Africa 🇿🇦 🇿🇲 🇿🇼
- laurenlcoon
- Mar 26, 2018
- 18 min read
I don't even know where to begin this post but I guess I should mention that I am in mourning. I am mourning the fact that I am not still in Africa. We loooooved Africa! It is somewhere we'd wanted to go to for some time and I am glad we finally made the jump!
Flight$, the distance, lack of friends going all made us getting to Africa seem out of reach but it was seriously the best and I cannot wait to go back!
We decided to do our annual anniversary trip to Africa this year, specifically South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. We would be gone for about 12 days and wanted to do Victoria Falls, Cape Town and a safari in Kruger National Park. I wish we had gone longer! Everyone asks us what our favorite part was and it is honestly so hard to say as they were all so different, so let me start with the beginning!
We flew from ATL >JNB via Delta on a 15 hour flight! Yikes! We landed in Johannesburg around 4pm on a Thursday and got an airport transfer to our hotel, The African Rock Hotel.
This was somewhere recommended to us by the woman, Mary Keet, we used for booking flights and hotels with Go2Africa, as it was close to the airport but a nice Bed and Breakfast feel so we could relax after our long flight. I'd booked us both massages for when we landed and it was wonderful to unwind, eat a nice dinner and get a good nights sleep after such a long and dehydrating flight.
The hotel is decorated with tons of African rocks, has a serene pool, adorable gift shop, on site restaurant and spa so you really can relax and not have to leave the property.
The next morning we had to be back at the Johannesburg airport to catch our flight to Livingstone, Zambia. We were flying South African Airways and although the flight was only 2 hours, we had to be up fairly early to fly internationally to Zambia. Once we arrived to Livingstone, we had a hotel transfer pick us up and take us to the David Livingstone Safari and Lodge. I immediately noticed that we were pretty far out and that we had to go through several gates of security. Our hotel was situated on a property with wild animals and being outside or walking around after dark outside the gates was highly discouraged. We were about a 10 minute ride to the town of Livingstone and 15 to Victoria Falls.
We arrived at the hotel around 1pm and unfortunately our room wasn't available so we had lunch at the hotel restaurant until then. The hotel operated a shuttle to the town and to the falls every couple hours, however, the shuttle to the falls was no longer running so we opted to go to town.
The town of Livingstone is very very tiny. This was told to us by our driver on the way in but exploring it on foot made it even more apparent. The local government has put into place protections on new developments so a majority of the area is historic with tons of character. We decided to check out the local market and once we arrived we realized we had left our cash at the hotel!! So we did a lot of window shopping before growing tired and heading back to our hotel.
At this point I was fairly disappointed because I had planned for us to do some activities by the falls and our plans hadn't really worked out and we were off to eat our second meal at the restaurant. We love exploring local places so 2 hotel meals felt like we were being duped. However, the dinner we had was so wonderful, I immediately felt better about us having a slower paced day.
Our next morning was packed! We woke up, ate breakfast and headed for the shuttle to take us down to the Falls. Once you get through the gates, you pay a conservation fee and are immediately surrounded by monkeys running around and playing. We walked through the park and found our way to Knife's Edge Bridge which was intense!
There were locals renting out rain coats but thankfully we'd brought our own. Little did we know that it didn't matter because the mist from the falls was so intense, we may as well have jumped in!
We crossed the bridge and walked through the park to catch the falls from a few angles before heading towards the Royal Livingstone Hotel to meet our group for our afternoon excursion. Walking from the bridge to the hotel, we saw more monkeys, zebras and even a couple giraffes. At this point I was more than in love with Africa!
South Africa is in a huge drought currently but Zambia had no shortage of water. The heavens opened up and decided to rain for a bit which delayed our boat tour a little. We'd booked the 'Livingstone Breezer' which was a guided tour to Livingstone Island, a dip in Devils or Angels pool and lunch. Our guide picked us up at the Royal hotel and took us by boat to the island. We walked through a bit of a jungle and stripped down to our bathing suits to make it to the edge of the falls. Devil's pool is closed during the rainy season so we would be taking a dip in Angels Pool which was equally scary and beautiful.
