Cindy Can Travel: South Africa

South Africa Trip Notes: Day 5 South Africa Trip (12 Jun, 2014)

07:17:00

Radisson Blu will just be another four star hotel. Some things do not really work well but it pretty has much what you need. The shower is slippery and there is really no working window and door that separates it from the bedroom itself. They delivered the wrong order in the evening and in the morning, no one was there to meet us when we arrived atbthe Tabu. The food is good still with your normal buffet breakfast.

We had a twenty minutes walk to the business centre with a few shops around. It has everything that you need but leaves you without any other option. Anyway, I have purchased a Nelson Mandela Autobiography book since I would like to really learn more about him. When we came back to the hotel, we were picked up by Pembury Tours Representative again and was driven to Eagles Craig, Shamwari Game Reserve. The drive took us an hour and fifteen minutes.

Shamwari Game Reserve without a doubt is veryyy cold during these months. My hands are actually freezing. After having lunch and dinner here I am sure to say that they do offer asian cuisine here. Drinks are at an additional charge except during the game drive. They are also known for bird sightings thus the name, that they have this telescope in the room. Out of all the properties, this is also the best property that they have. We have seen the other two but it did not impress me much.

The game drive however was wonderful, just marvelous. They have covered jeeps, probide ponchos, blankets and heated water bottle in the morning. They even have seat belts.

The game drive this afternoon, although short offered us what we really wanted to see. We finally saw lions and cheetah. There were two lions first lying around after eating the wild pig. Then two cheetahs laying around as well. They were yawning and were looking bored while looking at us. The last two lions which seemed to be a couple were running after a type of antelope. We followed then anyway but since we kept on bugging them, they decided to call it a night and lay around again lazily.

Beth (a guy), is a very jolly person, I could say. We were really thankful that he showed us what we needed. We saw animals in a bigger amount compared to Kruger and Sabi Sabi. Never saw an elephant though but they claimed that big five can be seen here, plus the other cats such as cheetah and leopard.

South Africa Trip Notes: Day 4 South Africa Trip (11 Jun, 2014)

07:09:00

South Africa Trip Note no. 3 (10 Jun, 2014)

23:58:00

South Africa Trip Notes: Day 2 South Africa Trip (8 Jun, 2014)

08:47:00

South Africa Trip Notes: Day 1 South Africa Trip (8 Jun, 2014 4:18 am)

03:32:00

I went from work directly to the airport yesterday. I flew to Singapor for 4 hrs., met Sheena there and then another 10 hrs. to Johannesburg followed by short flight to Nelspruit. I am indeed exhausted and the thing is, I cannot really rest, like real sleep which caused my allergy/ cold to become worst. Sleepless that I am, I'm still feel thankful that I'm here, away from it all.

Anyway, getting a window seat for the flight to Nelspruit is still recommended even though there is not much to see, for me it still good to be seated there. You will see a lot of dry and brown land which is just OK.

View from the flight

Anyway, we got picked up by Adele for a drive to Jock's Safari Lodge. Jock's Safari Lodge is located inside the Kruger National Park which is supposed to be an hour and half without the traffic. But they are doing road rennovation now so, it feels like 2 hrs. that I fell asleep a little bit. In going inside Kruger National Park, you will need an entrance ticket of course. Actually as we enter, we already saw a few animals: antelope like with an M on its bum, zebra, giraffe...

From what I have heard Jocks' advantage is that theirs is a private concession meaning other people, that are not a guest cannot get in. There is no fence as well so animals can come in and out.

Jock's Safari Lodge

Our lovely bedroom

Our backyard in our suite

The beautiful sky

That's us!

The standard room for me is fabulous and has great views. Mini pool though is not heated so I can't really try it. Pretty much everything is included except mini bar. My first ever game drive is fun but extremely cold. We saw elephants, hyena, wild dog, monkey, and a lot of white rhino. Still have not seen the lion, leopard and buffalo yet.

We started our game drive at 3:30 pm and until it went on and on until 7:30 pm that we are all exhausted and just wanted to hit the bed. But what happened when we came back is that they offered a nice cup of chocolate and we waited for dinner to be served. While we are waiting, we stayed upstairs where the bar is and where they lighted a fire. It warmed all of us for the mean time.

At around 8:30, we went down the restaurant and had a very good dinner: cream soup and chicken and prawn curry. It was good but I was really full, that I don't have the space for the dessert!

Let me mention as well that Ben, our ranger is great and nice. At the middle of our game drive, we stopped by this giant stone where they said they scattered the ashes of the founders of Kruger. There we had a picture taking and then had a drink. I tasted my first amarula which is like Baileys. It was good. Like, really good! :)