Letaba, KRUGER National Park

We spent one night at Letaba Rest Camp and loved it.  It was our first night back in Africa for nearly two years and what a great place to spend it.  Bushbucks were grazing in the camp and to draw our first evening to a close we had Elephants meandering slowly along the riverbed whilst we sat and watched the sunset with a Savannah Dry and a Windhoek.  The accommodation was typical Kruger National Park Rondavaal situated on the perimeter of the camp overlooking the river.  Of all the camps we have stayed at in Kruger, Letaba has definitely got the best view.  In our opinion it is just a bit too far north in the park for us as we have always had more successful game viewing in the south.

SATARA, KRUGER NATIONAL PARK

We have stayed at Satara before and really enjoyed it here.  The Reception staff and Restaurant staff are great, but the shop staff are, being extremely polite, hopeless!  We again had a Rondavaal on the perimeter of the camp and once again were watched by the Hyenas both nights as we had our braai (bbq).  This time we were also joined by a Lesser-Spotted Genet which seemed to live in a tree just outside the camp and had obviously been fed by previous visitors!  The night drives at Satara are always good fun and it didn't disappoint this time either with plenty of the smaller nocturnal animals making an appearance.

TSHUKUDU GAME LODGE

We cannot say enough about Tshukudu, we really feel that we are at home when we stay here and are very much made to feel part of the family.  Tshukudu is in our experiences so far an absolutely unique experience in South Africa.  The game viewing is great, the food is fantastic and the staff are sensational.

The funniest moment this trip is a close contest between myself and two rangers, Chris and Craig.  My moment was chasing  and rugby tackling Savannah, a cheetah who was hand-reared but lives in the wild.  What made this funny was that she was walking alongside the boundary fence and a car with some tourists had stopped when they saw her to take photos.  I guess the last thing they expected to see was a bloke chasing after and jump on a cheetah.  I must point out that Savannah was walking, not running thankfully!  After Savannah pawed me and gently bit me on the arm I looked up and grinned at the car.  The looks on their faces was priceless!

The "scream-like-a-girl" award however goes to Chris and Craig.  We had spotted a Honey-Badger going into the kitchen boma so I gave Craig my full glass of beer and ran off to get my camera.  When I got back Angela was in tears of laughter and a sodden Craig handed me back an empty glass!  What they hadn't seen was two Honey Badgers go into the kitchen and only noticed once they had accidentally cornered one.  A Honey Badger is a very aggressive animal that kills its prey by jumping and clamping onto, in the case of a male, your nuts!  They have been known to chase Lions off a kill!  So when this second Honey Badger realised it had been cornered it charged and according to Angela, "They both jumped ten feet in the air, clung onto the fence and screamed like girls!"  Hence my beer went up and over Craig!

As always Ross, Hilda, Precious, Ala and Lolly made us feel incredibly welcome and without doubt are the main reason we go back to Tshukudu every time we go to South Africa.

I must also mention another Lodge at this point, Thula Thula in Kwa-Zulu Natal, as it is the other Game Reserve in South Africa where we feel very much part of the family.  The reason I am mentioning them is that I rang them from Tshukudu to say sorry for not going to see them on this trip and I got a right telling off from not only Francoise, but Mabona as well!  We had to promise that we would go and see them in 2009!

buffalo camp, KAPAMA GAME RESERVE

We didn't really enjoy our time at Kapama and definitely wouldn't go back.  The game viewing was poor to say the least, although we did have an amazing Elephant experience even though the Ranger was totally unsighted to it.  A tiny baby Ellie gathered enough momentum to charge the vehicle and when the baby touched the back of the vehicle the mum trumpeted and charged along with two of her sisters who appeared out of the bushes in a split second.   It was amazing to see how they formed a defensive triangle around the baby.  Apart from that we didn't really see much at all.  The food was very international and I was looked at like I was an idiot when I asked if we were going to get any traditional African meats like Kudu, Impala, Warthog, etc, rather than plain old beef or pork!  Kapama didn't inspire us, or create the right first impression.  The tents were lovely, although the view was quite limited due to the thick bush in front of them and the game vehicles looked very tired.

