Wonderful South Africa 4

7th Posting - Cape Town, Stellenbosch, and the Magnificent Cape!

2011-11-20T11:17:00.000-08:00

The tour concludes with three glorious days in Cape Town. Friday morning we headed for Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, on the backside of Table Mountain. It is such a fantastic setting and the native trees and flowers are spectacular. From there we headed into the Stellenbosch wine region and enjoyed a cellar tour and huge, delicious lunch at the Middelvlei Winery on the edge of town. The town itself boasts a marvelous collection of 19th century buildings, many in the 'Cape Dutch' architectural style.

A double-collared sunbird rests on a protea at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens with Table Mountain as a backdrop

King protea - South Africa's national flower

Libby, Kent & Babs at Kirstenbosch

Libby and Babs in a ginormous tree!

A tree aloe!

Camphor Avenue in Kirstenbosch

Middelvlei Winery - John uses the wine thief.

Clothesline in the town of Stellenbosch

Stellenbosch

Stellenbosch, Burgerhuis, now a museum and offices

Stellenbosch - Church in the main square

Back in Cape Town, the Bo Kap (Malay) district provides bright color!

Cape Town's Soccer Stadium, built for the 2010 World Cup

The Convention Center next to our hotel is hosting the unveiling of the new 911 (for 2012) model of Porsche. It is a month-long event with 120 of the new cars and currently they are flying in dealers from around the world to 'test' them in the Cape area. Sixty of them enjoyed Chapman's Peak Drive with us today!!

The new 911 Porsche

Hout Bay on Chapman's Peak Drive

The group (minus Ruth) at Hout Bay

Chapman's Peak Drive

Nordhoek Beach

But it's a really good picture....!!

Penguins? In Africa??

Yup, and not just a few of them.

The African Penguin is known as the 'Jackass Penguin' because it sounds like a braying donkey.

The Cape of Good Hope, from Cape Point

an amazing diversity of flora in the 'Cape Floral Kingdom'

The group at Cape Point, high above the Cape of Good Hope

Chris leaps high at Cape Point (much to his mother's chagrin)

The Cape Peninsula is in the background.

Ostrich at the Cape

Thousands of cormorants and gulls enjoy a wild sea at the Cape!

Barbara at the Cape of Good Hope

Baboon Mother carries her baby

Evening light over Cape Town, viewed from the side of Table Mountain

Chris, Libby, Babs, and Barbara at Table Mountain.

The Lion's Head is in the background.

Ruth smiles in front of Table Mountain

Sunset from Signal Hill, and so ends our wonderful tour as the group flies home to the USA.

6th Posting - Oudtshoorn and Route 62

2011-11-17T13:07:00.000-08:00

From Knysna we continued another hour on the Garden Route, enjoying stunning ocean vistas, passes and gorges, and of course, wonderful flowers and trees. From George we turned inland and crossed the Montagu Pass into the semi-arid Little Karoo region. What a change. Oudtshoorn is the ostrich capital of the world and also home to Cango Caves. After a night at the delightful La Plume Guesthouse, we spent a day on Route 62, the 'longest wine route' in the world. What an amazing day of diverse scenery!

Indian Ocean at Wilderness Bay

Checking out the goods at Wilderness Bay overlook

Chris challenges the mighty surf at Victoria Bay

Cango Caves

Village church and Jacaranda trees at Cango

John stands on an ostrich egg without breaking it!

Libby demonstrates the size of an ostrich egg

The ostrich are fascinated by Babs!

closeup

Ruth takes a wild ride on the ostrich. The first one slipped and fell, dumping Ruth onto the ground, but she got up and rode around the circuit again.

After Ruth's fall, we didn't think Babs would take her turn, but she got on and screamed around the arena!

Dinner at Nostalgia, with old records for placemats.

Nostalgia also provided hats and gloves

and the food was delicious!