Our guide and his team were great with giving us information on the island, the communities surrounding the falls, the falls impact, their discovery and how the water flowed during the seasons. They also guided us into the water and made sure we were safe and had plenty of pictures to document our bravery or stupidity :)
After our dip in the water, a beautiful lunch spread made by locals to Livingstone Island awaited us. Our group was comprised of people from both Zambia and Zimbabwe so it was nice being the only 'tourists' on the trip. We got to ask a lot of questions and answer a lot of their questions about America. This is often our favorite part of traveling. Finding out not only how people live in other parts of the world, but how they perceive Americans. It is always interesting especially it todays' political climate!
We'd booked an evening river cruise down the Zambezi River and so we would be leaving our lunch excursion and heading straight to our next stop. We'd packed a bag of clothes to change into so we didn't have to return all the way to our hotel. Our guide had called a friend to be our taxi driver and take us from the Zambia side to the Zimbabwe side and through the border. The bus for the river cruise picked us up and even let us change in one of the hotels we were picking other people up at. We got to the bathroom to change only to find our clothes had been completely soaked from the falls. So off to dinner in soaking wet clothes and shoes for us it was!
We booked the Zambezi Explorer for our sunset cruise and really enjoyed it, soaked pants and all! We sat on the top deck, were plied with food and drinks for a few hours and got to talk to folks from the area and the UK. We saw some crocs and hippos and got beautiful views of the river and sunset! It was a nice winding down to our hectic day.
The next morning we had nothing planned but to see how much we could eat at breakfast! We woke that morning to find some monkeys on our balcony and decided to drink some tea out there with them which provided a thorough amount of entertainment. We'd been warned when we checked in about leaving our balcony doors open as the monkeys would get in and steal our sugar and coffee creamer and trash our room looking for sweets. I thought this might be an exaggeration but not only did they try and get in our room, with us standing right there. But we witnessed them trash the room 2 doors down when they left their door open. One monkey would throw the 'goods' down to his buddies and they'd all eat the sugar and run away. It was the funniest and most adorable thing I'd seen so far!
Our next stop... Cape Town!
Nothing was easy to get to when traveling on this trip... all of our flights started and ended through Johannesburg so we had lots of connections. We flew from Livingstone to JNB to Cape Town which provided for another long day of travels. We'd opted to rent a car in Cape Town so we could really explore and not have to book tours to see everything we'd planned on seeing.
First up, our hotel: The Sugar Hotel. This was a fairly good location, cute rooms and very accommodating staff. However, I'd been so excited because we'd booked a room with a rooftop pool... Cape Town is in a severe drought so it was empty! LOL! First world problems... right? So that was kind of an understandable bummer but the room and bed was so teeny tiny that cohabiting with the monster of a man I married was quite difficult. We survived but it was a close call there for a bit! I'd recommend it if you aren't 6 foot 6!
We got our rental car, Brandon familiarized himself with driving on the left side of the road and we popped around town looking for dinner. Apparently Cape Townians (?) go to bed early on Sundays so most restaurants were closed or no longer taking guests after 9pm! AH! So we went to a local gas station shop and got some snacks and bottles of water for our hike in the morning and called it an unsuccessful night!
Hiking Table Mountain... can we talk about the real reason I wanted to come to Cape Town and Africa? The views from here just looked absolutely breathtaking and I was so excited to conquer another mountain in a new continent with my man! This was probably my favorite part. There are several options to hiking Table Mountain, in fact I read that there are over 700 ways to make it to the top so your options are endless.
We opted for hiking via Kloof's Corner only because it had been advertised as the 'more dangerous' option and if you know my husband you know that is all you have to say to get him to try it. I was game because I didn't want to do a hike with less scenic views or one with a ton of switchbacks. Let's just say... HE was the scared one on this hike. There was a lot of exposure and some parts were free hand rock climbing while other areas had staples and chains we had to use to get up. This was very much a hybrid rock climb/hike and I looooved it!
