South Africa 2015 - Take Aways

South Africa 2015 - Take Aways

This is a bulleted list of some revelations we had during our trip to the country on the right.

In no particular order but divided by locale… a recap. Enjoy!

Johannesburg, South Africa

• Due to my err in carefully looking at the itinerary, we did not stay as planned in this town
• The OR Tambo International Airport, and process of taking care of guests definitely needed some attention.  
• Plenty of options for eating and shopping.
• Seriously, bused to and from the planes?
• Seriously, we walked 5k steps from one terminal to the other (I counted via my Fitbit).
• Airport Craft Brewers (ACB) beer was pretty dang tasty, each of the three four times we landed there.
• Airport security was just that, people making money to make you take stuff out your pockets.
• I didn't feel safe, but I didn't feel in danger either.
• I didn't have to take my shoes or belt off, and still felt safe.
• We had to go through security each time we went from terminal to terminal.
• People watching at this airport was pretty excellent.

Zulu Nyala, South Africa (aka Hluhluwe, KwaZulu Natal)

• Renting a car is easy, even if you reserve it in a different town, like Durban (a mere hour plus away).
• Hertz took good care of us by changing the reservation, which made me thank them very much.
• GPS devices are very nice, since our US phones couldn't do data over there without charging us a mortgage payment in fees.
• They drive on the wrong (left) side of the road.
• Cows and goats are free range (no fences).
• The Big 5 and Magnificent 7 are fenced in with electric fences.
• NO such thing as free range wildlife, as we know it.
• They are called ‘preserves’ - as in preserving the wild from poachers (aka reserves).
• Or so they say…
• Impalas and Nyalas still roam free (nobody wants them as target practice).
• The game drives were fun, no matter the size of the pre/reserve. 
• Its all about the guide and his/her radio on what game you got to see.
• Tips were only supposed to be 10%, but we tipped 20%.
• We were LOVED at Zulu due to tipping practice!
• Zulu felt like home, mostly due to all the Americans that were there.
• This made for a nice break in period in a different country.
• Nyala is pronounced “In-Yeah-La” not “Nie-Al-Ah” as previously thought.
• We never, ever, never had a bad meal at this lodge.
• We never, ever, saw a male lion or a leopard in these parts, which saddened us.

Richards Bay, South Africa

• Beer in the bay at Jacks was R11.50, which at the time equated to $0.80US each for a 500ml.
• 500ml = 16.907oz.
• I liked Richards Bay.
• Massages were R400 for 60 minutes, which at the time, equated to $30US.
• I loved Richards Bay.
• WiFi was plentiful by just asking the bar lady what the password was.
• The Protea Waterfront hotel was quite nice.
• I want a bathroom in my house just like we had in this hotel.
• The Protea Waterfront hotel only passed out 500mb chits for WiFi use per day.
• I got three or four said chits each day because the front desk liked us.
• They loved what we call classic rock.

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

• The leaders changed the currency in 2009 from the Zimbabwean dollar to the US dollar.
• http://www.rhinoafrica.com/victoria-falls/currency
• They charged for things like beer, food, and attractions like we were in New York City.
• Sorry NYC, but you gouge too, at least in Midwest terms.
• One of the seven wonders of the world, Victoria Falls, was ominous, fantastic, mysterious, and just plain freakin awesome.
• Zambia River splits Zimbabwe and Zambia and while on a cruise, you can see the difference (not really, but you could feel it).
• I never got tired of seeing hippos in the water, birds on the trees, or crocs sunbathing on the shore.
• After eating in the bush, I gained a new respect for animals - the ones that eat you as well as feed you.
• We still never, ever, saw a male lion or a leopard in these parts, which saddened us, again.
• Even after canceling our Boma dinner for another game drive just to see one of each.
• We still saw some elephants where one got pissed and acted like it wanted to charge our jeep.
• The locals are high pressure sales people once outside of the confines of the hotel.
• They are like clickers in Las Vegas (yes, that bad).

