Day 9 – From Whales to Wine

We had a more relaxed start this morning and got to fully enjoy the beautiful breakfast buffet at Knysna before setting off for our next destination – the Stellenbosch wine lands. On our way we stopped off at Hermanus, the world’s best location for on-shore whale watching.

At first we scoured the bay for even a jet of water spray from their blowholes but found nothing. However things will come to those who wait and after about 20 minutes of agonising patience, we saw our first Southern Right whale. They come here for around 6 months (June – December) from the Antarctic as the waters are much warmer and shallower here which is better to breed and play in. We watched their tails splash out of the water and were thrilled that we had such a good view of them.

We spoke to a local who was also watching the majestic creatures and she estimated that there was at the very least three whales in the bay. Just as we were finishing up to move on however, the whales decided to really impress us as one breached the surface (where they come up out of the water) – not once but twice! I can still picture it now – it was utterly breath taking.

We then continued on to Stellenbosch, through the spectacular scenery of the garden route. The landscapes were breathtaking – mountain after mountain covered in lush greenery of the vineyards as they stretched over the hillsides that overlook Cape Town.

The hotel here was stunning and I think my favourite of all the hotels we stayed in. It felt incredibly grand and had plenty of luxurious fittings, furnishings and superb views.

 

The dining facilities were also great and I enjoyed a wonderful pork fillet dish that was stuffed with mushrooms, spinach and roasted pine nuts, served with a buttery fondant potato. This was of course accompanied by the hotels own superb Stellenbosch wine.

Day 8 – Trekking Through Knysna

Today we journeyed across the Knysna lagoon to the Featherbed Nature Reserve.

The weather was particularly sunny and warm so the scenery became even more impressive. The sun shone through leafy canopies and created beautiful lime greens and turquoise waters and made the water sparkle as the rays bounced off it.

The reserve is home to many native species of plants and animals so was a wonderful little paradise with lovely views spanning across the Knysna lagoon.

We drove to the top of the reserve and on our way a springbok ventured near our jeep – it was great to see the antelope so near, especially as the vegetation there was more lush than what it had been in Kruger so to spot any wildlife meant we were extremely lucky.

Once we’d reached the top we embarked on the 2 hour trek back down. From walking through the forests, clambering over rocks to even exploring caves and skimming stones on the beach, I absolutely loved it!

 

 

 

 

We then went back to Knysna on the small ferry boat and wondered round the beautiful harbour.

There were boutiques, cafés and market stalls galore selling everything from tribal robes, modern trainers, antique crockery, homemade furniture, and biltong – a dried and spiced way of cooking beef although there were other options like ostrich and eland available too. We tried some in their local deli and it was actually pretty good – kind of like Parma ham meets beef jerky. Amidst the bustling market we found some beautiful street art that really showed the more creatively beautiful side to Knysna:

Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped off at a local café which delivered a superbly fun hot chocolate as the perfect end to the day.

Day 7 – Flying to Knysna

We had a quick breakfast before leaving the hotel and saying good bye to the golden plains of northern South Africa.

It was a long drive back to Johannesburg Airport – about 5-6 hours! The flight to George was quick however and served as a much needed rest for all our early starts.

We arrived at around 4:00pm and were shocked by a new, lush green landscape. The new folds of green almost reminded me of England, however the massive mountain ranges and golden coastline diluted the memory somewhat.

The area is part of a popular journey known as “The Garden Route” due to its stunning natural beauty:

We arrived at Knysna Hollow and found our rustically thatched-roofed rooms. We then went for dinner which was fantastic – a wonderful springbok meat stew encased in phyllo pastry and vegetables – it was delicious. Overall, Knysna seemed like a beautiful place that I anticipated exploring the next day.

Day 6 – Zulu Battlefields Tour

We got up for around 6:00am (there really were no lay-ins) for a quick breakfast before embarking on our tour of the Zulu battlefields of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift. Lead by our native guide, Dalton, we were enthralled by the bravery and brutality of his ancestors. He retold the stories with such passion (all from memory) that it actually felt rather emotional to picture the battles that happened where we stood all those years ago.

The mountain side overlooking his small village was littered with white rock mounds of where British soldiers had fought and died and were now buried.