One awesome surprise we had when we were driven to the main gate at Kapama was the transfer company that was waiting to take us to Arathusa.  It turned out that the transfer company was in fact African Bundu Safaris and the ever reliable Blue Tazz.  It may be a lot smaller than the Blue Chicken of old, but the driver is still as entertaining as ever!  Dean had been working in the area and had managed to keep it a secret from us and he drove us to Arathusa where we got to spend a day with him.  We didn't think we were going to get to see Dean until October in Hermanus.

arathusa safari lodge, SABI SANDS

We loved Arathusa!  The minute we arrived we felt welcome, a totally different experience to Kapama.  The rooms were beautiful, the food was lovely and the game drives were fantastic.  Brendan and Michelle who managed the lodge were great and Jason, our Ranger, was one of the best Rangers we have met.  He obviously loved the bush and took great pride in what he did.  We learnt lots and saw loads and Jason wasn't afraid to stop and tell us about the little things even when under pressure to tear around to find the "Big 5" by some South African guests.  It was an absolute pleasure to stay here!

Nothing more needs to be said other than we are going back again next year, we will ask for Jason to be our ranger if possible and we will stay for longer.

Rattray's on Mala Mala

The flight into Rattrays was awesome, if only three minutes long!  It was a choice between a two to three hour car journey or a five minute flight!  Flying over the Sabi Sands was great and we got to see quite a bit of game from the air.  Our arrival at Rattrays on Mala Mala was everything you would expect.  The attention to detail of the camp and the Khayas is exemplary.

The food which was excellent, we cannot fault it, nor the staff who were outstanding.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner were fabulous and the ladies singing at dinner in the Boma was awesome, including the male chef who clearly enjoyed the singing and dancing.

The game drives didn't really live up to our expectations, but, that wasn't all Mala Mala's fault.  It was windy and overcast which, compared to the previous week, is terrible for game viewing.  Also it isn't a zoo and we know from experience that there are no guarantees, even at Mala Mala!

What we felt let them down, I am sad to say as he was a nice enough bloke, was our ranger.  He was inexperienced, obviously very tired from the regular yawning and more interested in joking over the radio than sharing information/knowledge with us.

We don't need to be told basic information about the animals we now see as to some extent we have heard most of it before.  As I am very passionate about the bush and the wildlife in it I have retained and further studied that knowledge.  We were with a great couple from New York who had never been on a "safari" before.  Angela's opinion is that without me telling them stuff they would not learnt very much at all and they were very keen to know.

The final question on the feedback form says, "On your next visit to Rattray Reserves would you consider requesting the same ranger?"

One final mention has to be the Camp Manager, Charles Gornal-Jones.  It was an absolute pleasure to have met him and we both could have listened to his stories all night.

Umhloti lodge, JANE GOODall institute primate haven

This place is just outside Nelspruit and is sensational!  Let's start with the Lodge which is in the nature reserve next to the Haven.  The rooms are pure luxury, the staff are terrific and the setting is awesome.  The couple who run the lodge were great, very welcoming and nothing was too much trouble.  We ate all our meals at the Haven restaurant and can honestly say that the food was the best we had all holiday, in fact my steak was without question the best I have ever eaten and that includes the South American steaks when we were travelling!

The Primate Haven is also fantastic.  It is a very similar concept to Monkey World in the UK in that they rescue abused and unwanted primates, although here it is just Chimpanzees.  They are extremely entertaining to watch and the guides that take you round are excellent at educating you.  The Animal Planet film crew were there shooting "Escape to Chimp Eden."

It is well worth a visit and should definitely be combined with an overnight stay at Umhloti Lodge.

HERMANUS

We stayed in a self-catering apartment on Marine Drive.  This place was not what we were expecting at all!  It was way better than we could ever have imagined.  Firstly, it had three bedrooms all ensuite, plus a huge balcony with a built in braai (bbq), a fully fitted kitchen with all the latest equipment, including dish-washer, washing machine.  Oh yeah, then there was the small matter of the fact that this top floor apartment overlooked Walkers bay which provided us with a view of about fifteen to twenty Southern Right Whales at any one time!  It was amazing!  To sit out on the balcony watching the sunset, with a beer in hand, the braai slowly cooking the 3kg Porterhouse Steak and watching and listening to the Whales within metres of us was awesome.

We were joined by our Bestman, Dean, who in just two days we managed to make sea-sick, need to seek medical advice and then raise his cholesterol level significantly!  Despite this he has still agreed to arrange our next adventure in July 2009!

