This trip I realized how majestic and odd giraffes really are!
So we have unofficially decided to try to celebrate every anniversary with an adventure. Last year, our honeymoon was such an amazing experience. This year, we traveled even farther. I had to be in Botswana for work at the beginning of August, so we decided to meet up in Johannesburg, South Africa for a week of exploration and adventure. We had a couple friends and family also join us on our African adventure, because the more, the merrier.
Our very first adventure began with the car rental – I had reserved the largest possible automatic transmission vehicle – a Toyota Fortuner. After I met up with everyone at baggage claim, I had to keep my fingers crossed that the five of us and all our luggage would fit in the SUV. While the Fortuner is technically a six-seater (it has a fold-up trunk jump seat), the trunk would be fully occupied by all our luggage, so all five of us would need to fit in the main vehicle. After playing luggage Tetris, I had the exciting experience of being the driver of a South African vehicle. This means that the driver’s seat was on the right-hand side of the vehicle and I had to drive it on the left-hand side of the road. Did I mention that it was 7:30 PM and already dark outside, too?
With my surprisingly decent South African driving skills fully utilized, we headed out on the 45-minute journey to our first hotel for some dinner and much needed sleep. We selected our hotel location simply based on its proximity to the Lion & Safari Park which would be our day-long activity for the next morning. The accommodations were approximately five-minutes from the park – great for an early start on our safari!
Nights 1 & 2 Accommodations:
Lesedi Cultural Village & Hotel – Rating: ★★½While our original reservation was for the Venue Country Hotel, they apparently give away your room (even if you paid a deposit) if you haven’t checked in by a certain time. By 8 PM, all the rooms were full, so they informed us that they utilize the Lesedi Cultural Village as overflow. We had dinner at the Venue Country Hotel before hopping back in the car to drive across the street to Lesedi. Unfortunately, something got lost in the late night translation between the two hotels and instead of the queen-sized beds we had reserved, we ended up with three rooms with two twin beds each. Overall the rooms were clean, but the heat panel was not very effective in combatting the chilly South African wintertime temperatures during the night.
Day 1 – Lion & Safari Park
We spent most of the first day at the Lion & Safari Park for some guaranteed animal sightings and interactions. We had scheduled an 8 AM safari departure, but luckily only had a five-minute drive to get there. We spent the next three hours driving through the various predator enclosures in a fully caged in safari vehicle. The cage even had designated photographer slots so that you could easily fit a professional-size lens out far enough for an unobstructed view. The three hour safari featured a ride through the different predator enclosures with stops to feed the leopards and a lion, a gorgeous stop along side the river for a stretch and refreshment break (they also have a restroom here), and finally a drive back through the non-predator plains en route back to the main lodge. We then wandered our way over to the small animal enclosures for some porcupines, daisies, and meerkats. After this we headed out to a tasty lunch spot about fifteen minutes away called Carnivores, where we met up with some friends who live in South Africa. They then returned with us to the Lion & Safari Park. We immediately picked up our adventure with some giraffe and ostrich feeding. After we finished all our feed pellets, we lined up to go the lion cub interaction area. After spending a little bit of time in line, we got to spend about twenty minutes petting and taking pictures with a handful of (very sleepy) lion cubs. Some of us then headed to the cheetah interaction enclosure (note, you have to be 16+ for this one). We spent about thirty minutes petting, photographing, and interacting with a very lovely female cheetah. We took a little bit of a rest and shopping break and then at around 6 PM, headed out on our nighttime predators feeding tour. This tour involved feeding the hyenas (they smell really bad when they are up close in a large group) and then on to feed the lions. The lion feeding was an amazing experience and a fantastic way to end the night.
Enjoy the photos below documenting our first day of adventuring!
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Click here to see the original gallery, download pictures, or to order prints!
Day 1 Adventure:
Lion & Safari Park – Rating: ★★★★★You can make reservations for all your activities online and pre-pay them. I would recommend doing so as it makes check-in much faster. The safari vehicles are comfortable and designed for photographers and the guides are knowledgable and entertaining. We very much enjoyed both tours and the lion cub and cheetah interactions and would highly recommend them. There are plenty of food, snack, and bar options on site and the entire place is very kid-friendly. The have a variety of additional tour options designed to fit any schedule and attention span.
Day 1 Lunch:
Carnivores – Rating: ★★★★★Carnivores has delicious food served in a Brazilian BBQ-esque manner. It is a family friendly atmosphere and serves alcohol. We greatly enjoyed sampling all manner of protein including crocodile, zebra, elephant, kudu, and more. They give you a variety of dipping sauces and sides and are happy to make recommendations. They also have fantastic desserts – for a local favorite try the Malva Pudding! Do note that as the name suggests the menu is protein based and the restaurant does not serve fish and is not good for vegetarians.
Link: http://carnivore.co.za
Days 2 – 4 – Shepherd’s Tree Game Lodge
We spent the next few days relaxing in amazing luxury at the Shepherd’s Tree Game Lodge. Literally from the moment you arrive, you don’t have to lift a finger. As a bonus, your day is basically spent being fed amazing food, drinking, and going on game drives with some of the best guides. When you’re not doing those things, you can relax in your luxurious room with enormous windows that overlooks Pilanesburg National Park, hang out in the majestic bathtub with a view, or bask in the liberating freedom of a (completely private) outdoor shower, also overlooking the park.
Our game guide was Sam – he was incredibly knowledgable about the park, informative about the animals, and entertaining while driving. He really made an effort to make sure we got the best views of all of the animals we encountered and successfully found us all of “the Big Five” during our stay. As we were a group of five, we mostly had the vehicle to ourselves, and, since many of us are photographers, he was happy to let us photograph each animal until we were satisfied.
