Home from home

Feels like we've never been away. Settled back into the gym, yoga and hiking routine without a problem - although two weeks of no exercise, sitting in safari trucks for hours on end and eating three full meals and snacks have taken their toll!

Managed two days on the Wellington Wine Walk with a group of neighbours. We did the day 2 programme before we left in March so decided to try Day 1 and Day 3 this time. 

A cool start from Diemersfontein on Day 1 - with a short tractor ride to our first stop for olive oil tasting before hiking through the Fynbos above the wineries. Tasting and excellent picnic lunch at Druk My Niet winery - came away with a mixed case of reds and then contiued our hike through the vines to Cascade Manor for a celebratory glass of fizz and a stroll to the Cascades.

 

Day three started with a shuttle ride half way up Bains Kloof Pass and then a hike down into  the Kroms river valley. First stop for wine (and Gin) tasting at Doolhof at 10.00am. 

Doolhof Wine Estate

Coral Tree (Erythrina)

Followed by a stroll along the riverside to Welvenpas for lunch with Dan and Retha Retief - we've been here a couple of times now and it is always a pleasant experience - although Dan's wines can be a little 'rustic'.

It got a bit hotter after lunch as we continued on to Bosman's for the last tasting of the day and a shuttle ride back to our cars.

Burger and beers at Freedom 301 - with live music - on Friday evening and a charity wine auction on Sunday completed the week. And then it all started again on Monday.

The Final Leg

 Zanzibar to Cape Town was not the easiest route to plan - no direct flights - so we ended with a Kenya Airways conection via Nairobi which meant that we checked out of the hotel at 1.30 am for a 3.40am flight to Nairobi - which left 40 minutes ahead of schedule!

Arriving early meant that we had 4 hrs in Nairobi airport which was a slightly daunting prospect but we got a comfortable seat in the lounge - although the coffee was stewed and there was no fizz! Not quite as shiny and new as Zanzibar Airport but very busy - long queues waiting to board every flight. 

Our flight to Cape Town was just under 6 hours - service was efficient and friendly while the food was pretty much as expected. No queue for immigration as we arrived - a short wait for our bags and then over an hour queueing to pick up our rental car. Arriving at the car rental centre we saw the long queue for Eurpocar and were glad that we were booked with someone else - only to find that their office was closed and we were redirected to the Europcar desk.😡😡😣😣 

Everything in order as we arrived home - thanks to Jane and Laura for freshening the place up - and for the welcome food package. Took an hour or so to remember where everything was but we settled in quickly and managed a sundowner with dinner before we both crashed - it had been a very long day - again.

Woke on Sunday to find that the Internet had not been reconnected - engineer needed so nothing to do till Monday. Very pleasant brunch at La Paris with David and Jane where we saw three or four Springbok players celebrating Faf de Klerk's engagement - including Steven Kitshoff who has just signed a deal to move to Ulster after the world cup - he's a big guy!

Bright and sunny during the day and 24C but a bit cool overnight - think Linda's missing her hot water bottle.

Zanzibar

Mamamapambo Boutique Hotel was a very friendly - if slightly quirky place for our three days at the beach. Couldn't have been closer to the ocean with the waves splashing against the front wall at high tide. Only 6 rooms and 4 unoccupied so we got upgraded to the best room in the house - previously the owners suite. 

Very comfortable but having been built by an Italian Family it had a few odd features - there was no door on the bathroom  and the shower was directly in front of the opening so as you stood in the shower you could look through the room and out the front door to the ocean beyond?? In addition all of the electrical fittings were Italian - which made it fun finding adapters.

Beach walk in the morning before breakfast, a bit of time relaxing by the pool, a swim in the incoming tide at bath water temperatures, a cold beer or two and quite a lot of fish and seafood. I'm glad it was only three days!

We did manage a visit to the local Seaweed Centre where they pay local ladies to farm and harvest Seaweed, turn it into high quality soaps and lotions and sell it to all the high end Hotels and Spa's. We had an excellent guide - just a pity that he was so unhappy with the way his employers treated him.

 

We also managed a walk out towards the barrier reef that protects the shallows - where we saw some great corals and huge numbers of Sea Urchins - luckily we had been able to borrow appropriate footwear.

Sea Coral

Sea Slug

Large Sea Urchin

As we left the beach and headed for Stone Town for a couple of nights, we dropped in to the Biosphere at Jozani Chakwa Bay Reserve where we watched troupes of Red Colobus monkeys which are endemic to the island - also a wander thorugh a mangrove swamp - unfortunately the guide here was less informative.

Our home in Stone Town was the Zanzibar Coffee House - with thanks to Angie for the recommendation - and the ladies who carried our 16kg bags up two flights of stairs.

We had a leisurely walk around the town - managed to find our way back to our room and followed our hosts recommendation for dinner at 'The Secret Garden' - without doubt the best meal of our trip in a lovely setting.

Stone Town is an absolute maze - with streets only wide enough to walk, ride a bike or motorcycle and perhaps push a hand cart - so we opted for guided walking tour to identify the main sights. Enjoyed the experience and thought we'd return to spend more time at a couple of places - particularly the Anglican Cathedral which is built on the site of the old slave market and retained the slave cellars which were used as storerooms - a very energetic and informative guide but a bit hard to follow. 