Cape Town, South Africa

• This was the most pleasant surprise of the trip.
• We had no expectations of this town, but absolutely loved it.
• So much, we could see ourselves living here (at least Rob could).
• I felt like I was in San Francisco on steroids and visa versa (I heard it both ways).
• We weren't big on the wine thing, but we still did the tours due to the beauty of the country.
• Whilst in Rome… (do as the Romans do).
• Sonoma and Napa took second place, in our opinions.
• People are extremely nice here.
• The Cape of Good Hope was a great experience.
• Shark diving rocked better than expected.
• We felt very safe, but cold in the ocean.
• I know why they call them wetsuits now.
• Apartheid ended over 30 years ago in South Africa, but it was still felt there.
• Townships aren't slums, as I was corrected many times.
• I felt sick to my stomach while touring the townships.
• I felt welcome while touring the townships.


Overall

• NYC to Jberg flight better-than Jberg to DC flight (note to self).
• We checked out of work pretty much right after we boarded the first plane.
• We watched very little TV while overseas.
• We listened to very little radio while overseas.
• We didn't miss either very much.
• We didn't track the Royals or Chiefs like normal while overseas.
• We still loved the Royals and Chiefs, but didn't care if they won or lost nearly as much.
• We quickly cared once we returned home.
• We learned - A LOT about African countries, not just South Africa or Zimbabwe. A LOT!
• South Africa is freakin huge, not to mention the other 53 countries that make up Africa in total.
• We missed our family, friends, neighbors, and home while gone - very much.
• We still haven't checked in to work on the day prior to be going back.
• I saw some things that I could only imagine, both good and bad.
• I still love the USA, more than any country.
• South Africa comes in a nice second, so far.
• I have a new found respect for my country and the freedom it has provided me.
• I have a new found hatred to the capitalistic bastards that make this country one of the most selfish in the world (not the worst, but how can I buy a beer for $0.80 in SA but not in US?).
• Ok, bastards was a little tough, but jesus, it doesn't really cost that much for beer, right?
• Poverty in US has nothing on poverty in SA.
• This was a trip of a lifetime.
• We will go back to South Africa, because nobody does something so nice just one time.
• Because we didn't see, do, or experience quite enough of this wonderful part of the world.

South Africa 2015 - September, 11 - Victoria Falls to Cape Town

South Africa 2015 - September, 11 - Victoria Falls to Cape Town

A few days ago, we were told that our 10:30 AM SAST flight from Zimbabwe to Johannesburg was changed to 9:30 AM.  No reason why, but we soon found out that Zimbabwe does what they want to do…  That meant a 7:30 AM SAST pick up, 15 minute drive to the airport, and around an hour wait in line in order for the 1) gate agents to show up, 2) gate agents to get the systems up (they were down for a bit), and 3) pay another fee of $50US each to the records dude for an airport fee or something or another.  One thing I have learned about this country, they like the US dollar.  $30US to get in the country and $50US to get out, and they only take cash.  The other thing - nobody is in a hurry and they couldn't understand the word efficiency.  I digress (about that anyway).

We finally sat down at 9:00 AM to await our boarding to the plane to notice that the plane had not even arrived yet.  It finally got there around 9:10 AM, which meant a 9:30 AM flight was nearly impossible.  Fast forward 30 minutes, we were taxiing on the runway about to take off.

Another surprise was taking a detour to JM Nkomo airport in Zimbabwe, I thought to make us pay more fees or something like that. But turned out, it was to pick up more passengers to go to J’berg.  Fun times once they sprayed the obnoxious spray all the way down the aisle to disinfect the plane.  I guess that was due to the passengers that just got on?!?!  Pee-ewwwww!

The next escapade was circled around going to get our bags after clearing customs (no fee in SA) and attempting to get our boarding passes with South African Airlines, which trip case clearly stated it was ticketed through.  However, once we got to their check in desk, they assured me that I needed to find Mango Airlines, since that is who they contracted to do the ride.  Oh boy!  Off to find another where’s waldo in the J’berg mess of an airport.  After asking two different porters (that wanted tips), we finally found Mango and got our orange colored boarding passes.  With around an hour to spare, we sought out beer for a handsome reward for all the (not real big) issues we had.