Amarula Malva Pudding

Pudding:

* 1 egg

* 250 ml sugar

* 1 tbs smooth apricot jam

* 2 tbs softened butter

* 250 ml flour

* 1 tsp baking soda

* pinch of salt

* 250 ml milk

*1 tsp vinegar

Sauce:

* 125 ml melted butter

* 200 ml cream

*125 ml caster sugar

* 80 ml Amarula

Beat egg and sugar until creamy, then add jam and butter, stirring to combine thoroughly. Sift together the dry ingredients and pour them into the egg-sugar mixture. Stir to combine. Pour in the milk slowly. When the mixture is combined, add the vinegar. Pour into a baking dish and cover with foil. Bake at 130 degrees Celsius for about 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake for a further 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

To make the sauce, combine the butter, cream and caster sugar in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved and the sauce thickens – this will take a few minutes. Take the sauce off the heat and add the Amarula. Pour the sauce slowly over the pudding as soon as it comes out of the oven. Once the pudding is saturated with sauce, pour the remainder into a jar for guests to add. Serve with custard on the side.

Rest stop at the Country Pumpkin on Route 62

Vast vistas of vineyards and mountains

Amazing agricultural lands

Climbing the du Toitskloof Pass

And we are rewarded at the top with a stunning view down over Paarl, the Stellenbosch wine region, and Table Mountain off in the distance.

Hitchhiking chickens! Why don't they fly off the pickup??

5th Posting - The Garden Route and Knysna

2011-11-15T20:38:00.000-08:00

On Monday, November 14 we flew from Johannesburg down to the south coast to Port Elizabeth. The coastal route from P.E. to Cape Town is known as the Garden Route and traverses the famed Cape Floral Kingdom, with a great diversity of plant life. We spent two nights in the picture-perfect town of Knysna, situated on a lagoon, leading to the Indian Ocean.

Storms River Canyon

Mandi and Ruth at Storms River Bridge

Babs photographs 'the Big Tree' a native South African Yellowwood Tree

Wild Seascapes at Tsitsikamma National Park

Tsitsikamma National Park

Rock Dassie (thyrax) - its closest relative is an elephant!

Tsitsikamma National Park

Libby photographs the gardens at our Candlewood Lodge in Knysna

The Featherbed Excursion in Knysna

Intrepid Travelers on top of the West Knysna Head at the entrance to the Knysna Lagoon

Seacaves at the Featherbed Nature Reserve

Well, Mandi......?

Knysna Township

Historic Belvedere Church 1839

Buffalo Bay

Ruth at Buffalo Bay

Sundowners on the veranda at Candlewood Lodge

Babs with Knysna town and lagoon in the background

Lentil Bobotie (as we enjoyed at the Featherbed Excursion lunch)

* 250ml uncooked lentils

* 2 onions sliced

* 2 clove garlic

* 15ml curry powder

* 5ml tumeric

* 5ml coriander

* 3ml cumin

* 45ml brown sugar

* 60ml chutney

* 15ml Worchester sauce

* 7ml salt and pepper

Topping

* 1 egg

* 60ml milk

Cook the lentils according to package instructions. Fry onions and garlic until soft. Add all the spices and stir-fry for a minute. Add lentils, raisins to spices and mix well. Spoon into a greased oven dish and top with egg mixture. Bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees celcius. Serve with slices of banana and fruit chutney.

Enjoy! Chef Juan van Straaten and the Featherbed Team

4th Posting - Blyde River Canyon and Kruger National Park

2011-11-13T00:14:00.000-08:00

After a wonderful three days at Kapama Nature Reserve, we spent a day touring the spectacular Blyde River Canyon, the 3rd largest canyon in the world, and considered the largest 'green' canyon. It was a great day of hiking and sightseeing.

The Drakensberg Mountains

African Wares

Ruth negotitates

Chris, Libby, Babs at the Three Rondavels

John above the Blyde River Canyon

Babs and Libby at Bourke's Luck Potholes

Bourke's Luck Potholes

School Children visit Bourke's Luck Potholes

Berlin Falls

The group at God's Window, looking out over the Lowfeld

Rain forest at God's Window

Hiking the rain forest

Hamilton Parks Lodge - our rooms

Hamilton Parks Lodge

John takes a dip in the Hamilton Parks pool

Our rooms at Hamilton Parks Lodge exude character!

Acacia flowers bloom in Kruger

A bull buffalo stares at us through the bush

Hippos blow off steam

Hippos at Lake Panic Bird Hide

The heron is rewarded for his patience and nabs a fish.

