It’s not every day you came across polite monkeys. Came across the 2 sitting in the tree watching who’s food they may devour. One had his legs crossed and the other all lady like keeping those knees together.
Elephant Bathtime in the Kruger National Park
While in the Kruger National Park in June 2017 with my mom and dad we came across this elephant at Leeupan waterhole during bath time.
Off To The Bath I Go
Gentle Splash All Over
Lets Dig Those Knees Into The Mud
A Bit Of Mud Kicking
And Lift That Trunk Up For The Splash
SPLASH!!!
Now What! How Do I Get Up
We Can Do This
Just A Little Momentum
And We Are Almost There
I Think Thats It
Time To Head Off
Update #2: The Mother City – A long time coming
Wow time really flies when you having an amazing holiday. There has been so much that we have done I don’t even know where to start.
On Tuesday 24 November I was booked to go seal snorkeling with Cape Town Bucket List. That is something I wouldn’t normally do but I did it. Only one problem is I get sea sick lol. After fighting to get my wetsuit on I hopped onto the boat and we raced around to Duiker Island just outside Hout Bay. That wasn’t so bad. BUT when I had my head down for a few minutes to fit my flippers and picked my head up again. Oh oh. Well I tossed myself in the water and paddled across towards the seals. I had a good time out there. Did lose my breakfast tho. But at least I wasn’t alone hanging off the side of the boat on the way back haha
Then on Wednesday we decided to meet up with my cousin and do some exploring around the Constantia Wine Valley in Cape Towns Southern suburbs. In not a wine drinker. But enjoy sightseeing around the wine estates. We started off at Groot Constantia where we did a cellar tour. It’s interesting seeing how wine is processed to get it to the finished product. We were shown the distilleries, fermentation tanks etc etc. that is probably one of the nicer estates. Beau Constantia up the road had a very modern tasting area but wasn’t quite blown away by the appearance. Same as Steenberg Estate. They seemed to have gotten very modern and missed something. Buitenverwachting I enjoyed a lot. Nice rustic date feel.
After we finished up at the wine estates we headed on back to Hout Bay but the scenic Ou Kaapse Weg and Chapmans Peak. Very beautiful scenic drive with amazing views over Hout Bay. That evening we had dinner at Pescarne in Hout Bay. That was by far the best steak I have ever had. I would recommend them to everyone
Upon heading back into the City we took a ride on the Cape Wheel situated at the V&A Waterfront. It isn’t something I would reccommend as it is a little pricey but I suppose when u coming in with Euros and Pounds and dollars it isn’t too bad. Coe Town tends to get a bit pricey for the locals so it’s advisable to keep an eye on websites like groupon and daddy’s deals for awesome deals which makes things a little more affordable.
Thursday morning my dad was having a bit of a rest so me and mom headed out for a drive. Weather wasn’t too happy. Was drizzling and lotsa cloud cover. We started out heading towards roads memorial on the side of table mountain. It’s quite a spectacular monument. Then we decided to take a drive into the University of Cape Town (UCT) campus. It is interesting to see the amount of students that attend the university. Couldn’t quite see much more else there so we moved on. We went meandering through the very fancy suburb of Bishops Court which is situated not too far from the contantia wine valley. There are very spectacular houses there. I can’t even imagine what those properties go for.
Eventually we hit the road again and headed off for Muizenberg on the false bay coastline. We parked the car and we took a walk towards the main beach but then we got a bee in our bonnet (a weird idea). Well we decided to purchase train tickets and we caught the Metro Rail train into Simonstown. We done the train before but never with so little planning. We had a really good time. En-route to Simonstown due to high seals the railway line wall washed away so we were all transferred onto busses from fish hoek. Upon arriving we took a short walk into town. Popped our heads into the naval base. For those who don’t know the South African Navy is stationed in Simonstown. We had a small bite to eat at the Light Hiuse Cafe. after catching the train back Muizenberg we started our big trek back to the hotel
That evening we enjoyed dinner at the Springbok Pub at Newlands. We had a good time there. The restaurant is located directly behind Newlands cricket stadium.
Friday we decided to visit the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. It is absolutely beautiful there. The gardens are located on the slopes of table mountain at the rear. It’s an affordable day out. You can bring picnic baskets if you wish but there are restaurants there as well such as Moyo. After the gardens we made our way to Charlys Bakery. There cupcakes are absolutely amazing. They are very rich so approach with caution hahahaha.
