Summary

I made it home! 

Before I go into my blog, I wanted to take time to say that my thoughts and prayers are with the airline that went down on the way to Egypt. It's completely devastating and I haven't quite wrapped my around it. I just flew out of the airport in Paris, and as many of you remember, I was contemplating adding Egypt to my itinerary... My heart is broken at the senseless act and for the loss of life. 

Back to my blog... The journey home was rough. Waited 7 hours in the airport, 11 hour plane ride, 6 hours in another airport, 9 hour plane ride... Was up for 40+ hours and ended up getting sick on my last flight. I was completely miserable.  That being said, I am so thankful to be home and for all the support I received while I was away! I checked out my blog stats and had over 1,000 views for this trip alone...so thank you!!

In summary... 

Trip highlights: 

Shark cage diving 

Elephant park 

Cat sanctuary 

Sabi Sabi

Lions head sunset hike 

Cape Town city tour

Snake sanctuary 

Would I have done things differently? Yes, I had a few extra days here and there that I should have made use of exploring another city. I think I tried to force more things into (Cape Town, Plett) than was needed. I also should have flown from Plett to Joburg and cut out the nonsense to Port Elizabeth... Just wasted days doing that.

But I know now... You live and learn, right? It is what it is and for planning everything on my own, I'd say I did alright. :)

This is the longest I've traveled solo and I think it has taken a toll on me a bit. Usually I've met up with people after a certain amount of time, but this was 17 days on my own. Yes, I met people along the way, but it wasn't the same-especially when you're missing someone back home. :(

The scariest part of the trip was ... Myself. I don't think I ever felt scared or unsafe during my time there, but nerves got the best of me before I even went down there. Yes, there were a few moments that made me a little uneasy, but nothing different from what goes on when you walk around downtown.

Some travel links from the trip:

Sabi Sabi Game Reserve

Atlantic Point Hostel in Cape Town

Plett Beachfront Accommodation in Plettenberg Bay

Monkey Land

Knysna Elephant Park

Shark Cage Diving

Baz Bus

The big 5 finale !

I saw the big 5!! Big 5 are the animals pictured below: lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo, and leopard.

One (other) exciting piece of information was that I had 2 private safaris!! Yes, meaning it was just me and the guide and tracker. :) my flight back to joburg was also just me! Had the whole tiny plane to myself! (with the pilots) -the one was in training because he kept looking at a sheet that said what to do during take off and landing, etc. 

This was kind of cool-2 of the 5 big 5 in the same photo! :) 

Saw some giraffe ..

Zebra... 

Lioness at night !

Leopard was the hardest for to find 

But we found her!! :)

Sabi Sabi was great... Very high class and a good way to end the trip. I saw everything I wanted to see minus two characters from lion king -hyena and warthog. :(

For those wondering ...

We woke up at 6 each morning and had safari from 6:30-9:30. There was a walking safari for an hour mid day and then an evening safari from 3:30-6:30. (I think the times vary depending on the season) 

Sometimes we would drive for 30 minutes without seeing anything.. And then maybe we would see one giraffe... And then we would keep driving... And then we would see a herd of elephants... You get the idea.

Part of me was expecting to see a more constant flow of animals and in larger numbers. I was surprised at how many were traveling solo. 

All in all, I'm content and happy with Sabi Sabi as well as my trip as a whole...On my hour some flight back to Johannesburg I started crying. (Ha!) tears already flowing so I should be a nice mess when I get home. That's what happens when you're going to be up for 48 hours... They're happy tears though. :)

Next update will be from home!! 

Saving the best for last!

After a rough couple of days, the past day and a half have made up for it! I flew into Johannesburg and made my way to the airport hotel... Which was so welcome after the last crummy hostel I was in. Next day (Monday) I went to the airport again to fly out to Sabi Sabi game reserve. (Near Kruger national park)

It was a hassle trying to find where to check in and after asking 7 or 8 people and getting pointed in every wrong direction I finally found it. 

Flew Federal Air and let me just say... The lounge was nice!! Comfy couches and plenty of complimentary food and drink.