It took us a few hours to get up, we of course stopped a few times for pictures, catching our breath from the elevation gain and views and to meet some furry friends along the way!
The cable car had been closed that day due to high winds so we'd planned to hike up and cable car it down but no dice. So we took the 'easy' way down which was a joke because it was just very rocky switchbacks which killed our knees. By the time we made it down to the other side, we were stoked! We had lots of plans for the day and it was already 1pm! So off to our next stop!
Penguins!
Boulder Beach just happened to be something I stumbled upon in my research for things to do in South Africa! I couldn't believe there were penguins I could walk right up to... on a beach... not in a zoo! This was only about an hour or so drive from Cape Town and I was so excited to meet these little guys. We put bathing suits on and shorts and headed to the beach, it was a pretty windy day so unfortunately we couldn't lay out all afternoon with the penguins like planned but you can walk down to the beach, climb on the rocks and get very close to them. They will walk right up to you and even bite you if you're lucky! ;)
There are two main areas for viewing the penguins. When you pull into the lot designated for parking, there will be a walkway to your right if you're looking at the water and you can walk down this path to a secluded area with a few penguins. If you opt to go the main way, you can go on the boardwalk or pay to go down to the beach. The fee was R65 which is about 6 USD a person. WORTH IT IMO!
We spent a decent amount of time enjoying the beach, the sun and watching the penguins in their natural habitat. They were in nesting season so they had some areas blocked off for safety of the penguins but I am under the impression these were only up for a short period of time and may not be there for future visitors.
We grabbed some coffee at the local restaurant at the water front and headed onto our next stop. We were getting sleepy after our early morning and strenuous hike. On our way to Cape of Good Hope were some beautiful views including baboons and ostrich. Cape of Good Hope is the Most SouthWestern Point of the African Continent and a popular place for some beautiful views and even know for great whites in the area. We'd heard that here and Chapman's Peak Drive offered beautiful sunset views so we drove through the windy roads of Hout Bay to catch the sunset before heading back to our hotel to change for dinner.
Two friends of ours had recommended Kloof Street House as a dinner spot for Cape Town so we'd made sure to make reservations in advance and O.M.G. thank goodness we did. The food here was amazing and the ambiance was very unique. I wouldn't come here for fast service but honestly everywhere we ate in Africa was at a much slower pace than in the States. Kloof Street is a pretty trendy and young area and looking back, if I were to book a hotel again, I'd probably find something on that street.
The next morning was our 3 year wedding anniversary and we wanted to start it with a sunrise hike at Lion's Head. 4am arrived very quickly but we were up, grumpy as hell, headed to the base of the mountain to start our hike.
Lion's Head is the pointy mountain top you see that offers great views of the city and Table Mountain. The hike is a few switch backs and quickly gets to a mixed rock climbing/hiking combo with ladders, staples and chains to help you quickly ascend to the top. We were up with plenty of time to catch the stunning views before the sun had fully risen and enjoyed our morning summit snack while watching the sun come up over the mountains. A beautiful way to start our day and anniversary!
After our hike, it was back to the hotel for breakfast and coffee and a quick, and boy do I mean quick, shower! Cape Town's water restrictions call for very serious shower measures. Turn the water on, get your hair wet, water off, lather up, rinse, get out! We tried to be as conscious of our water consumption as we could while in Cape Town. Lots of hand sanitizer and dry shampoo to the rescue!
I'd planned a couple winery stops in Stellenbosch for our anniversary and was so excited to start with a Chocolate and Red Wine pairing at Waterford Estate. The landscaping of this winery was breathtaking and serene. You walked in to an immaculate garden with table and chairs sprinkled under the trees and twinkle lights and lanterns strung throughout. I could only imagine how beautiful it would be at sunset but it was gorgeous around lunch time.
We got to eat some sea salt, chilli pepper and milk chocolates paired with various wines to bring out the various notes in the wine and it was so interesting and delicious. I hadn't done a wine tasting like this before but highly recommend! Big chocolate lover over here!
