South Africa
My adventure began as I was picked up in Wheaton Aston. The car was a Mercedes. I was asked if I would like to sit in the front or the back. Naturally, I chose the front. We made good time to the airport. I had already checked in on line. All I had to do was park my luggage - no queues, no waiting. Upstairs to the business class lounge where I had a coffee. I was on the way – to visit my friends, Doreen and Derek, in South Africa.
We boarded at 8-30pm. The reclining seats were super with 4 ft legroom. As we sat down, I was offered a glass of champagne. It took a while to sort out the controls on the television but the nice young man next to me helped. On my arrival in Dubai, I made my way to the business lounge for coffee whilst awaiting my flight to Johannesburg.
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The flight to Johannesburg was very good. I went through customs to find my chauffeur waiting. His name was Moses. We arrived at Doreen and Derek’s earlier than expected. Doreen cooked a lovely meal and we opened a couple of bottles.
A tour of Doreen’s estate next day. The pool looks really inviting but it is a bit cold at the moment. We spent the day relaxing and catching up on news. We had a Braai cooked by Derek, whilst Doreen and I emptied another bottle.
After breakfast we travelled to Lifestyle, a shopping and gardening complex and watched the world go by.
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Next day, away by 8-30am to the Kromdraii Mine. This is a gold mine started in 1881. Gavin Whaley, the owner, gave us a short talk then proceeded to take us into the mine. I was feeling very brave until we got to the entrance where I froze and couldn’t go any further. Doreen and Derek went down the mine with Gavin who was very interesting and knew a lot about the mine and the area. After saying goodbye on the way out, we saw a mongoose.
We left Kromdraii and made our way to the Johannesburg Botanic Gardens. What a surprise! The gardens cover a vast area. We had lunch in the gardens and then spent an enjoyable time exploring. There is a very large waterfall and near the top to the left are the remains of eagles nests. Although they had flown with their young, you were still able to see the nests. I saw kingfishers, cormorants, weaver birds and a red bishop. The weaver bird was making a nest by stripping branches from the palm trees and weaving them. If his mate doesn’t like it, he undoes it all and starts again - clever lady!
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Next day we left Johannesburg at 8-45am for Cape Town and drove through miles of open countryside past fields with ostrich, sheep, cows and horses. Under the bridges over the N1 were masses of swallows nests.
We stopped for lunch and then drove a few more Km's to Colesburg where we stayed the night. We left Colesburg after a good breakfast to make our way to Praal where we were to spend that night. We passed through a place called DeBoors, The whole valley floor was covered in vines - a spectacular sight. The scenery, as we got nearer to Cape Town, became more lush.
On arrival in Cape Town, we made straight for Table Mountain and joined the queue for the cable car. Each car carries 65 people - 900 people an hour. The floor of the car revolves 360 degrees so, no matter where you are, you see all around. It was cool with low cloud on the mountain. This, thankfully, didn’t prevent us seeing the views which were fantastic.
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Next morning, an early start after breakfast, and off to Robben Island. When we arrived on the island, we were directed to buses for a tour. You are not allowed to walk on the island. Our guide gave its history and told us about the incarceration of Nelson Mandela. We were allowed to look inside his cell. The island had been used as a leper colony then as a base for troops in wartime and latterly for political prisoners.
We leave Cape Town to go to Knysna in heavy rain, thunder and lightning. We stopped at Hermanus to look for whales and were very lucky catching 5 sightings. On to Knysna and our digs for 2 nights - The Manor House, super place with a four poster bed. A relaxing day followed with a trip on the river.
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Our next stop was Beaufort West for one night. We saw lots of baboons on the road, one carrying a baby. We moved on to Kimberley passing fields with huge termite mounds. The Big Hole in Kimberley is amazing. We had booked a guided tour. Our guide was a mine (haha!) of information. We saw a film about the beginnings of Kimberley and the first diamond found there. We were taken to a vault where diamonds were kept including the last big one found in 1979.
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Next day, we headed back towards Johannesburg. Derek had driven about 3000Km in a few days so we decided to make tomorrow a rest day. On the return journey, we visited Maropeng, The Crater of Humankind. The museum was spectacular. Later, back at Doreen's, we had a dip in their cold but invigorating pool.
The next day, we visited the Monkey Fountain Garden Centre, played bowls in the afternoon and dined with Derek’s cousin Ian in the evening.
Up at 5-30am an early start to Pilansburg. We saw wildebeest, kudu, two huge elephants.We had to reverse because they wanted to come our way. We saw giraffe,impala, zebra, rhino, tesessebe and more elephants with babies. We were about to go home, we heard of a cheetah sighting nearby. Needless to say, we went and we saw.
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Home tomorrow - so we chilled out on our last night.
Sheila Cox
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