South Africa Day 5: Travel to Marataba and First Safari!

After 3 great nights in Cape Town, we were up early to fly to Johannesburg to start our safaris!

We really loved Cape Town- I'm so glad Kaleigh encouraged us to spend a few days there. I actually think we could have spent another to explore more of the cool little towns all along the peninsula and hike Table Mountain, but our itinerary didn't have room and I have zero regrets that we moved on to safaris when we did. It's just a note that I could absolutely see going back one day, maybe post-retirement, with just James and me.

Taking a domestic flights within South Africa was pretty easy- you can even carry on water or bottles of wine! Check-in and security were quick and then we waited to board a bus that went to the plane we'd take. The flight was 2 hours and we were met by a new guide and driver as soon as we landed to drive to our new home for 3 nights: Marataba Safari Lodge.

The drive took about 90 minutes (?) and we saw so many animals along the way! Baboons! Giraffes! An ostrich! Plus springboks, impalas, and even a rhino! We were clearly in a new part of South Africa.

Once we arrived at beautiful Marataba, we had a quick check-in, met our safari guide Njabulo (he'd be with us for the entirety of our stay, which was awesome), and then walked to our "tent".

It was SO much larger and more luxe than I ever imagined.

The kids' had one right next to ours- Landon took the big bed and the girls shared the bunks in the adjoining room.

The big copper tub was glorious and I took at least one bath a day while we were there.

I also used the outdoor shower. I am pro-hot water covering me in any format.

The lodges are surrounded by an electrified fence, but monkeys, warthogs, and tons of impalas come in and mingle with each other along the paths. We felt very safe, but there was always someone to walk you to your room any time you wanted accompaniment and someone always walked with us from the main room to our tents at night after dinner when it was dark.

This mama warthog and baby are in the photo above. I loved the warthogs - they ran with their tails high in the air, which cracked me up, and their faces and waddle-runs always reminded me of Maggie.

Pumba!

We got a little distracted with our incredible rooms, but Njabulo was waiting for us to go on our first sunset safari drive as soon as we were ready! The weather was beautiful and almost-warm, so kind of underestimated how much temperatures would drop as the sun went down.

Because soon, it was *freezing*. There were blankets in the jeep and we each brought our puffer jackets, but we bundeled up a lot more on future drives.

But the chill was largely forgotten as we immediately came across animals. Like hippos!

One showed off his big big mouth for us.

And giraffes and zebras too!

After the sunset our guide drove us to a bush dinner! (Another reason we should have bundled up, but we sort of missed the "dinner would be outside" detail in our welcome, probably because I was distracted by the giant bathtub.)

We came across a giant rhino next to the path as we drove with our red spotlight (red because it doesn't hurt the eyes of prey who see well at night). It was crazy! He almost looked fake until he ran off through the bush.

The chef was outside grilling tons of meat over an open flame and there were great salads and sides and bread to go with it. Our guide sat at our table with us and we got to hear all about his background and experience and the cool things he'd seen in Marakele. It was really lovely, and the stars were incredible, but man was it cold! I didn't take any pictures, even though it was so beautifully decorated and lit with candles and lanterns, but here's one of Cora staying warm.

We got back to our tents where I took the first of many baths in that magnificent tub and then we snuggled into beds -- beds we discovered the staff warmed with hot water bottles under the sheets! A delightful treat we discovered would continue in the jeeps for the morning ride. Our guide would be calling at 6 a.m. to wake us up and then we'd be off on our first sunrise drive!

South Africa Day 4: Cape Town Wine Tour!

On day 4 we were excited for another beautiful day in Cape Town, this time in the winelands!

We enjoyed the big buffet breakfast again- James declared that South Africa had the greatest breads he'd ever had anywhere. Our hotel made all their pastries in-house and I will say, the croissants looked spectacular. I haven't cheated on my gluten free diet once, but the croissants gave me a slight pause.

We met our lovely guide Anita in the lobby again at 9 am and drove north to Stellenbosch and the Winelands!

Our first stop was Spice Route, a huge winery with lush green hills, vines, and lot of things in addition to just wine!

Because I’m the only wine drinker in the family (and even I’m not that excited about wine at 10 am?), Anita arranged for tea and chocolate tastings for the family to start.

James was obsessed with the smells of all the teas, and, as he does every few years, he decided he was in fact a tea drinker and needed to purchase many varietals. I talked him down to two boxes. I don't like herbal tea (I'm a black only girl; no flavoring) unless I'm sick, but I did love the Rooibus so maybe one of us will actually drink these within the next five years. We tried four teas and each kid liked a different one best. (My fave was the black; no one else thought it should be ranked at all.)

Next up was a chocolate tasting at the same winery. Mine were curated to be gluten free and we all enjoyed our five pieces.

Then I actually sampled a few wines (so good) while Landon and Cora played on the playground and Claire hung out in front of the fire.

It was very cold, I was in heaven. There is nothing I love more than wine + cold + soft sweater + fire. Today's high in Dallas will be 103.