After an hour flight I made it to Sabi Sabi.

 

My hut:

My bed:

Bath:

Deck:

Can't see it, but I also have a jacuzzi on the deck :)

I had a couple of hours to myself and then I went for my first safari which lasted a few hours.

We were right in the middle of a herd of elephants 

Hippos in the water: 

Saw the African sunset...

Woke up at 6:00 this morning for another safari. The guy on my left, Matt, is my guide and the guy to my right, Moses, is the animal tracker! He has the cool job of sitting on the front of the car and looking for animals! :)

Today we saw 2 male lions:

Rhinos:

Female lions:

Buffalo:

That point in every trip...

As of right now at 9:03am...I'm over it. During every major trip there always comes a time when things don't go well or go as planned... Or things are overwhelming or things just ... stink. This is one of those times for me.

I've really liked my accommodation here in Plett, but I haven't slept hardly at all. There's a film crew staying here and I seem to be woken up from my sleep every 2-3 hours. I have the biggest dark circles under my eyes right now. Then I started thinking about sleep in general and how I will not have had a REAL full nights sleep in a month... And I wanted to cry. 

My big finale, the safari/game reserve,  isn't until Monday and Tuesday... I am so thrilled for that, but I am 110% dreading being up for 40+ hours to travel home. 

Sorry about the complaining, but sometimes these trips aren't all sunshine and rainbows. The pictures and activities might portray something amazing (and they are amazing!) but I'm also at a point of exhaustion and ready for these final days here.

Today I went to Plett Puzzle Park ... For my dad. It was very similar to the one in New Zealand. The downside: It's really no fun to have to do a big maze by yourself. 

Then I went to a Garden Route Wolf sanctuary which was just okay.... They offer guided tours or you can just walk around on your own. I just walked on my own. I think it's similar to the cat sanctuary in which the wolves were previously bred in captivity which meant they couldn't be released into the wild. 

They also had farm animals which are always cute :)

I'm leaving in a bit to go to Port Elizabeth, but I have a feeling tomorrow will be pretty uneventful as well. Monday will be my first day at the game reserve though so I'll probably post again Monday night! (My nighttime) 

Robberg

Woke up today and decided it was a good day to hike. I headed out to Robberg nature reserve which was super nice! They have different trails and I maybe hiked for a couple hours...

And then...I got lost wandering through the city for a couple hours. I was supposed to make a turn at a dolphin roundabout and I made a turn at the whale roundabout. Go figure. 

I hate saying this, but South Africa is no New Zealand... I'm missing some NZ hospitality right about now! Suprisingly though, some of the nicest people I've met have been the taxi drivers... And that was one of my biggest worries coming here!

One more day in Plett and then I'm off again! :)

P.S. I heard AFRICA by Toto playing in a restaurant. Day made!

Monkeys, snakes, birds, cheetahs

I started out the day with a visit to Monkey Land...  It was cool to see about 5 or 6 different monkeys swinging from branch to branch right in front of you! I took a video trying to film a monkey and then he started peeing almost directly on me! LOL Overall though, it was nice. We had a guide take us around and told us about all of the different species.

I then went to Birds of Eden...This guy is my favorite because I love the colors!! Birds of Eden is self guided and you can buy a combo ticket with Monkey Land. 

After that I headed to Lawnwood Snake Sanctuary. I was really excited about this one because I've never dealt with snakes before. It was very informative and they had so many different kinds of snakes!

And to end the day I went to Tenikwa Cat Sanctuary where I got to walk a cheetah!! 

The cat sanctuary cares for many animals who can't be released into the wild. Some of them were bred in captivity from other places so they're not able to be out in the wild. It was an awesome experience! 

Let's go Keisha!

I apologize in advance as this blog contains links that you'll have to copy and paste if you wish to view them. Posting blog updates from my phone comes with it's challenges and this is one of them. 

The place I'm currently staying in is LITERALLY steps away from the beach!

I took a lovely walk this morning and basically had the place to myself... And my little bird friend. 

