We went to Zululand and stayed in beehive huts with thatched roofs. These huts would have made up a typical village in the yrs. past. Talk about dancing!! These men/women were dressed in their native garb and could really move.
We drove to Durban, the largest port in S.A. It also had the largest Indian population outside of India. It was on the Indian Ocean and just beautiful. We caught a plane to Pt. Elizabeth, another coastal town. We saw the Rich to the Poorest in both places. From there we drove to Addo Elephant Park. It was unbelievable! We sat by watering holes and watched cape buffalo, zebras, warthogs and herds of elephants. The matriarch of the elephant herds is followed by the babies, teenagers and then the older one. They walk in a line everywhere they go. Usually the adult males are loners, staying by themselves until mating time. In all we saw about 45 elephants, 20 zebra, warthogs everywhere, and many cape buffaloes. It was a successful day in the bush.
On the way to Knsyna and Wilderness we stopped by the place that has the deepest bungee jumping from a bridge. Those people have to be CRAZY!!
This started the Garden Rte, a beautiful coastal drive along the Indian Ocean. It had mts edging toward some of the best golden sand beaches. We went to the Cango Wildlife Ranch where they raise cheetahs, white lions, white tigers, and tigers we're use to seeing. This is a conservation ranch. We had never seen a white male tiger. He was magnifient! Patty went into the cheetah part and petted a 1 yr. old one. His hair was corse. They are slick and fast and on the endangered list. They are the only cat that purrs. Wow was that an experience!! Then we headed for a working ostrich farm. We learned all about them, saw a race between two, and finally Barb and Nancy sat on one. We sat down to a delicious lunch with ostrich steak and lots of wine. This was a really full day.
We drove to Knsyna, a place of beauty and is one of the most scenically impressive towns in all of S.A. We took a boat in the lagoon, protected from the open water by 2 giant sandstone cliffs known as "the Heads" to the Featherbed Bay Nature Reserve. To see the aquamarine seas and lagoon coming together, crashing on the mountains was breathtaking. The other head had gorgeous homes planted everywhere on the mountain side. We wondered how the people got to their homes.
We drove to Cape Town along the Garden Route. Table Mt. was our first stop. Every morning it was up at 6 if not before, but this time it paid off. We took the cable car up to the top and the sights overlooking all of Cape Town and the seas took your breath away. There was not a cloud in the sky. By the time we got back down, crowds had forms as well as cloud cover. Lucky again!!
We went to the wine-producing region of Stellenbosch. Wines were very good.....
Our last day of touring we spent driving down to Cape Point, a penisular. The Indian and the Atlantic Oceans meet near the point at Cape Agulhas. We drove down one side to Cape Point. The Cape of Good Hope is here. The drive was magnifient!! The water is the color of our Caribbean waters. We took the funicular to the lookout. We were already way-up but of course we had to walk the steep stairs to to lighthouse. We then walked to an area where small penguins live. There were many of them close enough to touch. All but the babies were molting and looked strange.
We drove back to Cape Town to our hotel only a block from the crashing waves of the ocean. We ate with different families that night. We found that they made us feel at home and they prided themselves on being hosts who will make you feel comfortable. The next morning we headed for the airport for our trip home. We flew to JoBerg then to Atlanta (almost 19 hrs.) then after a two hour layover from there home. We are all tired but thrilled that we experienced South Africa. Highly recommend this trip!!
This has been a trip of a lifetime for all of us. We saw wildlife in their natural setting, the big five- leopard, elephant, cape buffalo, rhino, lion. And many more. We found that the South Africans were a warm and friendly people. We saw unspoiled scenic beauty. They are called the rainbow people because of the multi-cultural mix. The official language was English even though we had a difficult time sometimes understanding them because of the accent. We saw many, many poor people with homes (tin houses, no electricity own by the government) but we saw gorgeous homes on the sides of the cliffs. Magical!!
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