I have wanted to go to South Africa since I was a little 10-year old girl leading my younger cousins through my neighbors' backyards. If you had asked me what I was doing dressed in my guide vest and using a trek pole, I would have told you that I was leading my cousins on a safari because there was always something to explore in my LA County backyard.
Fast-forward almost 3 decades later!: On President's Day 2014, I booked a round-trip flight on Delta Airlines to Cape Town. Thanks to Kaija who encouraged me to follow through on a dream that I have been talking about over the course of the last decade. From Monday to today (Saturday), I have asked for assistance from my social network and from wonderful folks in Cape Town at the Cape Grace Hotel (on the V&A waterfront) and the 12 Apostles hotel (in Camps Bay). Dale and Terry were particularly kind, generous, and helpful in getting me to think about all the wonderful things that Cape Town has to offer, as well as giving me practical tips (e.g. country code = 27 and city code = 21).
As I write this note, I am still planning my trip. I imagine that I will explore the city (see museums, hike Table Mountain, and visit the Cheetah Sanctuary), visit the waterside (go to Robben Island for a 3.5 hour tour), tour the amazing peninsula (to picnic next to the penguins on the beach) and go on a vineyard tour of one of the surrounding estates. And of course go on a short safari, which will be about a 2.5 hour drive from the city. I will also celebrate my being alive for almost 40 years with a spa treatment and a cake courtesy of the 12 Apostles Hotel.
If you are thinking about planning a first time trip, there are so many places to consider. A great deal of your planning will depend upon on your interests, vacation time, and budget.
I tend to like quiet, open spaces, and feeling safe when I travel solo. I assume that I will take lots of taxis (great companies = Uni or Marine) while I am in the City Centre and cobble together a combination of group tours and private coaches to take me where I need to go. As I write this entry, the US dollar is fairly strong: 1US Dollar equals 11 ZAR. I'm glad to know that I will be able to find great, healthy meals and salads for a reasonable price.
My bank (First Republic) waives any foreign transaction fees when I take out money at an ATM, so I am pretty excited about this and passed along my dates of travel to my banker so that no one wonders if fraud is occurring.
Skype is amazing to make cheap calls to South Africa from the US. It has been so helpful to talk with my hotel operators and tour guides. Just remember that there is a +7 hour time difference at least from the East Coast.
I plan to travel lightly with my iPad2 to use Skype, my Android smartphone to snap pictures (I'll turn on the international texting feature), 2 credit cards (Gold AMEX to get in and out of the international airport lines quickly and a Mastercard), my ATM card, international chargers, and some of the local currency. I'll also probably purchase a cheap mobile phone when I arrive to make local calls.
I'll also throw in the following items: my hiking shoes, pants, shirts, a nice black dress, light jacket, hat, and a small, prepacked bag of medical supplies and toiletries. A journal and a good book may also find their way into my luggage.
I just learned that I can prepay to use the Delta lounge for only $25 rather than $50. I'll definitely do that for my layover in Amsterdam if a lounge is available there.
If you are considering a trip in the future, here are a few places that friends have recommended to me:
Option 1:
This friend (one of Kaija's friends from work) rented a car, but had a friend locally who mostly drove them around.
She stayed in a couple places in Cape Town, the first was a B&B, the Amblewood Guest House in Hout Bay:
http://www.amblewood.co.za/. It's about 20 min outside of the city but has gorgeous views of the bay and Table Mountain. I believe it's also on the route that you take to drive the down the peninsula to the Cape of Good Hope. The owners were lovely British folks who could probably help her make arrangements for tours, cars, etc.
She also wanted to spend a little time in the city, so one night she booked an apartment that was closer in, she used:
http://www.dewaterkant.com/. The neighborhood was nice, friendly.
If one has time to get outside the city for a tour of the vineyards, she stayed one night at the Bovlei Valley Retreat:
http://www.bvr.co.za/content.php?contentID=1 Spectacular scenery, and of course delicious food and drinks!
Option 2:
A new friend of mine (one from a group called 85 Broads) went with her husband. Here were a few of her recommendations:
- Head to the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town. (Awesome views, but get their early in the AM because the fog can roll in.)
- Visit the District 6 Museum (Anti-Apartheid Museum in Cape Town. Shocking, but powerful.)
- Do the cheetah "encounter" at the Cheetah Preserve in Stellenbosch. (Nothing like hearing a cheetah pur as you pet them...sounds like a race car.)
- Tour wine country around Cape Town (Stellenbosch, Franschoek, Paarl are wine towns that form a semi-circle around Cape Town - Visit Meerlust Winery in Stellenbosch and Seidelberg in Paarl..great wines! Eat at La Petit Ferme in Franschoek...amazing! )
- Do a safari in the Sabi Sand region in the Northeast. (A private game reserve area next to Kruger National Park. There are no fences between the two areas and since Sabi Sand is private, the drivers can go off-roading which gives you a much better chance of seeing all of the Big 5. She stayed at Dulini Private Game Reserve which was amazing! www.dulini.com)
Happy planning! I find this to be the one of the more exciting parts of the whole experience.
I love exploring the possibilities.
If you do too... and if you would like to view a few pictures of Cape Town and the surrounding areas: check out the photos below from luxury hotels in the area:
Cape Grace (is located on the waterfront in Cape Town, away from the City Center): http://www.capegrace.com/#/en/Home