During the battles, thousands from both sides died whilst the Zulus desperately attempted to protect the lands they owned and to keep the foreign enemies out. However, the foreigners (Europeans) invaded not only as a conquest for land but also to stop the blood thirsty regimes of the Zulu people which Dalton told us about. For example, stoning to death a pregnant girl for having relations with a European solider and beheading an ex-Zulu warrior who had converted to Christianity after missionaries had started to come over. The whole experience was truly fascinating, especially as we got to see the Zulu warrior memorial - a tree that was planted on royal Zulus' graves grew out of the dead warriors' shields with a leopard (symbolizing the Zulu monarch) to protect their spirits and to bring them home if they had died far away from their family:

When we arrived back at the hotel, we were welcomed by ostriches, zebras and impalas – just roaming freely outside our hotel. Overall a very insightful and interesting day.

 

 

Day 5 – Journey to the Zululand

After a quick breakfast we left Hippo Hollow and were back on the road to visit the Zulu battlefields. We journeyed across the golden African landscape from vast plains to farms of sugar cane, bananas and grapes as well as the odd mountain, river and grasslands too. In order to get to Zululand, we had to travel through Swaziland – the landlocked country surrounded by South Africa.

Swaziland was obviously a lot poorer than South Africa – the poverty was more obvious and more extreme. It's definitely third world as we saw children running naked down the dusty tracks at the sides of the road with buckets of water and women washing clothing in the streams.

 

Also their houses were much simpler – even more than South Africa’s shanty shacks in some cases – some seemed to be built using just mud and wood with thatched roofs. Many were only half constructed – we were told this was because money had run out or the builder had died – leaving the structure half finished.

The local shops/stalls:

In South Africa, there is no minimum wage – the average wage is around £4 a day for a full day’s work, in Swaziland it is much less. We saw some people lumbering wood on their backs across the sloping terrain of the country and others hiking their way across their farms or hand turning their soil.

 

 

It did make me wonder if they’re happy – obviously we naturally pity them as they don’t even have enough food for the whole family, let alone school, air con, central heating and a fridge and you can forget TV, play stations and running water. However, I wonder if they may be happier as they don’t know what they’re missing and they have much more family time with their only worry to be about food, water and shelter which they spend their day providing – they may not know we see it as our right and stress about other things like exams and work whereas these people can just spend their time in their communities and enjoy the simpler things in life like the sunrise or the night sky.

 

We arrived at the battlefields lodge late evening and were greeted by a warming African beef stew, rice and vegetables – simple yet satisfying. We then went to bed in perhaps our least luxurious hotel of the trip – but at least we had a bed, running water and a shower which is more than the kids in Swaziland.

Day 4 – Elephant Whisperers and Sun Down Safari

Today was another early start – 5:30am! Just a 15 minute drive away from the hotel was a fantastic company called Elephant Whisperers. They allowed you close contact with real African elephants! The 6 that we saw had all been rescued in one way or another yet the most heart warming story was probably that of Tembo (a name meaning 'elephant' in Swahili) – the 3.4m high 6 tonne elephant who was rescued from being killed in another park as he had a terrible temperament and in one rampage had killed 3 rhinos and 5 water buffalo – he was simply too dangerous to be kept alive. But Elephant whisperers came in and took him on and is now as gentle as anything – or this is what head keeper, Brighton, told us.

We were shown all the different parts of these beautiful creatures and were allowed to feel their trunks, eyelashes, backs, tails and tusks.

 

The skin of the elephants was bizarre – although it looks like dry hard leather it is actually quit furry and incredibly permeable. This was clearly demonstrated when Brighton poured water on one of the younger female’s backs – in 20 seconds her back was essentially dry from where the water had soaked though. The eyelashes and tail were also peculiar – they felt like plastic and the inside of the elephant’s ear flaps are actually incredibly soft with their ears in front not behind or underneath the flaps. They use the flaps to either cool off by flapping them or keeping warm by flattening them against their bodies or as a warning sign that they are about to charge – when elephants do charge, the flaps go flat against their heads.

 

The keepers trained the elephants like you do with dogs – with commands and rewards – not the disgusting beatings Asian elephants get in order to break them down to a life of captivity when they’re put in zoos – African elephants are too strong to try and break with a whip, after a while they would go against their keepers and put lives in danger.

Here, through the use of the reward system, the elephants are happy as they can spend most of their day in the wide countryside – eating and sleeping as they please with a bit of loving from lucky guests like us in the morning as they wake up.

