South Africa

This morning it was difficult to leave the small National Park cabin I stayed in last night. It was perched 20 feet from the ocean, on a rocky bluff, and all night long I could hear the pounding surf outside. But there was a good reason to get going: for the next 1.5 days I’m…

I finished up the Otter Trail this morning at the beautiful Nature’s Valley, where that sought-after long stroll on a sandy beach awaited me. Adél picked me up and we returned to the The Plettenberg, yet another high-end luxury hotel, for another superb breakfast, this time more deserved. I was very happy that one of…

Based largely on the fact that there is a Trails Illustrated map for the city of Cape Town and Table Mountain Park, I had been looking forward to this leg of the trip since I first arrived in South Africa. Unfortunately the weather today has been awful—“On a clear day, Table Mountain would be right…

The day began at Boulders Beach, one of the classic tourist stops that I normally would avoid and would encourage others to do the same—I overwhelming prefer authentic, impromptu experiences, not mass-produced ones. However, Boulders Beach is an exception—nearly everybody who visits Cape Town visits the beach, and I’d recommend you do as well. Located…

Roller coaster-like screams took over all of us, followed by relieving laughter as the plane leveled out from its rapid ascent. I looked over at the pilot, who had an ear-to-ear grin. “It’s always a pleasure to fly with people who are willing to have some fun,” he cackled over the radio, glancing down at…

Michael dropped us off at the dock just after there was enough daylight to see. The crew was already prepping the 25-foot shark boat; the seas had subsided overnight and the captain was comfortable going out today. Our host, a very attractive 32 year-old wildlife biologist with a Kiwi accent that had me drooling, welcomed…

The reward for a wicked early-morning flight from Cape Town was landing in Phalaborwa, a small city just outside of Kruger National Park, by mid-afternoon. Adél took a “save the best for last” approach in planning the itinerary, and South Africa’s premier tourist destination—the home of its lions and tigers and elephants, oh my—was going…

My second and third nights in Kruger were spent at the Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge, one of the aforementioned privately-owned reserves that shares a fenceless boundary with public land. Sabi Sabi is apparently a hotbed for wildlife due to a relative abundance of water in the area, and as a result it’s one of the…

We began the day with the customary pre-breakfast game drive. The fall air was crisp and I was happy that the stadium-style bench seats on the Land Cruiser were supplied with wool blankets. The rangers bantered among each other (e.g. KG to his fellow ranger: “Friend, you are the best ranger at Sabi Sabi. But…

My last day in South Africa started with another pre-breakfast game drive. Somewhat sadly it was devoid of big animals, which I think everyone was disappointed by since it was our last morning at the lodge—we were all hoping that nature would put on a magical show for us, like in the YouTube video Battle…