Stop 2 was the stunning Lanzerac Winery. Built in 1692, it's nestled in the rolling hills and mountains of the Western Cape. The woodwork, decor, and windows were all so beautiful throughout.

We had a great lunch in one of the dining rooms.

Then we had an archery lesson! I was certain I was a secret Katniss Everdeen, but while I did pop a target balloon, I could maybe use a few more lessons on hitting the actual target.

James and Landon won our boys v girls target contest, but it was really very almost close.

Next we hopped on e-bikes with a new guide (Anita laughed at me when I asked if she was going to bike with us) and pedaled our way to another stunning winery!

James and the kids had never done e-bikes before and they loved it. The views were just spectacular and it was so nice to move a little on our own (well, on our own with a little help).

Nestled (I know I already used that word, but it's perfect) in green hills and steep mountains, the winery I forgot the name of was SO beautiful. (Update! Per a blog reader, it's Stark Conde and it was my favorite of the trip.) I felt like I was in Switzerland or Germany. Cape Town contains multitudes.

The kids (and James!) sampled rooibus teas and chocolate while I had some seriously good wine.

I mean, Cape Town/this wintery was so, so pretty.

Everyone loved the e-bikes so we opted for a longer pedal over stopping at another winery. It was such a beautiful fun day.

Once back at our hotel we walked to the waterfront for dinner at a place with the Guinness world record for number of milkshakes on the menu (215), did a little shopping, and were in bed by 10.

It was such a great day! And in the morning we'd be heading to Johannesburg to start our first safari!

South Africa Day 3: Cape Town Tour!

I actually got a bunch of travel blogging done this weekend!

Kicking it off with our first morning in Cape Town! After a delicious South African dinner on the waterfront the night before, we all slept like rocks and were up about 7:45 am. The kids had a separate room on the same floor of the hotel and we met in the lobby at 8:30 for breakfast. The hotel breakfast was FANTASTIC - no one loves a good hotel breakfast more than my children (particularly Landon who consumed a truly unbelievable amount of food) - and we looked forward to it each morning we were there.

Our private guide, Anita, met us in the hotel lobby right at 9. She had a Mercedes sprinter van ready for us, so we piled in and took off to explore Cape Point and the entire Cape Town peninsula. Anita was a mixed-race, lifelong Cape Tonian, who grew up under apartheid, and had two grown children in their 20's. She was so knowledgeable and had so many stories, we all really enjoyed learning from her.

The tour lasted all day, we got back about 6 pm. Cape Town is very big -it seemed like more of a county than a city in US-terms - and unbelievably beautiful.

We started traveling along the Atlantic Seaboard via Sea Point, Cloifton and Camps Bay to Hout Bay.

Anita told us that The Kissing Booth was filmed here, and Claire enjoyed hearing all the scenes that were filmed at any particular location.

The weather was cloudy and chilly, but we were happy to be out in anything that didn't feel like the surface of the sun and the rain held off all day so we could explore.

We continued our route via Chapman's Peak, which I had read was one of the world's most beautiful coastal drives and I believe it, to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve at Cape Point.

The Nature Reserve was a fun drive. There are a lot of animals there, many of which we didn't see (like the baboons!), but we did get to see some ostrich drama. This handsome man was found walking along the road, much like the bison in Yellowstone, he did not at all care that we were supposed to be driving in that lane.

Anita told us how the male ostriches will chase the lady ostriches to try to impress them, and if they catch up, they do a special dance to impress her. If she is impressed, they form a mated pair.

This guy was chasing two single ladies across the bush, but when he caught up to them, another larger male approached from the opposite direction and our bachelor turned around and ran the other way like he had always meant to do that. We also saw Dassi and Red Hartebeests (which our guide was VERY excited about!)- it was a fun preview of our safari days!

We got our picture at the Cape of Good Hope, which is not actually the southernmost of the African continent, but it's close to it and it's pretty!

We took a cable car up the mountain for some great views.

This one is now Landon's phone background, so apparently it spoke to him.

Anita told us she's heard people say Cape Town looks like Iceland and it was so true - stark, gorgeous, striking... we thought it was like a mix of Iceland + California coast.

We continued on to Simon's Town and Boulders Beach where we got to see PENGUINS!!

Boulders Beach has a growing colony of the very endangered African Penguin and they were so cute and so fun to see.

There were fluffy chonky babies and handsome adults and we watched them for quite a while.

We had a late lunch at The Harbour House, which was delicious and had great views.

A couple of seals played in the water out front and one was flirting pretty hard with Landon.

We were supposed to end the day with Table Mountain but it was closed for repairs for a couple days (we just happened to arrive in time for their annual maintenance), so that was too bad, but honestly we had seen so much and it was already 5 pm and we didn't feel disappointed

It started pouring once we arrived back at the hotel, so we ate dinner at the lobby restaurant and tucked ourselves back in bed, excited about tomorrow!