South Africa was never a country that was high on my list or even on my list for that matter. I was more interested in conquering Europe. But let me tell you, I’m so glad I had the opportunity to go. South Africa was so much more than I thought it would be.
Cape Town: Alex and I left Frankfurt late Friday night and arrived in Cape Town Saturday morning. We checked into our hotel then went to find a market our Uber driver told us about. The Old Buscuit Mill was hopping and oh so cool. It was an indoor/outdoor market filled with food and drink stands. Alex and I had to sample the local cuisine so we found a place to stand to listen to the music and enjoy some food. We stayed for a few hours then got the hotel shuttle to the waterfront. We walked around the bustling waterfront for a while eventually stopping for dinner. Then after dinner, Alex wanted oysters (that’s his thing now) so we found a place for oysters and a glass of wine. Exhaustedly, we headed back to our hotel for a good nights sleep but not before buying a few souvenirs.
The next morning we got up bright and early. We were picked up from the hotel and driven an hour away to Franschhoek where we boarded the winetram. They have a few different routes (we chose the blue line) to choose from and you can essentially “hop on/hop off” at which ever wineries you want along the way. I was so, so, so excited for this! Our first stop was to a very beautiful winery called La Bri where we sampled 4 different wines. After our hour was up, we got back on the bus to the next winery, La Bourgogne. When we arrived we were greeted by a border collie who laid by our feet the entire time (Alex later decided this was his favorite winery because of the dog). We were offered two free wine samples (the wine tram had deals of the day and this was one of them) and we ordered the olive and olive oil plate. I’m not a huge olive fan and these were good but the olive oil was amazing! We bought a bottle to take home. The next stop we opted to sit outside and enjoy the warm day. At the La Couronne winery, we decided on the pizza and wine pairing. The waiter gave us a free sample of wine while we waited for the pizza (did I mention how nice everyone is in S.A?). Then out came three mini pizzas with three wine pairings. The pizzas, as per their menu: 1. a traditional bobotie mince and banana, 2. biltong, caramelized onion and peppadew, and 3. olive, mushroom and pepper. The pizzas were different but really delicious. Our next stop was tram time! The bus dropped us off at the tram where we were immediately greeted by a guide and offered a glass of wine for the ride. It was a double-decker so we obviously sat on top, enjoying the beautiful scenery. The tram dropped us off at Rickety Bridge Winery. Since the tram stopped about 1km from the actual winery, a tractor was waiting to take us to the entrance. Here we decided on the wine and cheese pairing. Our hour was quickly up and back to the tram we went for our last winery. Again, a tractor was waiting to take us to the entrance of Grande Provence. We walked into a gorgeous winery shaded by trees with a great view of the mountains. This was my favorite one. We found a table outside and ordered the three wine samples and Alex paired his with three oysters (he really loves oysters!). After our hour was up, the tram took us back to the starting point where our transfer was waiting to take us back to Cape Town. We talked about the wine tram for days afterwards, we loved it so much.
Johannesburg: I was so sad to leave Cape Town, there was still so much to do there but Alex had to work in Joburg for the week. Now I didn’t have much expectations of Joburg. I heard it was a big city with not many tourists. And when you get to the hotel, they hand you a sheet basically telling you it isn’t safe enough to go off on your own. I wasn’t sure what to expect but in the end it turned out to be much better than I thought. For a few days while Alex was working I was able to sit by the pool, enjoying the 80° weather and at night we would use an Uber to check out the city. For dinner one night, we went to a really, really good steak house. Another night Alex and I went to a bar that use to be an old warehouse which was only open on Wednesday’s. Thursday during the day, I did a hop on hop off tour of Joburg. I was picked up at 9am and dropped back off at 5pm, it was a long day of sight seeing but really good to get out and see the city. It was different from what I expected. Thursday night we decided to try an African restaurant. This restaurant was really fun, first they brought out a bowl to wash our hands then they came around and painted our faces. I loved it! Our last night before the safari, we tried out one more local bar. Joburg ended up being a lot of fun.