We went on a couple of trips with a company called Southern Right Charters to see the Whales from sea level.  It is hard to imagine the size of these amazing creatures but to give you an idea their teeth, known as Baleens, can be up to two-and-a-half metres long and they weight the equivalent of ten fully grown Elephants.

The Rocks as always provided us with a superb meal one evening and as we sat down to enjoy our meal the couple on the table next to us were season ticket holders at Leicester Tigers Rugby Club!  How spooky is that!

Cape Town

From Hermanus we set off to Cape Town for a couple of nights, one of which was my 40th birthday!  On arrival at the V&A Hotel on the waterfront we were escorted to our room by the hotel manager to make sure we were happy with the view.  The view was of the harbour, oh and Table Mountain!  As well as the regulation bottle of sparkling wine as a welcome drink the Manager, Sheila, sent up a bottle of Champagne for us as it was my 40th the following day!  Angela was happy, I on the other hand wanted a beer!  The following morning I opened my birthday cards sat on the balcony looking at Table Mountain when a huge chocolate Birthday Cake was delivered, again by the Hotel Manager!

We departed at 10:00 a.m. for an hour long helicopter flight around the Cape Peninsular.  Having driven around it a few times it is beautiful, but seeing it from the air puts an entirely different perspective on it.  The amount of Whales we saw from the air was incredible, we flew right round Cape Point and then up to Simonstown where the Penguins live on the beach, past the prison where Nelson Mandela was officially released from, over Newlands and finally around Table Mountain back to the harbour airport.

When we arrived back at the hotel there was another bottle of champagne waiting for us!  By this time I started to wonder if they were being added to our bill, but luckily they were just a very nice bunch of people!

Unsurprisingly nobody turned up in Cape Town that evening for my 40th birthday celebration!  Good job really as the Sports Cafe had changed hands and been turned into a posh restaurant, although it wouldn't have been hard to find the bloke wearing a quartered England and South Africa rugby shirt!  After frequenting several of the Marina bars we ended up going to the Green Dolphin Jazz Club and had a fantastic meal and quite a few Spiced Golds to wash it down with!

Sun City

The following morning, thankfully not too early though, we checked out and caught a plane to Johannesburg where we were then transported to the Cabanas Hotel, Sun City.  We had stayed at this hotel before and knew it was the best placed hotel to enjoy the facilities Sun City has to offer.  The rooms are spacious and very comfortable and the breakfast buffet is phenomenal.

We had a scream, literally, at The Valley of the Waves doing the water slides, but not as big a scream as we had when we did the Zipslide!  This is a two kilometre long wire running from the top of a hill two hundred and eighty metres high overlooking Sun City to the ground where you travel at an average speed of 120 kilometres per hour!  It rocks, even Angela wanted to do it again!  We got to do something people back in England couldn't do, which was watch Hull City play West Ham, much to the amusement of the complex staff who were all gathered round watching the soccer and converted to Tigers fans by the end of the game.  We also managed to win at the Casino both nights we went, we played slowly and had a laugh at all the people gambling hundreds of chips whilst we continued to put down our four chips at a time!  The free drinks whilst you played helped of course!

We had to get our fix of "bush" whilst we were here so went on a couple (well four) game drives into Pilanesberg National Park on one of their 20 seater open vehicles.  A couple of things worth mentioning were the Wild Dogs we got to see, which is a very rare treat and the second was a way too close encounter with a Bull Elephant on must (which basically means horny!)  Our ranger quite correctly backed the vehicle up to within about fifty metres of this Elephant called Amarula, who then gradually started heading towards us.  Our guide, a youngish lad, got in a bit of a panic and stalled the vehicle which meant we really had no choice but to sit there, extremely quietly and very still and pray that the Elephant just left us alone.  As the "ranger" was too busy panicking about what to do I had to tell this stupid Indian bloke to sit down and shut up as he had ignored the ranger three times thinking it was all very exciting and he was stood up trying to film it all!  He got the message very quickly when I told him.  People do not realise this is not like being in a Zoo this guy could easily have killed any of us!  His tusks at one point were within a foot of Angela's head and he then started to back into the vehicle and "nudge" it with his backside.  He then walked round the front of the vehicle and facing us put his tusks right over the bonnet before finally walking off.  Needless to say we went straight to a rest camp so that people could use the toilet!