We enjoyed Waterford for a couple hours, bought a couple bottles of wine and were on our way to our next stop at Jordan Winery where I'd scheduled us to do a tour of the vineyard as well as the cellar. This was guided by Ruben who might happen to be the most informed person I've ever met on so many topics, wine especially! We got to taste 3 white wines in the vineyard and 3 red wines back on the grounds after our cellar tour. We also got a cheese board with breads and olives that was to die for!
Once we got back to our hotel, we were informed from our travel agent and hotel that there had been a change to our flight schedule for the next day. I was so mad. We were to fly direct from Cape Town to Hoedspruit and CemAir had canceled our flight and opted to fly us from Cape Town to JNB (again) to Hoedspruit adding several hours to our day. I was so frustrated because I'd rearranged our trip in this order to allow for less flight time. I was so bummed out that our next day would be spent in an airport again but there wasn't anything to be done.
We went to dinner to catch our last Cape Town sunset at The Round House which offers an outdoor deck that overlooks the coast. There is a fine dining restaurant inside but we opted for pizza and beer on the deck in a more relaxed setting.
Our last morning in Cape Town and we headed to the waterfront for some coffee and then decided to swing by Bo Kapp to see the beautifully colored houses before making our way to the airport. The little town has so much character and really reminded me of a small Italian village with the narrow cobble stone streets!
Off to the airport and 2 flights later, we landed in Hoedspruit. I should mention I completely wigged out with how small our plane from Cape Town to JNB and Hoedspruit was. I really thought we'd be on a normal sized plane but it was about half the size and only 12 passengers! YIKES! I am a nervous flyer no matter the size, but to fly a small airline in a foreign country with bad reviews had me wigging out. Thankfully we landed safely at our final destination and had a driver arranged to pick us up to take us to our Safari!
The villages between Hoedspruit and Kruger National Park were in the middle of duress and protests to the local government. Locals let us know that the villages have been promised paved roads and running water for years on end by their government, only to have promises broken and money spent elsewhere. The towns were protesting and had blocked roads making them not only impassable but also dangerous to vehicles so our lodge arranged for us to be picked up on the back side of the property. This added about a 1.5 hour drive in a Land Rover with a safari guide to the hotel. We'd heard that some other guests had been annoyed by the inconvenience but Brandon and I saw it as a private Game Drive as well as a chance to see more of the towns that you normally wouldn't.
Once we arrived to our lodge, Arathusa Safari Lodge, we were hungry and exhausted. Too many planes and cars for one day! The lodge arranges your dinner table by your Safari Game Drives so we sat at a table around a fire and had a wonderful dinner and got to meet the folks who would be in our car. We got so lucky and met some great people from the UK and NYC. We instantly made friends and all swapped stories on our travels so far in Africa and quite frankly competed for who loved the country more.
Wake up call for your morning game drive is 4:50am, you meet for coffee and tea at 5:15 and you're off on your drive by 5:30! Sunrise is one of the best times to see the animals and as much as I hated getting up so early, I loved the morning safaris. Getting to see the sunrise and try and find the animals emerging from a night of hunting was so thrilling.
After about 3 hours of drives, you head back to the lodge for a gourmet breakfast and then you can either do a Bush Walk, lay by the pool or take a nap until lunch time. I opted for a nap and Brandon did the Bush Walk. Lunch is served around 2pm and then afternoon tea at 4pm followed by your evening Game Drive.
Evening drives also provide an element of intrigue as it is almost a race to find the animals before the sun goes down. We were lucky to see a cheetah in the evening who had just lost her prey to a pack of hyenas so the excitement is definitely there.
Every morning you have a coffee or tea and snack at the end of your game drive and every evening you have a night cap at the end of your night drive. The team will ask you what kind of drink you'd like as your sun downer and most of the time you want to go for something cool line a G&T or Rum and Mango! :)
We thoroughly enjoyed our safari experience and loved that we could have a relaxing end to our trip. Waking up early, safari, food, nap, food, safari, food, bed, repeat! I cannot wait to safari again and I honestly don't know if I am more excited about the schedule or the animals!
