tasting the water but was unable to reach it without falling in. The other 2 flew down to join it and were all peering into the water while swaying backwards and forwards as if just discovering their own reflections, all while chirping at each other in some kind of bird discussion.

2pm. Lunch was another delicious affair, with chilled creamy parsnip soup and lemon cake. All of the other guests are leaving tomorrow, except for a new couple from the USA who just arrived right before lunch time - Chris and Nisa from New York. While we were chitchatting, Jill spotted a warthog family at the watering hole nearby! There were about 3 warthog piglets which were super cute. One big one decided to roll in the mud to cool down.

The temperature today is about the same as yesterday (32°C) but with a bit more wind. Hopefully this means we'll be able to see more predators - apparently the wind makes them come hunt because they are so well disguised among the moving tall grasses.

Evening drive - AWESOME.

Animals spotted:

1 Rhino with 2 horns and several cuts on his face (a bull)

On an open plain: dozens of impala grazing and jumping; about 25 wildebeest grazing; zebras

1 Male Elephant that made a large noise to shoo the aforementioned wildebeest. We quickly drove around the bush to be in front of its' path and the elephant was walking straight towards us (but walked around the vehicle and carried on).

• 4-5 Kudu: These are like big deer with grey and white markings, and long spiral antlers
• 4 Bunny Rabbits: one was running away from us on the road for quite some time (fool...)
• 4 Bushy White Tail Mongoooses. The first one was in an open field, looked like it was nibbling on something; then 2 scampering in the bush as we drove past; then 1 ran across the road in front of our vehicle. So it turns out they can eat snakes but usually just grass snakes (not giant rock pythons).
• The same 4 lions we saw this morning and last night, just lying right on the road all next to each other. It turns out they are all lionnesses, about 3.5 years old and should be entering estrus (i.e. ready to get raped by male lions) any day now. They were just snoozing on the roadside! They came up gradually towards our vehicle, one by one (funny moment - the first one got up, came to pee beside us, walked on; the second one got up, walked and sat where the first one had peed) and kind of trapped us from moving for a short while as they lay down behind and under our vehicle. We may have been unknowingly accepted as part of their new pride...

Fancy seeing you gals again!!

Richard told us the story of the pride in which these 4 lionesses lived originally. These 4 were born in a time of turmoil, when 6 different male lions were locked in a power struggle and 2 battled to the death. The new male that took over did not want any cubs sired by the previous males to remain in the pride and would have committed infanticide, which apparently is quite common. The matriarch took all the cubs and ran away from the pride and raised them for a few years. When the matriarch and cubs ran into the pride again (the matriarch was seeking her 2 daughters who had given birth to the present 4 lionesses), she discovered her daughters had already been impregnated by the new male. The matriarch was welcomed back, but not the other 4 lionesses, since they had been sired by the other (now dead) males. What a lion soap opera! These lionesses have to be careful where they go because if they came across the pride, the dominant male will try to kill them.

Dinnertime. We first had a glass of champagne upon arriving back from the game drive as it was Paul and Simon's (another guest) birthdays. Dinner was served under the star-filled sky in the ravine below the lodge's deck, where we could occasionally hear hyenas howling and more often than not, observe crickets jumping onto the table and small spiders quickly weaving webs around my bread and the wine glass or lantern. The food was once again very delicious and I am, once again, totally stuffed. The menu: starter of potato and leek soup; chicken casserole, beef fillet (v. tender), lamb kebab, 'poptarts' (like polenta cakes), ratatouille, roast butternut squash and potato wedges. For dessert, chocolate cake (birthday cake) and Cape Brandy pudding, which was like a cross between sticky toffee pudding and Christmas pudding (I am soo going to fast when I get back to the UK... seriously).

Paul's birthday dinner under the stars enjoyed by all the guests at the lodge

Day 4: March 12, 2012 (Monday)

Last night I dreamt of cooking fish and chips as well as chicken, fish and beef fajitas. It must have been an omen because the entire day we saw very few animals out and about.