Saturday morning was a big touring day. We started up at Vredenheim Wine Estate and Big Cats Park. On the estate they have a collection of big cats such as lions, cheetah, leopard, tiger etc etc.Very interesting tour. The tour included wine tasting but we didn’t do that. 3kms up the road we made our way to Spier Eagle Encounters. Eagle Encounters is a big bird rehab centre. They rehabilitate birds that have been found injured or confiscated.
Then we trekked along to Paarl to visit Fairview and Spice Route. They are stunning estates, at fairview they specialize with cheese made from goats milk. And Spice Route they hsteve delicious home made ice cream, craft beer tasting, chocolate tasting etc etc.
We made our way back to the city and went up signal hill to watch the the tandem paragliding jumps off the mountain. And then finally our dinner stop at The Famous Butchers Grill.
Yesterday morning we started making our way up the west coast towards Club Mykonos in langebaan. It is about 2 hours from Cape Town. We had a braai in the evening and went for sundowners at the marina.
This morning I’m off to have a swim in the Lahore and then we are off yo Wimpy for breakfast then we going for a drive to Paternoster.
Laters 🙂
Update #1: The Mother City & Wine Estates
Wow since we touched down on sunday we been gallivanting all over the place here. We like to do the tourist thing when we here. There is just so much to fit in.
On Sunday afternoon we checked into our hotel at about 14:30 then unpacked and made ourselves at home then headed off to the V&A Waterfront, there is always a vibe there. We took a little stroll along the quay to have a look at the ships and yachts etc etc. The Royal Navy Young Endeavor was docked there not too far from the S.A.S Agulhas. We pigged out a bit at the food court. (Note to self: the Doritos double crunch jacked up burger from KFC is veeeeeeery hot).
Then we headed off for table mountain. By the the temperature was plummeting fast so we were wondering at the cable way entrance why we are sooooo daft to be doing this to ourselves. Well the cable car arrived and in we got and we began our +/- 700m ascent to the top of table mountain. We got out at the top just to be surprised how pleasant it was at the top. The sunsets at the top are just sooooooooo amazing. The colors are just soooooo beautiful and the cloud formations are breathtaking. We spent approximately 1 1/2 hours at the top of table mountain. Loooooove the giant cookies from the Shop at the Top shop & restaurant. Well then we headed back down and made our way back to the hotel.
Yesterday morning after breakfast we headed down to the Durbanville Wine Route. We started off at the Hillcrest Olive and Wine Estate before moving onto Nitida and Bloemendal and Durban Hills Wine estate. I’m not a wine enthusiast or anything but from the family we were with Apparently the wines were pretty good.
Upon Rriving back in the city we headed up signal hill to watch the tandem paragliders jump off signal hill and land in sea point down below
Then we were our way back to the waterfront to get supplies for the car. While we on our travels. I love just sitting around at the Waterfont. Watching the people passing by and boats coming in and out. We topped off our night at Santa Ana Spur at the waterfront
Travelling on a budget (Remember the little things)
When travelling local or abroad there are so many expenses that pop up that didn’t quite cross your mind and land on the budget. Im gonna try and expand on these forgotten items.
1. Visa’s. When travelling to a foreign country remember to check visa requirements for the country you are visiting. Some countries allow you to get one at the airport beforehand but others you may need to organize a couple weeks in advance.
2. Travel Light. When you go on a holiday abroad you tend to buy alot of stuff so you dont wanna land in a sticky situation at the airport when you about to head back home and you have to pay in for the overweight suitcase.
3. Car Rentals. When hiring a car be very careful about one way rentals (where you pick up the car in 1 location and drop it off in another location). Remember to fill up the rental car before you return the car to the agency as they will charge you for the fuel and a service fee to get the car filled up.
4. Transportation. When travelling to a country with a functional public transport system check if they have travel passes. You will often find them with 1 day, 3 day or 7 day passes which give you unlimited travel within a specified area. Paying for individual trips can work out very costly.
5. Commuting. In cities like London where accomodation in the city can get very pricey try and find accomodation in one of the further out zones where the oyster travelcards will work. The moment you get out of that oyster travelcards area you coul pay in the region of R500 (£21) for a daily return trip. Which in my mind I’ll rather put towards staying closer to the city.
I’ll expand on this in a few days
Happy Travelling
Travel South Africa 