What was reassuring was the fact that when elephants are unhappy, a gloopy hormone will be excreted from the tear ducts which will alert the keepers and would show us all that the elephant is not pleased with its treatment. However, all the elephants either had no secreting hormones or a very thin liquid like water which apparently they secrete when they are very happy. The whole experience was truly amazing – there are many more interesting facts about the elephants like the circumference of their front foot doubled is the height of the elephant that I could tell you but I don’t wish to bore you.

Whilst talking about the elephant that had laid down for Brighton as he talked us through their biology, the largest elephant Tembo (as I mentioned earlier) was brought into view. I think we all got a bit nervous as if felt like he was as tall as a double decker bus. We thought that 5 foot’s distance was close enough but oh no, they want to give you the “FULL” elephant interaction experience so we all had photos with this mammoth elephant who was not even fully grown. Standing under the beautiful beast was scary yet also incredibly exhilarating! I felt truly privileged. As we let the other few people who were there with us have their turn we noticed that the other elephants had all been fitted with saddles and started to secretly hope we’d be put on the smallest elephant which must have still been 2-2.5m off the ground.

As the last couple finished their photos we were told this was the part where we had the chance to ride the elephants. When we booked the experience we knew this was part of the interaction but now it came to it we were all very apprehensive. This was then multiplied by a thousand as the ginormous Tembo was fitted with his own super saddle – double the size of the rest’s. It then became real panic as Brighton announced that my family and I would ride Tembo – OH SH**!

We were taken to an especially high platform in order to hurl ourselves onto his back. We grasped the two rope handles until out muscles went white. With no stirrups like a horse we were just clinging on for dear life! They took us on a small trek around their mini sanctuary over this small peak and back down to the platform. After about 5 minutes I actually started and then fully enjoyed myself – it may have helped that a keeper, Zachariah was riding Tembo with us but he wasn’t even on a saddle (he sort of took “no hands” to another level).

Overall the whole experience was truly breathtaking and insightful – I can safely say I now have a beautiful new favourite animal.

We then went back to the hotel for a late brunch and chilled around the pool. However, it was far too cold to go in – like ice after the cool nights they have out there but the sun was still hot enough to sunbathe in for a while.

At around 4:30pm we got ready again and headed out for our sun down Safari back at Kruger National Park. We got there and headed out just as the park was closing for the public so the ride felt truly unique. Whilst on the track, we saw some more water buffalo, rhinos, warthogs, vultures and even a massive herd of elephants with two ‘tiny’ babies.

One was apparently about 4 months old and was especially cute as they feed with their mouths until they are 6 months old and for all this time they don’t know what to do with their trunk – they’ll even try shaking it and trampling on it to try and get it off!

We also found another white rhino:

 

We then continued further into the park but had a small break to admire the gorgeous South African sunset across the Savannah – it honestly felt like we’d entered “The Lion King”. 

 

 The sun was soon gone with all the light with it so the guide gave us massive searchlights to scour the undergrowth with. We saw a porcupine which although does not sound all that 'cool', it really was as it had its quills up (sorry for the awful picture) :

We also saw some sleeping giraffes – they sleep with their neck still straight (to stop them being too vulnerable) which looked bizarre. We also saw lots of impala which after a while almost became annoying as they were so frequent  and could often be mistaken for other animals’ eyes as this is all the torches could pick up.

However, we did spot another elephant herd which quickly moved on after they heard the 4x4 but we were luckier with some zebras who stuck around for a while. One of my favourite parts was when we got to our guide’s favourite night-time spot and she turned the engine off. We looked up and gazed in wonder as we could see the entire milky-way – it was phenomenal! I’ve never seen anything quite like it – it was so beautiful and it makes me sad to think we miss it due to all our light pollution. We could even see a satellite moving in its orbit. We then continued on and glimpsed an African wild cat – even with the searchlights, it was difficult to see. However, I think this also made it more special and exciting when we did see something. And just on the way back – about ten minutes from our drop off point we found three elephants – one of them slightly younger. As our guide edged the 4x4 forward to get a better position, the older elephant mock charged at us. He opened his ear flaps, scuffed his feet and even trumpeted at us – we quickly retreated. It truly was a special, one of a kind African experience and certainly something you’d NEVER see in a zoo – even at night.