Kruger Park Safari: Day 1 – We booked a 3 day/2 night safari at Kruger National Park. At 6:30am we were picked up from our hotel in Johannesburg and transferred to the park. I knew it was going to be a good day when, on the way to the safari, we almost hit a baboon with our car while he was trying to cross the street. I was shocked by the huge size of him. 5 hours later, we made it to the park. We were staying in the cutest little bungalow for the next two nights. We had a few hours to relax before our sunset safari. At 4pm, we hopped in an open truck and headed out for our first drive. Along the way we saw the more common animals, impalas, zebras, water bucks, etc. so we all got excited when off in the distance we could see a giraffe drinking from the local watering hole. We headed over there and we were able to watch the funny way giraffes drink water. We kept driving and saw a few more giraffes and a herd of elephants but then out of nowhere our guide slams on the brakes and points into the bush. There in the distance was not one but two elusive leopards – if you ask anyone going on a safari which animal they want to see most, the answer is always leopards – but they are hard to find so when our guide pointed them out about an hour into our first drive, we felt pretty lucky. We watched them for the next 15 minutes walking back and forth through the trees (the male was trying to attract the female) until we couldn’t see them anymore. We drove around for a few more hours pointing out all of the animals we saw along the way including a hyena and her 3 babies. Then it started to get dark so we did a bit of shining. We saw a cheetah, two owls, a giraffe and a herd of elephants which we could hear well before we saw them.
Day 2 – A 5:30am drive meant an early wake up but when it gets light at 5am it’s a bit easier to get up. While waiting to start our safari, we watched a giraffe walk right past our camp (it’s completely surrounded by a fence). After that excitement, we got on the truck and again had a 3 hour drive ahead of us. We pretty quickly came upon a herd of elephants with a tiny baby. The baby who our guide said was 1-2 weeks old, stayed underneath his mom the entire time for protection. Next, we came upon a rhino that was standing in the middle of the road. I wasn’t sure if we’d see a rhino so I was excited when there he was, up close and personal. We drove around for a while and all of a sudden a herd of elephants would be right next to the road and I’d be so busy looking at the elephants that I didn’t notice a giraffe eating from a nearby tree. It was such a cool experience not knowing what you were going to see next. Like a few warthogs snorting around on their elbows looking for food or a hyena looking for his next meal. We were pretty thrilled when all of a sudden we came upon three male lions sleeping near the trail. We sat watching them for a bit then luckily the biggest one woke up, looked in our direction, got up, stretched then went back to sleep. It was a great end to the morning drive. We had a few hours of free time that Alex and I spent outside enjoying the weather. Around 3pm we had our afternoon drive. We visited two watering holes. The first of which had elephants splashing mud on themselves to keep cool. The second had a ton of buffalos laying near the water, a crocodile sunning himself and the ears of a group of submerged hippos. The rest of our drive was spent cruising the trails for anything that caught our eye. It didn’t matter how many giraffes or elephants we came upon, I was always so excited to see them (and took so many pictures). Once we got back from our afternoon drive, we again had a few hours before dinner. Alex and I sat on our patio, drinking wine and listening to the elephants trumpeting in the background. It was such a cool experience.
Day 3 – Our last and final drive started out a bit slow. We weren’t seeing much, not even the occasional giraffe, which seemed to be everywhere yesterday. I was getting nervous that our last drive was going to be a dud. But after about an hour it started picking up. A few rhinos here, a couple of giraffes there. Then some hyenas, monkeys, warthogs, buffalos, a few different birds and elephants. Then Alex spotted something up ahead. Our driver slowed down and we all tried to figure out what it was. It ended up being a honey badger which Alex got a “good eye, sir” from the guide. We drove around a bit more then saw a bunch of cars stopped on the road ahead of us (which was a good sign). As we got closer, we could see something laying on the rocks. Unbelievably, it was a leopard sleeping! We sat and watched her for a while eventually noticing that she was in fact not dead (which people were generally concerned about) but nursing a baby. We were so lucky to get another leopard sighting! We only had a little time left so we headed in the direction of camp. On the way there, we stopped for a few elephants along the road. As we tried to get around a big bull elephant, he started getting a bit aggressive. Our driver moved ahead a bit but the elephant kept following. His ears were flapping and he looked ready to ram the truck so our driver quickly got us out of there. It was a cool experience but reminded us that we were dealing with wild animals and we needed to be careful. Soon after, we got back to the camp and it was time for Alex and me to leave. A five hour drive back to Joburg then a ten hour flight back to Frankfurt. We were so grateful to have gotten that experience.
This was an unbelievable trip, so much more than I was expecting. Cape Town was amazing, Joburg was really fun but the safari blew my mind. One of the coolest things we’ve done. I hope to go again someday. It was an amazing 30th birthday/4th anniversary trip.
followthesunny.com 
WOW!! So incredible, so very glad you could experience all that south Africa has to offer. Great job telling your story Sunny! Another fantastic trip!
LikeLike