Mango Airlines reminded me a lot about Southwest Airlines in the states.  737 plane, 3 seats on each side of the aisle, and filled to the brim.  Issues were, we were issues exact seats, which didn't happen to be together, but just one row apart and nothing was free - not even pop or water (or beer, like on SAA).  I was stuck between a 20-something girl that coughed, sneezed, and blew her nose a few times and a business man that outweighed me by around 75 lbs.  Neither of which would let me have any armrest time…  Kathy had a window seat.  The guy next to me read the paper the whole way, so encroaching on my territory for a bit.  I fought back by arming myself with a laptop doing some blog updating and file verification for my photos so that he could tell that he wasn't the most important dick on the plane.  After I got finished with what I needed to, I put my stuff away, bumping in to him as much as I could. A little bit later, Miss Sick blew her nose again and disposed of the tissue in the puke bag. I guess she thought it was a trash bag.  Anyway, she did at least get out her hand sanitizer.  When she opened it, it was pressurized by the cabin pressure and it spewed out all over her hand as well as shot a goober on my upper lip.  She didn't really apologize, but did say it was good for me.  I commented that it didn't taste very good.  She offered me more, but I declined since I had enough on my lip to get both hands nicely covered.  Fun times!

Once we arrived to Cape Town, we didn't have a plan for transportation.  I knew that we had a few days to ourselves, but wasn't sure about renting a car vs getting a cab back and forth.  I flipped a coin (in my head) and proceeded to Hertz to inquire about cars.  The rates weren't too bad for the week, so I pulled the trigger on what I thought was a Toyota Corolla. Much to my surprise, it was a Kia something or another. After checking the paperwork, it turned out that my agent tricked me, but no big deal.  I went over the car to make sure no extra scratches or dents were on the car with the guy that does that stuff with you.  Found a couple new ones and made him document it, since it appears to be a pretty big deal over here.  I got the stuff in the car as well as myself and tried to start it.  Nothing.  Kathy said, it looks like a manual, push in the clutch.  Dammit man, I meant to ask for an automatic like up in Richards Bay.  Oh well, we set the GPS to our condo for the week and headed down the road - only missing a couple of gears.

About the time I got the hang of driving this Kia stick shift-on-the-wrong-side and blinker-stick-on-the-wrong-side, we arrived at our destination.  We were greeted warmly by the GM and owner of the Bantry Bay International in the driveway and attempted to negotiate an off street parking spot.  Everything was reserved, so we parked on the street. No biggie.  We got our bags and headed to the room, which was on the 3rd floor of 6.  Nice studio with a kitchen, fridge, and a kick butt view of the Atlantic Ocean.  It had been quite a day for travel with going from Zimbabwe to whatever that town was to J’berg to Cape Town and driving in rush hour Friday night traffic, so we decided the next stop was a pub we saw close to the condo, called Brians Pub.

We walked down the street to Brians, which was a small dimly lit pub, that had a lot of locals in it around the bar.  We bellied up, ordered a Castle Draught, and just relaxed.  A few regulars were assessing us Americans and we struck up a conversation with them.  Small talk around where we were from, what we are doing in South Africa and other places, what we did, etc, etc.  One of the guys, Mark, helped us out with where to go, what to do, based on our current itinerary.  He suggested a few spots, especially dinner, which we took him up on after  few beers.

We ended up eating at this italian spot, called Goloso, that served mostly pasta dishes.  They had another place across the street where one can get pizza.  Kind of odd if you ask me, but hey, whatever works.  We each ordered, ate, and decided it was a long enough day.  We headed home and crashed, since the next day was to be a long one driving the peninsula with a driver/tour guide.

South Africa 2015 - September, 10 - Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

South Africa 2015 - September, 10 - Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

So at the Kingdom Hotel, breakfast is complimentary for guests.  Naturally, we had to check out the breakfast bar, since we were 1) hungry, and 2) free!  This breakfast bar had more food on it that I have ever seen.  Well, with the exception of the huge buffets back home that is.  I think my favorite parts of the breakfasts over here is the bacon.  Yeah, it comes from wort hogs, but holly molly, it is good and they serve a lot of it!

We were picked up for the Victoria Falls walking tour by our tour guide, Peace, from Wild Horizons.  Wild Horizons appeared to be one of the biggest names in Zimbabwe for tours, attractions, and even challenging adventures.  Peace was very knowledgeable of the falls and provided a great experience.  Zimbabwe happened to be in a drought while we were visiting the falls, so the water only came over around 25% of the total area from Zambia via the river Zambezi.  It didn't matter, since we could see the raw power of the water coming over the spots that we stopped.  Each of the 16 stops had its own name, which provided spectacular but very different views of the same areas we walked past.  During the walk, we experienced dryness as well as mist.  What was interesting was when we walked through the treed area next to the biggest part of the falls only to get rained on - from the mist collecting on the tree leaves and dripping down persistently. 