An African fish eagle tries to steal the fish from the heron

Lake Panic Bird Hide

Water Lily at Skukuza

Brand-new baby impala

Kudu Buck

Herd of elephants (out of 10,000 in Kruger National Park)

Yellow-billed Hornbill

A warthog checks out a resting lion - he's brave!

and more giraffes....

Warthog and two babies scamper down the road ahead of us.

And another spectacular sunset over the Bushveld

On Sunday we spent a couple hours at the Lowfeld Botanical Gardens in Nelspruit before heading back west to Pretoria for an overnight and a Monday morning flight to Port Elizabeth.

We enjoyed the elevated walkways through the African Rainforest.

Mandi models a Cabbage Tree!

Pond Lilies in the gardens

And the sun glows red as we approach Pretoria

3rd Posting - Kapama Lodge safaris

2011-11-10T19:18:00.000-08:00

We spent 3 wonderful nights at Kapama Safari Lodge. We would go early morning and late afternoon on game drives, looking for the animals and birds. Kampama is 50 square miles of bush, so there is a lot of are for the animals to hide. It's beautiful right now as spring is beginning and leaves are showing up on the bushes. There are also a few babies already and of course it's always exciting to see them.

Here's a shot of our 'modest' rooms!

A Vervet monkey right outside our dining room

Elephants on the road!

Dam on the Klaserie River

Two male wildebeest (gnu)

African Fish Eagle

Elegant Dinner outdoors in the Riverbed

Hyena

Zebra

A handsome stallion

Herd of wildebeest

And more elephants - and very close!

The baby elephant is an albino!

Turning our direction - it's time to leave!

Back at Kapama River Lodge, the maid carries towels the convenient way.

Farmer's hayfield and the Drakensberg Mountains

Giant Baobab Tree (notice Ruth standing next to it)

Several Cape Buffalo were cooling themselves in the dam, but several Terrapins (turtles) kept biting them. It was fascinating to watch the reactions.

Another 'National Geographic' moment with Kudu and Impala at the Watering Hole

In the middle of a herd of Cape Buffalo

And to end our 5th game drive, a mother rhino and newborn!

We took one last drive our final morning and were rewarded with a rare black mamba!!

and a pair of baby giraffe twins!

2nd Posting - The Bush!

2011-11-09T05:24:00.000-08:00

We're off to the Bush, the Lowfeld, Kruger National Park region, and our safaris!

A urinal with a view!! A rest area on the way looks out over the highveld and buffalo, ostriches, zebras and other animals!

The charming town of Dullstroom, known for trout fly-fishing and roses!

Barbara and the macadamia nut vendor

Can't get enough of the jacaranda trees

We arrive at our 5-star Safari Lodge, Kapama River Lodge in Limpopo Province near Kruger National Park

Kapama Lobby

Kapama Dining Room

Kapama infinity pool

KC! Look - there are birds here too!

Off on our first game drive

An impressive bull rhino

And lions!!

Lazy lions after eating themselves full on a kill

Sunset at the pond

The Drakensberg Mountains glow after sunset

Lots of giraffes today

Rhinos roll in the mud to keep cool and rid themselves of insects

Giraffe in the road!

Twins

"High Tea" in the bush

A Hippo regards us warily

Panorama of the Drakensberg Mountains

1st Posting - Pretoria

2011-11-07T09:23:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Africa!

It was so good to arrive to a warm welcome at Sleep Eezy Cottages for the third year in a row. Moira and Lawrence treat us like royalty and it really feels like home!

Chris evidently feels right at home in front of his room as well.

The pool and breakfast room at Sleep Eezy.

Two soldiers at Fort Schanskop!

Flowers and wagons at the Voortrekker Monument.

The Voortrekker Monument - Pioneer Monument for the South African Boers

Paul Kruger statue and the old Parliament Building

Red Hot Pokers at the Union Buildings

Union Buildings (Parliament)

Bird of Paradise

Jacaranda and Bougainevillea

Jacaranda line the streets in Pretoria, known as Jacaranda City

Topping off the day with a 'braai' (BBQ) at Sleep Eezy Cottages