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Africa has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember, and the dream is finally happening. Read more
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  • TravelerAfrican Adventure

    Africa Bound!

    June 3, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Three flights to get us to Africa. Brisbane, Sydney and then on to Johannesburg. We had a quick trip trough security this morning, Pam and Alan weren’t so lucky. Alan has a big ass camera lens which attracted the attention of the security scanners. They took so long in there we thought they’d been arrested.
    We left Sydney at 9.30 this morning and arrived into Johannesburg at 4.00 in the afternoon, it’s been a very long day. About the only thing good about any of the flights was the free alcohol. 14 hours sitting in a very cramped space is enough for the most patient of travellers. We are just hoping there will be someone there to meet us??

    Well there was thank goodness. Two someones in fact. An airport employee who got us through a bit quicker and then a driver waiting after immigrations. We thought we’d have to go through customs as well but no stamp on our passport and straight out.
    Johannesburg is a huge city of 8 million people. All we’ve seen so far is the airport which was surprisingly empty and the industrial area around it on the way to our accommodation.
    The Residence is fancy! Don’t think we’ve ever stayed in such luxurious accommodation.    Read more

  • TravelerAfrican Adventure
    Day 3

    Johannesburg!

    June 6, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    After a delicious breakfast at The Residence we’re being taken for a tour of Johannesburg today. Our driver is Lucky his mum named him that because she was lucky to get him. 😂He kept us entertained on a six hour tour taking us to 2 of Nelson Mandela homes. One very modest one from his early years before his arrest and the big house where he spent his last years.

    A drive through the city which was full of street markets, it looked like you could buy anything there. I would have loved to have a walk around but I don’t think Lucky thought that was a good idea. Followed by a quick tour of a gold mine museum which funnily enough is in the basement of one of the biggest banks in South Africa.

    South of Johannesburg is Soweto, a city developed as a township for black people under the apartheid system. Most of the struggle against apartheid was fought in and from Soweto. The name Soweto is an acronym, made up - in apartheid days - from the first letters of the words “south western township”. It’s where Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and Hector Pieterson lived.

    Johannesburg is quite a confronting place. There are lots of people, lots of traffic, lots of crime and lots of poverty. We felt the inner city was more threatening than Soweto. The people of Soweto seemed friendlier, ready to smile and laugh with you. I was really impressed with how many sculptures and murals there where everywhere in Soweto. Disappointed I couldn’t get more photos of them some of them were so detailed. It’s a bit of an uphill battle but it nice to know someone is trying to bring some colour and art into what is really a very crowded community.

    It’s a little surreal coming back to The Residence after that. It’s a luxurious haven in this vast city.

    .    Read more

  • TravelerAfrican Adventure
    Day 4

    Wallow Lodge.

    June 7, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    I think we were all relieved to be leaving Johannesburg behind today. It’s a very foggy morning and we’re hoping that doesn’t mean the flight will be delayed. Johannesburg airport is huge but customs and immigration was quick. It’s so quite in this airport hardly any people at all, but the ones who are here are all flying to Victoria Falls.

    Arriving in Victoria Falls and it is hot, really hot and dry. Reminded us all of Western Queensland. Driving into the Lodge we saw a Giraffe right in front of the truck, he was so big, the resident
    male apparently, just wandered casually off as we got closer.
    The Lodge is gorgeous and set on 6000 hectares of National Park. After we’d checked in, had a welcome drink and a bit of a tour of the common area, they asked us if we’d like to go on a game drive this afternoon. Hell Yes!

    Our tents overlook the river and a bit of a clearing on the other side so we spent a couple of hours watching, Impala, Warthogs, Baboons and numerous birds in the trees around us and the clearing.

    The game drive was amazing. We found Elephants, Buffalo, Crocs, Warthogs, Waterbuck, Bushbuck, Impala, Hippo and so many birds. Stopped to watch the Sunset and have a drink and then back to the camp for an amazing dinner.
    Emma had organised a bottle of champagne for us and a celebration cake. Both were delicious.    Read more

  • TravelerAfrican Adventure
    Day 5

    Victoria Falls

    June 8, 2023 in Zimbabwe ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    We’ve had an amazing day today. First up was a visit from a Troop of Monkeys at Sunrise. Must have been about fifty of them jumping all around the trees above our tents. They are pretty quick and loud when they jump on the roof. So entertaining watching them.

    First off today we’re going to breakfast at the Lookout Cafe. A gorgeous cafe that overlooks Zambezi River. There has been quite a lot of rain upstream and the river is in full flow. This is adrenaline central here. They have zip lines, bungee jumping, flying foxes. Just what you need after a big breakfast.

