South Africa Diary First Visit

South Africa Diary First Visit Dates (first visit): 8th February 2009 to 22nd March 2009 42 Days - 22 on the road. 2528 miles (4044 km) Day 1 – Monday 9th February London Heathrow to Cape Town After a good flight touched down at Cape Town at 6.15 a.m. to glorious weather, unlike the last and only time we had been to Cape Town when we had torrential rain. Even though it was still early it felt like 32oC rather than the 32oF when we left England and the deep snow behind – bring it on! Through immigration without too much queuing. Bags collected, through customs without being stopped and we were back in Africa. Day ONE of our big adventure. Quite a long walk to the hire car place past much frantic building work getting ready for the 2010 Football World Cup next year. At Auto Europe picked up our steed, a white Kia Picanto. I had gone for the cheapest but perhaps this was a little bit too much! From the airport made our way into Cape Town and sat in a stop-start rush hour queue on the N2. Leaving the N2 dropped down to Hout Bay where we were staying at the Makuti Lodge and decided to call in and see if we could dump our cases before going off for the day. Unfortunately it was still only about 9 a.m. and took the owner Doreen by surprise as, not surprisingly, our room wasn’t ready. However, she happily took in our cases and directed us into Hout Bay to a breakfast place where we had a full English breakfast! Back to book in at Makuti before calling into the shopping centre at Hout Bay. Bought a South African phone and Vodacom roaming package that the assistant assured us would work all over southern Africa. It cost R1530 but that included R1000 credit. Day 2 - Tuesday 10th February Hout Bay Up to a full breakfast from Doreen as this was included in the Amber Room package for last night. For tonight we moved to a self-contained unit, Maple Cottage; small but comfortable and just the job. Headed off through Cape Town to Killarney Gardens in northern Cape Town to visit our shipping agent, Britannia to settle the delivery bill prior to the arrival of our Land Rover which had set sail from Tilbury Docks, London, three weeks earlier. The bill was considerably more than we were expecting (R8450 = £615) and they didn’t take plastic. Visited a nearby Nedbank but were unable to do a bank transfer as we didn’t hold an account with them; also tried drawing out the cash from the ATM but the transactions failed twice. Gave up on it for now and instead tracked down the Safari Centre 4x4 and bought some of the items on our ‘to get’ list. Managed to get some cash out on Judi’s Nat West card but our Lloyds cards still failed. Took luncheon at Camps Bay overlooking the beach and sea before a lazy afternoon settling into Maple Cottage. That evening we dined at the Lookout Deck Bar looking out over Hout Bay harbour where they do fabulous seafood. Day 3 – Wednesday 11th February Hout Bay After Doreen had telephoned the Nedbank in Hout Bay and arranged for us to transfer the money for the shipping we drove into town where the friendly bank staff helped us complete the transaction; why the other Nedbank hadn’t been more helpful we’ll never know. Into Woolworths, not the UK Woolies, to buy provisions for dinner and found a bottle store. Lunched at the Lookout Deck. We had been trying to arrange a pelagic boat trip to see the albatrosses but again we had trouble paying. In 1 the end Doreen helped out by transferring the money from her account and we paid her; this was to be yet another of the many kindnesses from Doreen and Peter. Day 4 – Thursday 12th February Hout Bay and Cape Town Up to a glorious day and drove the short distance to the famous Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens spending the morning walking around the extensive grounds, picking up some good birds as well. Lunched in the very pleasant restaurant at the gardens and bought a snake book that not only identified the venomous snakes but also told you the manner of your death and, more importantly, how to avoid it. Day 5 – Friday 13th February Hout Bay and Cape Point Made our way over to the coast road on False Bay and down to Simons Town, past the naval base where my dad had visited during the war and on to the penguin colony at Boulders Bay in the middle of Simons Town. Paid our entrance fee but then decided to pay out for a South Africa National Parks (SANP) Wild Card (R1640; £120) that would allow free access to any of the parks in the country for a year … and got our penguin entrance fee refunded. Strolled through the small reserve snapping the numerous jackass (African) penguins and black oystercatchers before heading further south for Cape Point, stopping off at the Black Marlin for lunch. Into the Cape Point Reserve, for free, thanks to our new Wild Card. In the car park spotted a Swiss Land Rover but no one with it. Took the lazy way up to the light house at the top of Cape Point on the funicular railway. From our 250 metre vantage point we had breathtaking views out to sea and watched the cape fur seals fishing in the azure seas hundreds of metres below us. Back to the car for a slow potter around the reserve round to The Cape of Good Hope, the most south-western point of the African continent at S34 21.25 E18 28.26. Left just before closing time. Back to Makuti Lodge for a braai (barbeque). Day 6 – Saturday 14th February Hout Bay Today was the scheduled arrival day for the Land Rover but was already running three days late. Visited a nearby site in our Southern Africa Birdfinder book in search of the elusive Knysna warbler; it remained just that! This book had been the basis of many of the dots on our map that now needed joining up as we travelled. That evening we cooked a whole fillet steak on the braai but ended up eating inside by candlelight as it turned colder and damp. Very romantic! Day 7 – Sunday 15th February Hout Bay and Strandfontein Made our way across to a bird watching site at the Strandfontein sewerage works that was meant to be brilliant for water birds. Saw plenty and after a couple of hours went off in search of lunch but ended up getting a burger and eating it down on the beach. The white sand was blowing across the road in the strong wind as we made our way to the nearby Rondevlei Nature Reserve where we saw more good birds. There was supposed to be a hippo but although we saw plenty of evidence in terms of dung, hippo walkways and warning signs, there was no sign of the actual hippo. Back to Makuti for dinner. Day 8 – Monday 16th February Stellenbosch Wine Region 2 Armed with a map of the Winelands marked up with the best tasting estates by Doreen, something of a wine buff par excellence, we headed north-east towards Stellenbosch. Our first port of call was Stellenbosch Hills Estate where, after a little tasting we bought a couple of bottles. Next, Kanu Estate that had lovely grounds and excellent wines so had to buy four bottles of varying types. Onto Rustenberg Estate famed for its Brampton bull herd and wine. Very elegant surroundings but resisted temptation and only bought three bottles. Final stop was for lunch at the Morgenhof Estate. We both had springbok shank with a little wine and following another tasting session we bought half a dozen more bottles. After the lazy lunch slowly made our way back to Hout Bay and later settled for a light dinner as we were still full from the springbok. Day 9 – Tuesday 17th February Cape Town Up to a sunny cloudless day so decided to head for Table Mountain as very often the mountain has on its ‘table cloth’, a thick layer of cloud hugging the top [Orographic clouds formed when a south- easterly wind is directed up the mountain’s slope into colder air where the moisture condenses to form the table cloth – which seems to be most of the time!]. On the internet we saw that our boat had arrived in Cape Town but was sitting out in the bay so emailed our shipping agent to try and get an arrival date. Drove the coast road up to Cape Town and up to the Table Mountain cable car station. Unfortunately, half of Cape Town’s visitors had the same idea and the queues were horrendous. Not being one to queue for anything we departed. Went down to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront to do some essential shopping and ended up buying a Garmin GPS that covered all the countries we were intending to visit to supplement our Tracks4africa system plus it had street detail of the larger towns. Lunched in the Greek Fisherman restaurant and after looking around the fabulous Waterfront headed for the Table Mountain cable car station on the off chance it was a lot quieter. Brilliant, no queues. So paid our dues for the cable car but didn’t have to pay the park fees as we got in on our Wild Card.

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