After our 4th day on safari, we headed out back to Hoedspruit airport to fly to JNB (shocker!) and then to ATL. On our way out, we got to drive through the village where the protests had been. There was a lot of destruction to the roads and towns and seeing the poverty that some of the locals live in was very eye opening. Africa is so beautiful and has so much to offer but still has areas that do not see the things in life we so often take for granted. These are the parts of traveling that are always the most humbling and informative and make you thankful for whatever situation you were born into.
Our driver gave us some great insight into the local government, the distribution of wealth, or lack thereof in the area as well as information on poachers and hunters and the security that Kruger takes to keep their animals safe. I've always loved animals but seeing these wild ones in their natural habitat gives you such a better understanding and respect for them. I cannot wait to return to Africa and am already researching the next place to safari!
I'd highly recommend all aspects of our trip and Africa as a destination you should go to sooner than later!
Questions I had before going:
What vaccines should I get? This will depend on your home country but Americans it was Typhoid, Yellow Fever and Hep B were recommended. I either had or got a variation of these. Malaria pills were the only thing my travel doctor said I had to have.
It is dangerous? We got so many people warning us of the dangers of Cape Town and Africa in general. Cape Town is not unlike Atlanta... leave your valuables in your car and they will probably get stolen. Use good judgement and you'll be fine. Africa has been home to the friendliest of places we've gone and we didn't feel unsafe during our trip
How long is the flight? 15 hours from ATL to JNB and 16.5 coming back!
How much local currency should we carry? We got local South African currency but didn't get any in Zambia... most places took credit cards or took USD if you're stuck without small local bills - several places claimed to only take cash as their 'CC machine is down' but they really just prefer cash so try and carry small bills if possible
Do you need a visa? Yes! If you got to Zambia and Zimbabwe get the Kaza visa which lets you visit both countries for $50 USD a person
Is it hot? Our safari was SO hot one day and tolerable or cool the other days. Cape Town was very pleasant with winds on the coast, think of Southern California. And Zambia and Zimbabwe were pleasant with some serious rainfall
Are there luggage restrictions? Yes. Delta has a 50 lb limit. All of our other flights were 32kg limit, our bags were 17 and 20 kgs so you probably won't go over. However, if you take a bush flight, there may be more strict requirements or fees for those flights and baggage
What to wear on safari? neutral and comfortable clothing is recommended, a hat for sun and layers for when it gets cool in the mornings or night. Try to avoid bright colors and patterns and navy blue as it attracts teste flies.
How gluten free friendly is Africa? Very! Cape Town had a ton of options and most other places were just confused as to why you'd put 'flour' into things that don't require flour... no kidding! I ate wonderfully and didn't feel sick which as so nice!
What languages should I know? English! There are hundreds of languages and dialects in various regions of Africa but in South Africa specifically, English is very common and we didn't run into many issues communicating
How was the drought? Very serious. Most public places have faucets cut off and toilets low with hand sanitizer as your only option. Only bottled water is served and pools have been drained. We tried to be very water conscious in Cape Town and hope other tourists do as well
Should we rent a car? Yes! We felt that we got to see so much more on our own by renting a car. Just make sure you're comfortable driving on the left side of the road
Things I'd do differently next time:
Pack way less! You wear the same things on safari and it is so casual. I didn't wear heels once and most of things I packed that I thought were cute, never got worn because we were so active.
Bring a better lens! I'd brought a standard DSLR 18-55 lens and really could have used a 200-300mm zoom lens! Someone will always have a bigger lens than you and I really wished I could have gotten some better pictures
Maybe do a layover instead of direct... I am not sure my body is built for that long on a plane!
Spend more time.. we did about 12 days and it flew by. I wish we had done 2-3 weeks and checked out Namibia or some other countries while over there
Stayed on Kloof Street in Cape Town
Bring more wine bags! We brought padded travel wine bags and I wish we'd brought way more... we loved the wineries we visited
Flown South African Air! We flew Delta and paid almost double what some friends on our safari paid from JFK. Also Delta left our luggage in Africa so ya know.. you get what you pay for? oh wait...
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