    Then on to a tour of the falls. You can see the mist from the falls for miles. The Smoke that Thunders the locals call it. You get wet doing this tour so we all got raincoats from one of the stalls. I noticed the guide changing his shoes before we left. It didn’t take long to see why. The mist is incredible, it goes from a light mist to heavy rain and I mean really heavy rain. Wish we’d got the memo to change shoes. We were all pretty soaked by the time we finished.

    The Falls are incredible, quite hypnotic to watch, they span almost 2 klms and the amount of water coming over them every second is phenomenal. There are a lot of vantage points to see them and you have to take your changes when the mist clears but we had some amazing views between drenching.

    Back to the Lodge for a late lunch and a very short rest and then we were off on a Sundowner cruise on the Zambezi River. It’s more of a river safari and we spent a very enjoyable couple of hours looking for hippos, elephants, crocodiles, birds.    Read more

  • TravelerAfrican Adventure
    Day 6

    School visits and and heli flights.

    June 9, 2023 in Zimbabwe ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    It’s our last day in Victoria Falls. We have a village visit planned for this morning and then a helicopter flight over the falls.

    We’re off to the village early and there we met Chris the head of his little family communal plot. Lovely man and very community minded. He lives there with his children and some of his siblings and their children, 16 of them all up.

    He has given up some of his land to build a school for the village children. It is only three years old so at the moment only has preschool and grades one and two.
    The kids were all so well behaved and happy to see us. Did a little rehearsed welcome which was lovely. The government provide the teacher but that is all. The village have to provide everything else.

    After a late breakfast we were off to our helicopter ride. You get a whole different perspective in a helicopter. Great to see it from both sides and the ride goes way too quickly.

    We are waiting at the airport now for our flight to Nairobi    Read more

  • TravelerAfrican Adventure
    Day 7

    Nairobi

    June 10, 2023 in Zimbabwe ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    We’re only in Nairobi for one day and there is a full day planned. Our accomodation here is at someone’s private residence. It is a gorgeous place with beautiful gardens and hidden corners everywhere.

    First off is a visit to the Elephant Orphanage. Sheldrick Wildlife Trust started a trust for orphaned or abandoned baby elephants. Baby elephants need a lot of care and it’s a long time until they are weaned and are able to be released. They start weaning at 4 years and start introducing back to the herd at five. They are just like toddlers, fighting over the food, rolling in the mud, trying to take things off each other.

    Then on to the Giraffe Center. Nice to see them up close and be able to feed them but I’m really looking forward to seeing them in the wild. They have the longest blue tongues and are so gentle.

    Lunch was a bit of a fiasco but we did eventually get fed and watered. Had to wait so long for the food we were a bit too well watered.

    Then the Karen Blixen Museum. After a few drinks at lunch it took a bit of concentration to follow the guides commentary but we think we got the gist of it. Karen Blixen was best known for writing Out of Africa. She had a coffee plantation here for many years was much loved by the Kenyan people which isn’t surprising as she did numerous things to improve the community around her. Started a home for women of domestic violence. A school for the children. I feel like a celebrity here, there is Karen everything. School, shopping centre, hospitals. All named after me..😂
    We are staying in Karen, the suburb in Nairobi named after the famous author and where the coffee plantation was located.

    We had a quite last evening at the Hotel, game of cards and a few drinks. Because we’d had such a late lunch we all settled for a bit of soup for dinner.    Read more

  • TravelerAfrican Adventure
    1
    Day 8

    From Narobi to The Cliffs.

    June 11, 2023 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We’re got an early start today. Leaving Nairobi at 7 to drive to Nakuru National Park. It’s Sunday so supposedly not that much traffic. Holy moly so many trucks, and so many little settlements. There are speed limits for the trucks and speed bumps on the highway so it was quite a tedious drive.

    We had a break in the drive by stopping at Hell’s Gate National Park. Hired some bikes and a guide and rode through the national park to Ol jorowa Gorge. It was still reasonably early in the morning so the bike ride was lovely, not too hot and the Zebras, Giraffes Warthogs, Waterbuck, Impala, Buffalo were all still out grazing.

    Another hour and a half driving bought us to the edge of the national park. Looked pretty unremarkable when we stopped. We drove down this dodgy street with a few skinny dogs and a couple of ramshackle houses. Bit of a coffee shop and a souvenir shop.
    We had a break and then a two hour game drive into the park and around the lake to The Cliffs.

    It was absolutely amazing we saw so many animals. We are ticking them all off the list. Every time you think you can’t top that we’d see something else incredible.

    Our accomodation for the next two nights is unbelievable. Ten tents perched on the top of a cliff overlooking Lake Nakuru.    Read more

  • TravelerAfrican Adventure
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    Day 9

    The Cliffs

    June 12, 2023 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    This morning we are going on a cruise of Nakuru Lake. We’re taking breakfast with us so that’s good, gives us a bit of a later start at 8 am.

    We passed a group of giraffes and Zebras so close to the road on the way so of course we had to stop and take some photos. It amazing to be so close to them.

