The Garden Route, Lalibela & Ado

Arriving in Africa!!!  This has been on Kari’s bucket list for a long time – so we’re all extremely excited about the next couple of weeks! We started with a few of days in Capetown after arriving on our flight from the Mauritius. Seeing the Atlantic Ocean again was amazing, and made us feel so much closer to home. It’s now only a 5 hour time difference between here and Halifax!

Vea stretching between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans

Kai Jumping across the Atlantic Ocean

In Capetown we booked some guided tours to get ourselves orientated and ended up being educated by a fantastic local tour guide who has lived in South Africa for all of his life as a ‘coloured person’ and had a unique perspective on what it was like here during apartheid. It is shocking to think what this country was like only 20 years ago, but incredible to see how things have changed since then. Everybody now speaks proudly about being black, coloured or white. Quite a difference compared to years ago when there would be separate beaches right beside each other that were only allowed for colored, blacks or whites. Our guide could remember his Mom trying explain to him when he was a young child that he could not step foot in ‘those waters’ because of his skin colour. We learned a lot about Nelson Mandela and his spirit of forgiveness for all of the oppression in South Africa – which enabled such rapid change in this country. It was a great education for all of us!!!

Coloured walls in the Malay Quarter of Capetown

South African bead works

Capetown street vista

During our tour of Cape Point we were introduced to some unique wildlife. We saw Ostriches running down the street beside traffic and groups of Baboons that were able to open parked car doors and treat themselves to all the food they could find inside. We also saw many small penguins which roamed the coastal beaches around Boulder Beach.

Ostriches running along the streets

Baboons invading a parked car

Cape Point

Kai feeding an Ostrich

Penguins at Boulder Beach

After two days in Capetown, we rented a car for the rest of our time in South Africa and drove north on the Garden Route. Many people had warned us about the dangers and crime rates of South Africa. It was interesting to even hear the locals talking about how much safety we needed to keep in mind while travelling here!  We tried to be as safe as possible and listened to everyones advice about not being out after dark. It was said to be much safer outside of Capetown – so we were excited to hit the road!

On our first few days we made our way north and stayed in some fantastic farm lodges and guesthouses. On many occasions we wondered if we were really budget backpackers considering some of the amazing 4 star lodges we found ourselves in. Apparently the South African currency (RAND) has depreciated greatly recently – which means our dollar goes much further here. Thanks to DW from Adventure Travel in Halifax for helping us plan and book the details for this leg of our journey!

Patio table at our farm lodge

Detail from farm lodge property

Ostrich eggs and leaves

The barn door to our room!

A good luck rainbow on our first day driving the Garden Route

Weathered mountain faces

On our fourth day driving the Garden Route we arrived at a private game reserve lodge with great anticipation for 3 days of safaris! This was a place and experience we will never forget. Afterwards we gave Kai and Vea a little challenge to write about their experiences here in a Vlog and Klog post about what they thought about this incredible safari adventure. We told them that whoever has the most Klog or Vlog comments wins a prize. This proved to be a great incentive for them to write the longest posts they’ve ever written!!! So comment away and reward them for their Klogging and Vlogging efforts.

Break time on our game drive

Enjoying the ride in our safari truck

Patiently waiting for a photo opportunity

Kari and Kai at a loss for words when we see a huge Lion prowling nearby.

After three incredible days at the game reserve we decided to do a self drive at another amazing place called Addo Elelephant National Park. It was incredible that we were even allowed to get so close to these wild animals in our own vehicle. There were strict rules about not getting out of our car and entering some areas of the park at your own risk!  We quickly realized the importance of these rules as we found ourselves driving past huge elephants on the side of the road chomping away on trees.  Kai and Vea thought they were immersed in a real life episode of ‘mantracker’ or ‘animaltracker’ to search for some of these amazing animals. After turning one particular corner we realized in disbelief that there were at least 100 elephants in all different sizes gathered only metres away from our car. This amazing moment was just one part of our wild animal adventure here. It’s true sometimes there is so much more that can be said in pictures instead of words!!!

A huge group of Elephants by a watering hole at Ado

Our last week was spent driving back to Capetown visiting other areas of the Garden Route – which was highlighted by our stay in a coastal town named Hermanus. This is a world renowned place for land-based viewing of whales. While we were there the locals had reported that more than 200 whales were in the bay!!!  A few of them decided to breach and do various whale dances in the ocean for us while we watched. Hermanus was one particular town where we truly felt safe and could enjoy browsing the street shops and walking the coastal cliff paths late into the afternoon.

Coastal views at Hermanus

Coastal views at Hermanus

Driving into the mountains on the Garden Route

Canola Fields

Weathered mountain peaks

We ended our trip back to Capetown for one night before catching our flight to the UK. Thanks to Jody, we enjoyed a comfortable and safe night at the Westin before heading to the airport the next morning.

We’ve had a fantastic time here in South Africa, but we’re all ready to move on – and we are all super excited for Kai to start his soccer camp in Liverpool, England.

All 4 now!