The walking tour lasted about 2 hours in total.  But on the trip, we decided to skip the Boma dinner that was previously reserved by our travel agent and instead go on another safari.  This safari was to be a night drive and a dinner in the bush.  We stopped by the Wild Horizons main office in Zimbabwe and made our purchase.  They said that they would refund the Boma dinner back to my travel agent, but we shall see.  More on the game drive and inner a little later…

Once we were back to the hotel, we went back to the room for a minute to refresh and headed down the path near the back of the hotel to check out the gorge near the falls as well as the swing and zip line area.  There is a restaurant / bar there called Overlook.  On the way there, there are locals trying to sell you all kinds of things like wooden bowls, figurines, and even old currency that is not in circulation any longer (Zimbabwe went US currency years ago).

The gorge reminded me quite a bit of the Grand Canyon back in the states.  We sipped on a couple of beers and ordered the crocodile kabobs to share while taking in the awesome scenery.  We debated going on the swing, but we didn’t.  Instead, we watched a young couple come over and pay their $95US to take the plunge.  Once they got over to the swing area, the latched up and off they went, screaming all the way.  They were swinging in the gorge area for a bit until the workers lifted them back up with a tether tied into a winch.  I guess it was worth it for them.

After trekking back up to the hotel, we had a bit before we were to meet our guide for the safari, so we walked to town to do some souvenir shopping.  And again, we had tourist written all over our face, so the sales guys were out in force.  We ignored and went in to the shops looking things over.  We did find some things for loved ones back home, but I cant say what they are on here because it wouldn't be a surprise for them once we get back.  :)

Earlier in the day, we were surprised by our travel agent getting us a bottle of sparkling wine in celebration of Kathy's birthday.  Since we knew we were going to be tired once we got home from the game drive, we decided to imbibe the lovely gift in our room while cooling down.  You may have read on Facebook that we were only in our underwear and it scared the monkeys off. Only one part of that story is true, you get to decide on that one!  We capped that bottle off and just chilled for a bit, then got ready to hit the road again and look out for the ever elusive male lion.

Once we were greeted by our guide, he took us to the Stanley Livingston Safari Reserve, where we picked up a couple from the chalets and headed out on our drive.  The sun was still shining and the heat was up to around 92*f, so anytime sitting wasn’t very fun, but when driving, the breeze was very nice.  We came across most of the animals we had seen on past safaris, including cape buffalo, impalas, zebras, mongoose, giraffes, monkeys, and elephants.  This park stood at 6 hectares, which is quite big.  The guide said that they had over 60 head of elephant, which we ended up seeing quite a few.  We happened across one group that had a couple of babies with them.  The mom was quite anxious at us being so close, so we moved on.  We drove around for a while until the sun was getting ready to set and then stopped for a beer and a snack right out there int he bush.  I helped an elder dutchman fix his point and shoot, since he could not figure out what he had done.  Just minutes earlier, I helped his wife with letting her know the video recorder that she was shooting with still had the lens cap on it…  oh well, Rob to the rescue!

We got back in to the safari jeep and headed for the area where we were to have dinner.  And yes, it was in the bush too.  We were greeted by the cook and the assistant, who gave us more beer, water, and other drinks before we sat for dinner.  Once seated, we were greeted again with how this deal was going to go down.  First up, soup.  One thing about we've experienced in South Africa and Zimbabwe is that the soup was delicious. This soup was butternut and superb tasting.  Once that was over, we were asked to stand up and go through the make shift buffet line, which had salad, grilled vegetables, potatoes, rice, grilled chicken, and a stew like concoction that had buffalo steak in it.  Of course, we tried everything and again, it was delicious.  after dinner, the hosts suggested we have the dessert, which was a mini apple pie with custard dripped over it.  It wasn't like grandmas apple pie, but wow, it was great.

After being stuffed to the gills, we headed back on the short game drive attempting to spot what we could in the darkness with the guides spotlight.  Not much to be seen, but it was still a calm and peaceful experience - and much cooler.  We were taken back to town in the minivan instead of the jeep due to security reasons.  They dropped us off at the gated Kingdom hotel and we went back to the room to shower and get ready to head out to Cape Town in the morning.  We packed most of our stuff and headed to bed.  Overall, a fantastic day in Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls.  I think next time we visit, the stay will be quite longer with some down time for the awesome pool they have!  Until tomorrow, ta ta!