Morning game drive. Saw some impalas, but spent most of the morning tracking down a leopard, whose tracks had been spotted on a road near our lodge. About an hour and a half passed without a single sighting of this elusive creature... OR any other animals. Finally Nisa and Chris' guide and tracker in the other vehicle spotted her and we showed up where they were, as the 3rd vehicle. We were positioned on the road looking down into a ravine where this lovely creature was resting on some rock - so difficult to see because she was lying on her back and only her spotted tummy was visible. The ever-adventurous Richard decided to go on the other side of the ravine to see if we could get closer. After some serious offroading, Little Miss Leopard actually walked right in front of our vehicle and back towards the road from which we had  just arrived. How exciting! We tracked her along the road for a bit, taking turns to share the viewing with the other vehicles. She ventually walked back into the tall grasses, so our tracker Service and the other tracker attempted to follow her.. they soon radio'd in so we got into the exactly most awesome position to see her walking towards our vehicle, then resting in the shade for some relaxation and some grooming. So beautiful~

Little Miss Leopard

Fact: Leopards are highly territorial and solitary creatures. (This leopard was constantly marking her territory by spraying urine). The species exhibits sexual dimorphism, by which the males are much larger than the females. The males have much larger territories than females also.

4.30pm Evening Drive. Right before we went off, the Consultant spotted 2 Bushbucks off of our balcony, and we also heard the deep throated groan of the baboon. So many sounds out here even when all you can see is the vegetation - that's when you feel like the bush is really alive, with its' own pulse. So for the evening drive, the Consultant and I were alone in our truck with Richard and Service, while Nisa and Chris were in the other vehicle. They, as well as us, were all tracking a pair of lionesses with 2 cubs (we'd been discussing at lunchtime how much we all wanted to see cubs!!). Richard parked, grabbed his rifle; Service hopped off his front seat with his slingshot; then both went disappearing into the bush while searching for these 4 new lions. They were gone for probably about half an  hour - in the meantime the Consultant and I swatted flies and were coming up with various contingency plans in case they never returned. 

They did return eventually, but empty handed. Luckily, the 4 had been spotted by the other guide, so we quickly made our way over there. We saw the magnificent lionesses with the 2 cubs (each about a year old and likely brothers). SO CUTE. I shot loads of photos as well as a couple of video clips. They were just lazily laying in the shade as if they hadn't a care in the world. We were silently observing them when suddenly one of the cubs stood up as if it heard or smelled prey, followed by the other 3 lions; they all walked down the road for a bit very alert with their ears pricked up, but soon lost interest and plonked down again - the cubs lay on the road while the 2 lionesses lay on the grass nearby. It was really amazing to observe how some of their behaviours are so similar to household domestic cats, like grooming and cat-yoga stretching - it was super adorable when the cubs were play-swatting each other and biting each others' faces.

2 Lionesses with their cubs

In the background, we also saw a flock of guinea fowl (grey birds, quite plump, with blue heads). Lions would apparenly love to eat them but are unable to catch them.

Our next sighting was again originally spotted by Chris and Nisa's tracker - the very same leopard we had encountered earlier, she was just strolling along the road parallel to the game reserve fence, marking her territory with sprays of urine (as if she was one of those Glade Automatic Aromatic Room Sprays, but far smellier, probably). We stalked her for quite a bit as she stayed on the road and I even managed to capture footage of her looking into my camera. Absolutely awesome! We even heard her roar - it was quite a deep, gutteral noise - apparenly that was a noise to mark her territory. In the distance, one could hear the cries of monkeys and baboons. Apparently leopards are one of the few that can hunt baboons, but it's difficult as baboon find strength in numbers.

