Where to begin, the only way I know how to start is to say that spring break was AMAZING, one of the best trips I have ever taken. My parents' 13 days visit was a complete whirlwind, with us exploring (and loving) Southern Africa. We did so much in such a short amount of time. I will attempt to recap the trip in its three parts, Victoria Falls, Safari, and back in Cape Town.
I arrived in Livingstone, Zambia a few hours later than scheduled because of a plane maintenance issue, but that did not put any kind of damper on the day. We stayed at the Zambezi Sun Hotel, right next to the falls. Our hotel was gorgeous, accommodating, and was on the property of a national park, where zebras, impala, giraffes, monkeys, and other animal resided (all of which we saw!). We immediately headed over to the falls, and were just in awe of their beauty. It is so difficult to do the falls justice in words, but they were insanely powerful and iconic and unlike anything I had ever seen. We only saw the eastern cataract, because if you went any further the mist drenched you. So we decided to do a hike down to the Boiling Pot, the bottom of the falls, again so beautiful. The hotel property also housed another beautiful hotel that has a deck that juts out into the Zambezi River, very close to the top of the falls. We had some drinks there and watched a beautiful sunset.
Day 2 was even better. We woke up to a delicious breakfast and decided to head out into the mist of the falls. We left all valuables at home and donned long yellow raincoats. The mist was so strong that it felt like it was constantly pouring, and we were getting so soaked that I gave up on the raincoat and just let myself feel the power of falls. It was difficult to even see the falls through all the water, but when there was a break in the mist, they were even better than from the dry viewing spot.
Wet but enthralled, we returned from the falls, changed and headed out to Zimbabwe. We walked from our hotel on the Zambia side of the falls, across the border and into an entirely different country. It was very exciting to cross the border on foot, as I don’t think I had ever done that before. We headed to the Victoria Falls Hotel, one of the oldest, most famous hotels in all of Africa. It was beautiful, and had views of the gorges of the Zambezi and the bridge between the two countries. We had lunch there, and headed to Victoria Falls town and did some shopping and bartering at stores and markets.
We rushed back across the border just in time for our MIROLIGHT flight. We boarded the microlights, which are kind of like hang-gliders with propellers, for our 15-minute ride over the falls. If we thought the falls were gorgeous from across, we were wrong because they were even more breathtaking from above. I even saw elephants, giraffes, hippos, and crocodiles in the Zambezi from above. Again, words can’t do it justice.
Our last morning was spent looking at the falls one last time and doing a little more shopping before heading to the airport. We connected through Johannesburg to Nelspruit, South Africa, three hours from Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve, where we would be doing our safari. We spent the night close to the airport before heading out for Elephant Plains, our game lodge.
Safari:
We spent 3 wonderful nights at the Elephant Plains game lodge in Sabi Sands park, adjacent to Kruger national park. We went on a total of 6 game drives, from 5:30 am to 8:30 am and 4:00pm to 7:00pm each day. We saw all of the big 5 (lion, elephant, cape buffalo, leopard, and rhino) as well as many giraffes, zebra, baboons, various kinds of deer, warthog, wildebeest, and even hippos! Since Sabi Sands is a private reserve, we were able to drive off-road and get really close to the animals, who have grown accustomed to the sight of the land rovers.
Highlights include seeing two leopards mating (which is apparently very rare),
seeing a leopard with a deer it had killed in a tree and watching the leopard rip out the deer’s stomach and 3 hyenas rushing over to scavenge it,
watching families of giraffes,
and even seeing an entire pride of lions.
The game lodge was beautiful, and overlooked an old watering hole where there were often elephants and other animals hanging out. We were very sad to leave Elephant Plains, but were happy with everything we saw.
Cape Town Tourist:
Showing my parents Cape Town might have been my favorite part of the trip. I was so excited to share my new favorite city with my parents, who had never even though about coming to Africa before I did. I really enjoyed being a tourist and staying at their amazing hotel wasn’t too shabby either. I met my parents Monday afternoon, after having to finish a paper for Tuesday. Their morning consisted of doing the museum circuit: District 6 Museum, Holocaust Museum, and the Jewish Museum. We went to a great lunch at Birds Café, walked around Long Street, went shopping at the market in Green Market square, went to the Waterfront, and had African food at the Africa Café, a very successful and fun day.
Day 2 was insanely busy and productive. We hired a guide, Janice, to take us on the Peninsula Tour. We stopped at the Camps Bay overlook, Hout Bay harbor,
did Chapman’s Peak Drive,
stopped by an Ostrich farm, did the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, the Penguins at Boulder’s Beach in Simon’s Town,
wine tasting in Constantia,
and explored Kirstenbosch botanical gardens. WHOA I’m tired just thinking about it.
Day 3 we walked around town in the morning, followed by a township tour of Langa, the oldest township in Cape Town. I thought it was very important that my parents see the township life, and I think they were really affected by it.
Later, we went to Signal Hill for views of Table Mountain and the city, and trekked to Camps Bay to watch the sunset and for dinner at a posh restaurant.
Thursday morning, we were one of the first to take the Cable Car up Table Mountain. I hadn’t been up Table Mountain yet, and was in awe of how cool it was and the amazing views of Cape Town.
We spent almost three hours up there walking around and taking everything in.
When we got down, we went shopping for souvenirs one last time before heading to the waterfront for our trip to Robben Island. I was disappointed with the Robben Island tour, as we found it a bit boring and much less compelling than I had anticipated. The upside was seeing Cape Town from the water for the first time, which was of course amazing, and seeing the sun set on the ferry ride back. (A common theme here is how amazingly beautiful Cape Town is.)
On Friday morning, we did a quick tour of Rhodes Memorial and UCT before I bid my parents farewell. I was really sad to see them go (and to leave the air-conditioned hotel). We had a truly amazing trip, and I was so happy that my parents loved South Africa so much. My Mom even said it was better for me to be abroad here than Paris (which is a big deal.) Now I finally feel like someone from home truly understands the amazingness that is Cape Town.
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