However after a lunch stop, we headed back to the hotel and after an hour or so trying to find something familiar ended up back at the restaurant where we'd started. Second time lucky we found the right turning and made it back to our room to pack for our trip to South Africa.

photo catchup 2

Impala Stag

Competing stags

Thomson's Gazelle Stag

Grey-Headed Kingfisher

Superb Starling

Little Bee Eater

Migration Crossing 1

Migration Crossing 2

Migration Crossing 3

All thats left of a Wildebeest after the predators and Scavengers

Its thirsty work!

Photo Catch up

This is the only time a Baboon looks cute!

Serval

Plains Zebra Family

A rather chilled Cheetah

Breakfast time

No sharing

I've had enough for now!

Lets get away from the kids

Where's Mum gone

Ostrich Courtship

Our Final day in the Serengeti

 For our final day we had decided to revert to two game drives - couldn't face another straight 9 hours! 

It still meant that we were eating breakfast at 06.00 and off on our game drive by 06.30. Since we have seen Lion, Buffalo, Elephant and Leopard over the last two days, we suggested to Edgar that it might be fun to see a Rhino on our last day. There are very few in the Northern Serengeti - the exact number is a closely guarded secret - and unfortunately we had no luck in the early morning - there was a report of a rhino near one of the other camps but it would have meant an hour or more cross country with no guarantee that it would still be there. Instead, we settled for a very relaxed drive with some great bird spotting and quite a number of Elephant - including some very young calves. 

Marabou Stork, Vultures and Lioness

Goliath Heron

Black-Shouldered Kite

We also drove up into a rocky area on the eastern side of the plain where we also saw Klipspringer and Rock Hyrax (Dassie) . 

Crowned Lapwing on her nest

Kori Bustard

Klipspringer

We were back in time for lunch and then get on with packing for our departure on the next morning.

For our afternoon game drive Edgar suggested that we go looking for Rhino again up by the San river where we might even see Rhino on the Kenyan side. We came across two separate Leopards – one large male on river bank watching the reedbuck on the sandbank below and one adult female resting in a tree. As we followed a group of Vultures, we found a single Hyena who had apparently stolen the female leopard's dinner – a reedbuck – probably dropped from her perch in the tree. 

The Hyena was having trouble keeping it safe from the flock of vultures but eventually dropped down to river bed and stashed it in a water hole on the bank. 

As we continued, and prepared for rain, we stopped to photograph a rainbow and then Edgar spotted a Rhino – right at the end of the rainbow! We watched him feeding for a while in front of us and then as the rain came he moved further away. 

We waited for rain to pass and one of the other trucks to arrive to share the viewing – then home for dinner and finish our packing. What a way to finish..

Travelogue 2

 Our early morning drive to the Lake Manyara airstrip was uneventful and flight check-in very straight forward. There were 12 of us on the Grand Caravan flight - no spare seats - so I was sitting behind the pilot but luckily most left at our first stop on the way so there was a bit more room. We had to make a wide loop on our way in to the second stop so the ground crew could clear the herd of Giraffe off the runway.

We were met at Kogatende by Edgar - our guide for the next 4 days - and had an interesting 2 hour game drive along the Mara river on our way to the Kaskaz Mara Tented camp. 

Secretary Bird

Hippo and Nile Croc

Nellie!

Most of the staff were waiting as we arrived to sing us a welcome and then showed us to our tent before lunch.

Our evening drive took us over to the San River - the border with the Masai Mara - where we saw a wide range of animals including Elephant, Giraffe and Hyena before coming on the Kaskaz Pride - three female lioness with 6 cubs - sleeping on the side of a creek. We were later than planned on the way back but managed to get in before the 19.00 curfew - just in time for a drink before dinner.

After three full days of game drives -  with a few details still to follow - we were seen off the premises by another group of camp staff singing us farewell as we headed back to the airport. Our leisurely drive still allowed us to see a group of Hyena finishing off their nighttime kill with a variety of vultures and a couple of Silver-backed Jackals waiting their turn. Along with more huge herds of Wildebeest; a large herd of Zebra with a new-born calf which was attracting the unsuccessful attention of a couple of Hyena; a Lioness who had found a vantage point on a grassy knoll; a tower of Giraffe; 

and a large group of Hippo in the Mara River with a couple of attendant crocs.

We boarded our Auric Airways Grand Caravan at Kogatende - enroute to Seronera (20 mins) and onward to Zanzibar (2 hrs) with a flight that was almost full. However at Seronera we disembarked three passengers but collected the 'Golightly family' of 4. It was a big of a giveaway when the ground crew started removing seats to allow them access - but Mother, Father, Son and Daughter must have weighed at least 1000lbs between them - they all needed seatbealt extensions.  As we headed down the runway I noticed that we had used substantially more takeoff room than our four previous flights!

However we landed safely in Zanzibar, met our driver and headed for the beach - as the Golightly's loaded themselves onboard a 20 seater coach!