2020 POSTCARD FROM AFRICA [BOTSWANA, ZAMBIA & SOUTH AFRICA] Wed 12 February – Sat 14 March 2020

I had a comfortable flight to Jo’burg on Wednesday evening, although we went over a lot of cobbles as we flew over the Sahara.   On arrival I took the shuttle to the Southern Sun.  A really depressing hotel – it is in a need of a big upgrade.  No fridge, no robe, no bath, hotel in big need of a coat of paint!  Lay beside the pool in the afternoon until the rains came!

After an easy flight to Kasane, I was driven to Sanctuary Chobe Chilwero Lodge, a short 10-15 minute journey.  Once there I was looked after in an incredibly efficient way.  I did a quick unpack and then went on a wonderful afternoon safari drive, which was in fact a boat ride for just five of us.  We had some wonderful viewings of elephants, hippos, buffalos, crocs to mention but a few.  In the evening there was a local dance show before a very nice quiet dinner, which included croc tails as a starter!  The next morning was a safari drive in a jeep.  After a quiet start, things livened up and we saw plenty of impala, hippos, and some beautiful birds.  The highlight of the morning was a couple of lions mating!  After a coffee break we saw loads of elephants – there are a huge amount in Botswana.  In the afternoon it was another boat safari with plenty of hippos, buffalos and elephants.

 

On Day three we had a quiet morning in the Park with no great excitements but when we got back the sun was out so I was able to spend a little time by their pool   In the afternoon we saw lots of elephants en route to our boat on Chobe River and once on our boat we saw two, which later increased to four, elephants playing around in the river – something I had not seen before. They really were having a ball in the water!  The next morning I had another incredible time on our safari drive – seeing lions, elephants, buffalo, hippos and of course many different types of deer and I enjoyed my usual hot chocolate with Amarula when we stopped for our mid -morning break.  After a snack lunch in my room, I went to the pool again, and was visited by a baboon, two bushbuck and hundreds of mongoose!  Sadly however the rains – and thunder – came so I retired to my room for a rest.

On my last day and a half I had three great safaris in the morning and evening, and saw lions at play again, as well as plenty of elephants, buffalo and hippos.  On the afternoon of Wednesday 19 February I flew back to Jo’burg, where I met up with my friend Sue Sheridan who is joining me for two weeks of my trip.  We stayed at the Southern Sun at Jo’burg airport and had one disaster after another – both of us had room problems and then the restaurant manager knocked wine [fortunately rose and not red!] all over me, so had to do a quick change and wash out clothes.  Didn’t feel much like dinner after that!

On Thursday 20 February Sue and I flew from Jo’burg to Livingstone, where we stayed at the Avani Victoria Falls Hotel.  The first afternoon we were transported to a boat called Makumbi, on which we did a sunset cruise, and enjoyed drinks and dinner on board, watching animals and birds and a glorious sunset.  The following morning, after an hour or two by the pool, we took a wonderful walk to Victoria Falls.  We spent an hour enjoying the sights before walking back to the hotel and spending the afternoon in the sunshine.  That evening we went to a boma dinner in the hotel, which was good if poorly attended.  On Saturday we flew to Nelspruit, where a rather dopey lady driver met us.  We spent the night there at the Southern Sun which was marginally better than its sister hotel at Jo’burg airport.

The same rather ‘dopey’ driver met us on Sunday morning and drove us for four hours in the pouring rain on some very bad roads to Chitwa Chitwa safari lodge in the Sabi Sands area.  It continued to pour with rain as we went on our first safari, which made for a very uncomfortable ride, but we did see lion, elephant, giraffe and a hyena!  After a good dinner we had an earlyish night as the next morning we were up at 4.45am and off on our first safari at 5.30am!  We had a really good morning with a very good sighting of a leopard and two cubs.  In the evening we followed of a white rhino and then went on to see a kill by some lionesses – not a pretty sight.  In the evening we had our dinner in the bush!