Later on I went to Knysna Elephant Park. (Knysna is pronounced without the "k")

Here they come... Lining up for a feeding!

They were so pushy!! The one kept trying to knock the food out of my hand to prevent me from giving it to the others!!

And then we got some photo ops..

And then we went for a walk. My elephant's name was "Keisha." She's 13 years old and misbehaved the entire time.  I have a video of part of the walk and the guide saying "let's go, Keisha!" Hence the name of this entry...

here's a sELPHIE:

It was a great experience with the elephants!! Loved being able to interact with them up close!

It's the Xhosa language that so many people speak here !!! The clicks are really hard (for me) so I'll stick to saying, "MOLO," which means hi. :) 

Travel day

Today was a travel day so nothing exciting happened... Although, I did get really sick after being on a bus for 9 hours. I'm feeling a lot better now though and I love my new place where I'm staying! They even left me the most amazing chocolates on my pillows!!! Soooooooo good!!!!!!! Left Cape Town in the morning and am now in Plettenberg Bay!

Someone had asked me about safety the the other day so I thought I would mention it in the blog...at my first hostel there was a wall surrounding the entire building with a key pad for entry. There were wires on top of said wall and there were security guards at night... So it was pretty safe there. I walked down the street by myself to get some food (literally a minute walk) And I ended up walking to and from the waterfront by myself which was maybe a 15 minute walk. I was only approached twice by people, I said "no thanks," walked away and there was no issue. I didn't really understand what either one was saying to me, but they were asking for money of some sort. I did also come across a sketchy character, but with his pants dragging around his ankles. I wasn't too concerned because I knew I could easily outrun that. Caution was and is still to be used at all times, of course. (see below of picture outside of my room)

 

Hostels aren't really my thing, but I love them for a lot of reasons. 

1. Inexpensive-saves a lot of money!

2. Convenience-most have tours set up through the hostel so it makes booking easy!

3. Being with my travel tribe! For those back home -you know how much I talk about travel. I talk travel all the time ... Now multiply it by every single person you come across!! I LOVE it. 

Another question that was asked was about doing an organized tour vs going on your own... I'd have to say I like BOTH!

When I went to China, I had a private organized tour, which was nice and easy. I told them what I wanted to see beforehand and they made up an itinerary. It was scheduled base and had almost everything included so you can see the positives there. No worrying about a lot of things and getting knowledgeable guides to make the experience even better.

In Africa, I'm doing a mixture which is my FAVORITE travel style. I'm on my own which is super nice.. That means I can make up my own schedule and do whatever I want when I want! There have been days that I've joined an organized tour to get me to places that would have been harder to get to so that's also nice. Going with a guide and getting know more from the locals is always a plus.

Sorry for the slow and uneventful entry today, but it'll get more exciting these next two days... Promise !! 

Blessings :)

Today was 1 of 2 days in which I didn't have anything planned during my stay. My work off days are Monday and Tuesday.. Which means I could have started my trip on a Wednesday (and gotten rid of the 2 empty days in my itinerary), but I would have still been docked 2 days at work since I'm off then anyway. It was either sit at home for 2 days or have 2 days to sit in Africa. I chose to sit in Africa. :)

Today was the first day that has been cloudy and just kind of blah outside, but I walked down to the waterfront anyway and...got my fish and chips again! With a smoothie this time! It is my favorite place to eat in Cape Town and it's called Tribakery. 

I was hoping to catch a ride on a jet boat, but they had to have a minimum of 4 people so they sent me away. :( As I walked away from them, a semi annoying salesman came up and sold me on taking a harbor cruise with his company. (This is me rolling my eyes because the "cruise" was really dumb) I paid less than $5 U.S. Dollars for it though, so I guess I can't complain. 

We did spot a seal in a wheel though.. 

And then! Best part of the day was meeting up with my new friend, Jessie! I know her brother from back home so her and I decided to hang at the beach for a bit before grabbing a bite to eat. She is such a lovely person inside and out and I'm so glad I got to spend time with her! Great way to end my time in Cape Town!

Leaving tomorrow for.... Plettenberg Bay!!