South Africa

48 hours ago I got home from my first trip to South Africa. This wasn’t my first trip to Africa though, as I have already been to Kenya in 2014 – see blog post Kenya. This was my second trip to that great continent, and it was just as beautiful as I remembered.

This blog today won’t detail everything I did when I was there, as I have limited time today, but will give a taster, and hopefully over the next few weeks I’ll find the time to write up the trip properly.

It was another group trip, with 15 complete strangers, who were mostly travelling with partners, led by a South African lady who clearly loves her country and seemed well informed. It was a 12 day trip, starting near Port Elizabeth on the coast, travelling along the Garden Route, as that stretch of coast is known, and ending in Cape Town.

Along the way we went on safari and saw lions and elephants and giraffes, walked along the coast, listened to the ocean from our cabins as we fell asleep, saw the penguins at Boulders, and had a beautifully clear day for our trip up Table Mountain in Cape Town. A wrong turn one day wasn’t a disaster, but instead led to some unexpected and stunning scenery. We leant a little about the history of the country, and the impact apartheid had on the people. I even got to feed an ostrich or two!

We ate in restaurants which served food, well meat really, which included impala and crocodile, and we ate lovely, delicious home cooked traditional South Africa dinners in the guests houses we stayed at.

We battled strong winds at the Cape of Good Hope, hid from the sun, and covered up against torrential rain. We obeyed water restrictions in Cape Town, with quick showers, only flushing the toilet when we had to, and using the hand sanitiser which was provided instead of washing with soap and water in public toilets.

It was all-in-all another memorable holiday.