Cape Town to Victoria Falls

After a full day of rest and recovery, we are off to our first adventure - an action packed small group tour hitting the highlights of the Cape Peninsula. We are thrilled to be returning to South Africa and Cape Town specifically as it has remained on the top five list of our favourite destinations. Its beautiful coast left us wanting more and today that dream was realized. Our driver picked us up at 7:20am and we headed to our first stop - Maidens Cove in Camps Bay. Here we saw the 12 apostles shrouded in cloud on the back side of Table Mountain and the tidal pools where people were swimming despite the high waves, strong current and the cold temperature of the water (5 degrees). We continued along the picturesque coastline to Hout Bay Harbour where we opted to take a boat to Seal Island. We were not able to leave the full Bay Area due to high swells to get close to Seal island but did a circle tour of the bay and caught sight of the seals who had taken refuge there while the seas remained rough. The next highlight was a drive along Chapman’s Peak- a 593 meters high, 9 kilometre route containing 114 curves. This is one of the most spectacular marine drives in the world and has been in a number of movies including Spectre with James Bond. What an absolute thrill! In an attempt to beat the crowds we bee-lined it to Boulders beach where we were able to view some of the 2500 breeding pairs of African Penguins at close range in their natural habitat. As we walked along the boardwalk, we also saw some Rockhopper penguins who were moulting. Both of these species were a first sighting for us. From Boulders beach we headed to lunch at the Black Marlin restaurant at Miller’s Point.Read more

We departed at 6:30 am when it was cool and we were chilled by the wind in our open 4 x 4 but it quickly warmed up and temperature was registering 39 degree Celsius when we returned at 4:30 pm. The pool was once again a life-saver. We saw a vast array of incredible animals and our local guide covered a lot of territory in this large 8,600 square mile park which centers on the Etosha Pan. As our guide explained, it is not a zoo and the results of searching for the animals is unpredictable. Roads were very bumpy and the sun was hot but we were not dissuaded. We were not able to spot any of the cat family except the backside of a lioness but were very pleased with what we did see. Our dinner tonight was a traditional African Meal cooked by Trust and Brian. We had Bup, made from maize, relish, cooked spinach and peanut butter, sausage and steak. Yum, yum. Gilles asked for the recipe. Lol! Test your knowledge by trying to identify these animals; Southern Oryx, African Elephant, Steenbok, Black Rhinoceros, Side-Striped Jackal, Plains Zebra, Shrub Hare, Slender Mongoose, Blue Wildebeest, Red Hartebeest, Springbok, Male and Female, Greater Kudu, Giraffe, Common Warthog, Male and Female Ostrich, White Rhinoceros, Lioness, and the Black-Backed Jackal.Read more