    The lake is a Mecca for bird life and our guide is very knowledgeable about all of them. So many birds and so many photo opportunities. There’s a lot of mammals on the waters edge too. Buffalo, Zebras, Hippos to name a few.

    They whipped out breakfast to feed us after about an hour on the lake. It’s amazing how they keep everything hot. We had eggs and potato scallopy things, chia pudding with fruit and peanut butter, pancakes ,croissants, juice, coffee. I think they were a bit disappointed we couldn’t eat it all. I’m sure the guys finished up our leftovers.

    This lake is know for flamingoes and there were certainly a number of them but they were hard to get close to and hard to photograph. The bonus while we were watching the flamingoes were a pair of hippos coming back into the water after feeding. Such beautiful big creatures, supposedly one of the most dangerous in Africa although they don’t look it.

    The giraffes were waiting for us on the way back to The Cliffs, and again when we went for a game drive later that afternoon. We’ve seen so many gratifies and zebras here and this afternoon we had a treat in store. We saw our first lion sighting and a mother and baby White Rhino plus another group of about fifteen or twenty rhinos all grazing on the marshes.

    The Cliffs is a gorgeous place to stay, two nights here hasn’t been long enough. We feel very spoilt.    Read more

  • TravelerAfrican Adventure
    Day 10

    Off to the Massai Mara

    June 13, 2023 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Another early start today, we’re catching a light plane to the the Massai Mara. It’s a 2 hour drive to the airstrip and our guide is worried about getting us there on time so we’re leaving at 7.

    He’s got his foot down this morning but we did have time to stop for a lioness just a few meters off the road and then her cub sitting up looking at us a few meters on. She is the head lioness and has a tracking collar on. Only the head lioness has the collar, supposedly if they know where she is they know where all the Pride are.

    Jim knows a shortcut back to the main road so we can avoid some of the truck traffic that is so horrendous on that highway. Skinny little rutted dirt road and Jim was flying along at more than 100 ks, I think I was 2 inches shorter by the time we got back to the highway.

    The plane came right on time. It’s more or less a milk run between the different camps and we landed once to drop some people off and then another quick ten minute flight to our airstrip. This airstrip is busy, six little planes landing and one bigger one. Lots of people changing planes, I’m sure they must be timed to all land at similar times because five minutes after we landed they were all gone.

    The Massai Mara is totally different to where we’ve just come from. It is wide open savannah with the odd tree here and there. The are more trees around the river beds and waterholes. Definitely big sky country, you can see for miles.

    We have a Massai Warrior guide here. His name is Joseph he has two wives and six children, pretty normal here apparently. It took us about an hour to drive back to camp stopping a few times to look at Giraffes, Impala, Waterbuck, Topis, Tommys, there are so many grazing animals here, lots of birds too. Almost at the camp and we came across a pair of mating lions, oh my goodness they were so close, and then started walking right up to the car. This car has no windows and no roof and I was thinking that’s it we’re going to be eaten but they just circled around and keep going. Phew!!!
    Joseph tells me they see the car as one entity, too big for them to worry about, until someone gets out. There was another car next to us and they settled into its shade. It had a little boy in it and I think he waved his arm out the window. Something anyway for the male lion to snap at it. I nearly wet my pants. 😂    Read more

  • TravelerAfrican Adventure
    Day 11

    Massai Mara

    June 14, 2023 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    What else can I say about African Safaris. Just when you think you’ve had the most amazing sightings something else incredible happens.

    Today our safari started at 6 am. Wake up call from the staff at 5.30 with a cup of coffee to our tent. Our camp is just near the river and we could hear Hippos, Lions, Wild Dogs and Baboons all night. There is no fence so the staff patrol the boundaries all night to make sure we don’t get eaten I guess.

    This morning we saw Mating Lions, Cheetahs, A big herd of Elephants, Mongoose, Jackals, Elan, Giraffes, Baboons.

    Our guide Joseph is fantastic, he is constantly scanning the area for birds and animals. Sometimes he sees them so far away they are just specks in the distant for us. When he saw the Cheetahs they were a couple of hills away and we had no idea what he’d seen until he was almost there but he was on a mission to get us there as quickly as possible. They were a hunting pair and stalking a Impala. It was a bit of a standoff for a while and we thought the Cheetahs were getting ready to go when the Impala saw them. He was off like a rocket and they just casually walked away to look for something else.

    One of the Massai villages is close by and we called in for a visit on the way back to camp. The Massai people are so welcoming and so colourful. They did some welcoming dances for us, showed us around the village and of course their little market where they make belts and jewellery. We all brought home a momento.

    Back to camp for a few hours rest and we were off on another game drive in the afternoon. More incredible sightings, Hyenas pulling a Carcass to bits, a huge Black Rhino, a Massive big Massai Giraffe. A
    Pretty sunset to finish off the day.    Read more

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