As our day ends with nightfall, hers begins

After a while, we turned off for our sundowner cocktails. Halfway through my Gin and Tonic, the Consultant said, "I think I see something coming up the road..." ... it was Little Miss Leopard!! We all stood very still so as not to alarm her or mark ourselves as potential prey. I can't believe I've stood less than 1.5metres away from a leopard in the wild!! Awesome (and potentially very dangerous)!! She just sauntered past us and continued marking her territory like nobody's business. Phew! The bush is full of surprises =D =D =D

Back at the lodge, we were greeted with chilled towels (this was usual after a game drive - and these always smelled great, not like those super sterile ones) and a glass of amarula. Some time to relax, then dinnertime. This evening dinner was served on the level just below the lodge's main living room/dining room. It was all lit up by lanterns and individual tables were arranged in a semi-circle, with a fire in the middle.

• Starter: carrot & cashew nut soup. A combination I'd never imagined but very delicious. 
• Main: Kudu with mash & seasonal vegetables (green beans and bell peppers). 10/10 
• Dessert: Cheese plate; the only one of which I am certain of the name is brie. 
• Wine: Cabernet sauvignon merlot (Matys). Excellent. We finished the bottle with Chris & Nisa while chitchatting with them in the living room above, before we all got escorted to our rooms by the porter.

Our final night at the Lodge

Forgot to mention - the other night the porter pointed out some tiny white bats sleeping in a tree. They looked like a giant white caterpillar. How on earth he knew they were there was amystery, since he wasn't shining his light on them initially!

Day 5: March 13, 2012 (Tuesday)

Today was full of adventure!

5am wakeup call. The Consultant was convinced he'd been woken up by a large animal outside our villa but we never managed to find out what it was. Anyway, we started off on our morning drive and it initially appeared as if it would be an unlucky viewing day, as we only saw impalas then nothing for ages (aside from spiders and vegetation). But wow! We ended up finding 2 wild dogs that were rumoured to be in the region - AND they were both tearing a young impala to shreds. It was quite graphic - one could see blood everywhere, hear the bones crunching as the wild dogs chomped, and we watched them rip off the impalas ears and gulp it down.

Fact: Wild dogs are very successful predators. They rely on a combination of large ears (for excellent hearing), sense of smell and stamina to track and eventually wear down their prey. The kill is quick, unlike those by lions/cheetahs/leopards which kill their prey by strangulation, effectively.

After a few minutes, one of the wild dogs (the fat one) stopped abruptly, as if it heard or smelled something. It ventured onto the road to investigate but the other one just kept munching away on the impala. Oh there was a pretty gross moment where the wild dogs tore out the impala's stomach sac and swung its' contents around, spraying partially digested grasses and stomach juices everywhere. Richard speculated that the fat wild dog may have thought a lion or leopard was nearby.

The Bush: A great place if you're a wild dog; a pretty poor one if you're an impala.

Moving on from the wild dogs, it seemed as if we drove for ages without seeing anything; then we started to do some serious offroading. We eventually found what we'd been seeking - a male lion! He was a young one, but he did have a mane. The story provided by Richard: he lived and roamed the bush with his brother, who did the hunting as he was injured. The brother lion was nowhere to be seen, and even this one was very difficult to observe because he was hiding among the tall grasses within a circle of trees (due to being injured). It's tough to be a male lion - you get kicked out of the pride after a few years, have to roam about looking for food, fight with other males for dominance, controlling the pride, rights to mate, then die a lonely death once you're no longer strong enough to maintain your grip as leader of the pride.

Another sighting, albeit very brief, was a large male warthog running off into the bush.

Our morning game drive ended with a plethora of elephants - beginning with a single bull (about 40 years old!) snacking on some tender grasses bordering a lotus pond, then an entire family of elephants foraging through the bush. This included baby elephants!! The mother-and-baby pair that came closest to our car, that baby was about 2 years old; but in the distance we could see an even smaller one which was about 6 months old. Baby ellys are so cute!

Ellys!!!

We even had a minor fright when one of the smaller elephants (a cow) decided to charge towards us. Luckily she backed off at the last minute!

An amazing last game drive. Our final moments at Simbambili Lodge consisted of breakfast (scrambled eggs with smoked salmon), packing and some relaxing outdoor cat-napping on our balcony before checkout time. I can't wait to go on safari again!