On Tuesday 25 February it was another very early start [5.30am depart the lodge] and this time we found a delightful small herd of elephants with some lovely youngsters and then found a leopard up a tree.  The other three in my safari car were taken on a walk back to the lodge, I decided to be careful and was driven back, seeing a hyena on the way.  Had a nice swim during the day at the Lodge, before setting out on our evening safari drive. A fairly quiet drive but it finished with special drinks and nibbles in the bush overlooking a lake and with a new moon and the evening star appearing during a perfect sunset.  On Wednesday we had a morning of loads of lions, some with their cubs, but the evening was a very quiet one, finishing up with a rather strange dinner in the nearby airstrip.  The final morning was very successful with a leopard and two cubs and then the family of lions once again, as well as a few elephants!

 

At 11am Sue and I set off for Skukuza for our flight to Jo’burg, and we were in our airport hotel by 4.30pm.  Needless to say, lots of problems with this hotel once again, but we survived and on Friday morning we set off for Cape Town.  Our pick up shuttle got delayed by an accident, so we had a little wait for him on arrival, but we made it to the Table Bay Hotel fairly swiftly and checked into our wonderful rooms overlooking Table Mountain  and the Waterfront Harbour.  That evening we took a wander around the Waterfront, had a drink and after changing had a good dinner at Baia.  On our arrival it had been very windy, but day two was good, so we took an Open Top bus tour, and go off at the Mountain.  We had a lovely hour at the top walking around in glorious sunshine. We then hopped back on the bus and got off in Camps Bay, where we had some fizzy drinks sitting on a bench on the beach!  After that we moved on to Long Street, and we walked through Greenmarket Square and on to the Cathedral.  Sue wanted to see the Castle, so we found our way there and were looking for an entrance when a local attempted to mug me.  Fortunately, us two strong women gave him the push off – a bit scary but we were both fine, and took ourselves back on the 10-15 minute walk to Long Street to hop back on the bus to take us eventually back to the Waterfront.  That evening we had an excellent meal at the Greek Fisherman. 

On Sunday 1 March, Sue and I took the Robben Island boat across to the island and spent the morning there touring the prison and seeing Mandela’s cell.  In the afternoon we relaxed by the pool and dined at Quay Four which has gone right down hill.  The following day was very quiet so we spent it by the pool, with both of us going off on various errands during the day.  In the evening we went on a sunset cruise which was rather cool but we did at least have a good sunset.  Once back ashore we dined at Karibu.  On Tuedsay 3 March we went on a tour of the Cape Peninsula in a minibus with 9 others.  We stopped at numerous places, including Camps Bay, Hout Bay, Boulders Beach and the penguins, Simon’s Town [where we lunched], Cape Point, Cape of Good Hope and Kirstenbosch.  We were very late back to the hotel – after a ten and a half hour trip – but after a quick change we dined at Balthazar on the Waterfront.

On Wednesday we met up with my friend Tony and we went on a great tour of the winelands, albeit sadly in slightly overcast weather.  Anyway, we visited four vineyards, three of which were excellent, and then lunched at Fairview vineyard which was brilliant, as ever.  In the evening we wandered downstairs to the Waterfront for a small fishy meal at Firefish.  On Thursday, I spent the day by the pool.  Sue went off do a bit of shopping during the day and we finished our day with a nice dinner at the Greek Fisherman.

Friday morning was by the pool, and then I saw Sue off around 3.40pm for her flight to London.  I went off to buy some food for my fridge so that I could have some of my dinners in my room, and then relaxed for the rest of the evening.  On Saturday I went over to my friend June where I joined a lovely lunch party.  On my return did a small shop in Woolworths and then relaxed in my room.  The next few days I spent quietly by the pool.  Met a girlfriend for dinner one evening and took myself out on the last evening.

 

Holiday was excellent but the return journey was a nightmare.  We had a diversion into Barcelona with a sick passenger.  All very weird as I saw the passenger walk into the ambulance!   Strangely we were only an hour and a half from LHR in an 11 hour flight. It took them 3½  hours to get us back in the air.  We had five minutes to spare before they closed Barcelona airport, and we would have been stuck in Spain for goodness knows how many weeks!  Finally BA had the cheek to make us walk up steps into the jumbo in Cape Town and down steps to the tarmac and squashed into buses in LHR. So was very delayed and somewhat bad tempered getting home!