Overall, we had a blast at Shepherd’s Tree Game Lodge, between relaxing, indulging, and exploring Pilanesburg and all that its wildlife had to offer. For our favorite moments, epic and adorable animal pictures, and some beautiful African landscapes, please enjoy our gallery below!
Click here for a fullscreen version of the slideshow!
Click here to see the original gallery, download pictures, or to order prints!
Days 2 – 4 Hotel & Adventure:
Shepherd’s Tree Game Lodge (Pilanesburg National Park) –
Rating: ★★★★★Shepherd’s Tree Game Lodge was a fabulous way to relax and see the wonders of Pilanesburg National Park. Their hospitality service is top notch, the cuisine was delectable both in selection and quality, and the game drive guides are knowledgable and entertaining. No matter which room type you select, you will have a fantastic view and luxurious surroundings. The price you pay includes your room, your food, and your entertainment; everything except alcohol. The safari vehicles are comfortable and well maintained. The guides are prepared with drinks and snacks for the guests and have a restroom break midway through your game drive.
Days 5 – 8 – Cape Town
We had a relatively short trip to Cape Town, so it was impossible for us to do or see everything. The few highlights we picked out were Table Mountain and the aerial tramway, V & A Waterfront, Boulder Beach (Home of the African penguin), and Cape Point. Unfortunately, the day we tried to go see Robben Island, there was too much rain and wind and the boat trips were cancelled. As we did not rent a car in Cape Town, our method of transportation was a 3-day pass with City Sightseeing’s Hop-on-hop-off bus (the package that includes a day trip to Cape Point). Our hotel was Place on the Bay which is located in Camps Bay right on the beachfront main drag. This means that we had easy access to the cute shops and restaurants along the waterfront in Camps Bay, making an easy walk for meals and groceries.
Our first adventure was to the V & A Waterfront area. We rode on top of the bus and did some nice sightseeing and learned about Camps Bay, the beaches in Cape Town, and the main downtown area’s history along the way to the waterfront. The V & A Waterfront has a bunch of shops, restaurants, and tour companies for anything you might feel like doing in Cape Town. We puttered through many of the handcrafted-items and small stalls with goods and picked up many souvenirs along the way. We stopped at an appropriately titled restaurant for some lunch, Ginja. We also managed to find a neat store with all manner of touristy gifts, but by far my favorite was the expired currency from Zimbabwe in the form of 25 billion and 50 billion dollar bills.
We finally concluded our day getting back on the bus to head to the base of the aerial tramway up Table Mountain. The fee for this was included in our City Sightseeing ticket. As it was close to the end of the day (and getting colder), we did not have to wait very long for our tram up the mountain. The cable cars have a FANTASTIC view along the way up. You can see almost all of Cape Town at once! At the top of Table Mountain, we got some incredible views of the area, the coastline, and some gorgeous sunset pictures. We even got a closeup encounter with an adorable dassie (AKA rock hyrax).
Our second day, we had a bit of weather and spent some downtime indoors watching movies, exploring the local eateries, and picking up some groceries to make for dinner. I was amazed when I realized how inexpensive most groceries are (not just because of the exchange rate) and how much better everything tasted. It seems like everything has far fewer preservatives, additives, and is very fresh. Also, the price of a half-gallon of pure mango juice almost made me not get on the flight home.
Our last day we got up and dressed early and got to the bus stop for the day-long Cape Explorer. After about an hour of scenic driving (and a very informative and humorous tour guide) we arrived at Boulder Beach, where we took a short walk from the bus to the beachfront to be greeted by the most adorable tuxedo-ed hosts ever! Having never seen a beach penguin before, I had a hard time imagining penguins not living in an icy, cold region, but these penguins were definitely beach penguins! The penguins’ nests were in the scrubby beach brush that they burrowed below as this area can get some high winds. As it was the middle of the day and quite pretty out, many of the penguins were already on the beach sunning themselves in the sand and more were heading down to the beach every minute. They would head out to the water in small groups to play among the waves (and eat too) and then run back up the beach to primp, sun, and play.
After spending some time with the playful penguins, we headed back to the bus to continue on to Cape Point. The bus dropped us off at the base of the road to the lighthouse. We grabbed some lunch at the restaurant and enjoyed the beautiful view. Then we snapped some pictures of the area while avoiding being stalked by baboons (they were sneaky and trying to spot anyone with food). Finally, our guide took us on a 1-hour, incredibly scenic hike from the lighthouse area to Cape Point itself. Cape Point is the south-western most point of the African continent! We didn’t feel like waiting in line to take a picture with the sign, so we just took a picture of the sign. The bus met us at the Cape Point parking lot, so luckily we didn’t have to hike back the long flight of rock-stairs we just came down. The hike and the weather were gorgeous and not too difficult, though it was a little tricky on some of the bigger steps because of the cameras.
After the bus ride back to Camps Bay, we stopped to take some pictures at the beach of our last South African sunset. The next morning we woke up and had some breakfast before heading out to the small airport, to go to the big airport, to board our planes home across the Atlantic Ocean. We had an amazing journey and made some great memories with family and friends!
Click here for a fullscreen version of the slideshow!
Click here to see the original gallery, download pictures, or to order prints!
Days 5 – 8 Hotel:
Place on the Bay – Rating: ★★★★First off, this place is waterfront – it is one of the first hotels on the main drag of Camps Bay which is extremely convenient for all the restaurants, cafes, and bars along the same street in walking distance. The hotel itself is a bunch of small to large apartments. We had a 2-bedroom apartment with a living room and kitchen downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs. The unit had a great view of the beach and sunset. Everything was clean and ready when we arrived and the property itself is secured with an electronic gate.
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