When I first really fell in love with Africa, I was 17. My family and I went to Niassa Game Reserve in northern Mozambique. My life seriously changed because of that trip. Niassa is, or at least it was in 2003, the most spectacular, untouched and simply magnificent piece of bush I had seen. Still to this day, in my memory it is incomparable. Flying over miombo woodlands, climbing and camping atop inselburgs, paddling through flowing and hippo infested rivers, seeing wildlife, walking in the bush, was unbeatable. This trip sealed the deal for me and my relationship with Africa. It also helped me get into Sewanee (as it was the basis of my college essay), and it led to trips back to Africa for the next three summers in Tanzania (Singita Grumeti), which is where in 2009 I met my husband, who in turn introduced me to Mwiba. After my trip to Niassa I developed an obsession with only going to the “Real Africa”, which in my mind did NOT include South Africa….anyone who did a trip to Africa and chose to go to South Africa was doing “Africa Light". Now, nine years later I am married to a South African and I stand very much corrected.
Grant and I just returned to Tanzania from South Africa, dragging our feet….solely because South Africa was fabulous. The whole country has so much to offer beyond going on safari. One of the best parts of the trip, second to spending time with family, was our week- long road trip from Hilton to Cape Town, all along the Eastern Coast of SA, in a Ford Figo (I am convinced it was one of five ever made). First destination was the Transkei for a three day stopover at an intimate spot called Mbotyi. Much to ones deception Mbotyi is one of the most exclusive and beautiful places I have been…old old shacks on the beach which have been in the family of South African farmers for generations are scattered along the breathtaking coastline. The cottage which we were fortunate enough to stay in was 20 yards from a spectacular beach where the only other people we saw were Xhosa cattle herders moving their cows along the beach on horseback and a couple of kids on the way to school. Beach time, combined with runs along the coast, some very good fishing attempts (sorry Grant), and a group of great people made for a solid start to our little journey.
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| Grant fishing along the Mbotyi Coastline. |
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| Beach at Mbotyi- the group coming back from an afternoon run. |
Next stop on the trip was outside East London, in Kwelerha Nature Reserve. An amazing morning at Grant’s Aunt & Uncles’ Beach Cottage included watching approximately 200 dolphins swimming up the coastline. Much like the surfers surrounding them, the dolphins were catching waves and jumping and playing in the tide. Something about watching them leaves one with the sense that they are experiencing emotions not too far from our own (elephants have the same effect). Bottom line was that there was no excuse for a bad day when this was our pre-breakfast activity.
From East London we drove through amazing country, full of game farms (very different than wild/vast East Africa, making me fully appreciative of our special spot), Nelson Mandela’s hometown, the start of the Garden Route, which is home to some outstanding river canyons that lead to the Indian Ocean, and quaint beach getaways where we dreamt about buying retirement cottages 50 years from now (Knysna & Wilderness to name a few). A stop over in Wilderness at a nice little B&B and a 24 hour long re-cap of Grants days at Saasveldt made me think of Sewanee, how much I miss it and how tempting it is to go back to school!
Next day, back in the car and off to Cape Town. Destination for food and beverage refreshment was Hermanus….really wish we could have spent the night, especially if it had been in our budget to stay at The Birkenhead House. A quick Caprese salad and Windhoek Lager and we were back on our way for another drive where all we could think was “Lets get a place here, or maybe here, or how about here?”
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| Beach in Hermanus |
This carried on all the way to our arrival in Cape Town and continued throughout our two- day stay, where Grant’s cousin Nic took us on an awesome whirlwind visit. If staying in a hotel in Cape Town, my recommendation is The Cellars Hohenhort, where I FINALLY got my hair done- YAY, I'm blonde again! If buying a house in Cape Town- Llandudno Beach (where we had the coldest swim of our life!), Bakoven (where we rode beach cruisers to from Sea Point…another must activity) or Constantia, amongst the forests and gardens (where Grant and Nic went for a two hour long run in the hills, while I got pampered).
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| Beach Cruisers from Sea Point to Bakoven! |
Other amazing CT activities, which we embarked on included paddling in the ocean amongst common dolphins, amazing health food and sushi eateries, climbing Table Mountain (tip: do it before 6:00 am and get the place completely to yourself…I wouldn’t do it any other way….although I am not sure I can do it again with three overly athletic and fit men- I did not walk for about three days!). Our last afternoon included a drive to the penguins and to the Atlantic Ocean and then winding our way back to downtown CT, viewing seals, eating Fish and Chips in Hout Bay and seeing the Southern Right Whale from the car along Chapmans Peak. We left wishing we had more time and if we had, the one place I would have gone to was the seafood restaurant Blues (I think it was one of the first restaurants I went to in Africa and where the Kansteiner family doesn’t miss when in town).
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| Table Mountain (7:00 am) |
After our grand tour we headed back to charming Hilton for our last days of family and friends, acting like sponges and trying to stop planning how we are going to live our three different lives: Tanzania, the US, and South Africa…is there enough time for them all?
To finish off this long winded post about all the places I love, I would just say that if you are traveling, do not write off South Africa and if you do go, do not just go for safari AND if you have done Africa before and want to go somewhere new, try Niassa (http://www.lugenda.com/) AND if anyone has any advice on how we can live our three lives, please let me know!
