Day 8 in South Africa

Day 8- Cape Town March 20, 2007

We left the hotel at 9:30 en route to the airport for a 2-hour flight to Cape Town. We got to Cape Town around 12:30pm and met our new tour guide, Peter. He took us straight to the White Ranch Ostrich Farm where we were served ostrich meat for lunch.
I learned that ostrich meat is actually red meat. It tasted like a mixture of lamb and beef....I think I like it. We also had Ostrich scrambled eggs which tasted like normal chicken egg but with a much higher cholesterol level. One ostrich egg is equivalent to 24 chicken eggs.

After lunch, we were given a short introductory about ostriches. Did you know that an ostrich's eyeball is bigger than it’s brain? Each eyeball weighs approximately 60 grams while the brain is only 20 grams.
And did you know that ostriches literally eat and run? They actually swallow lots of pebbles into their tummy and they need to run in order for the pebbles to grind the food inside their stomach and thereby digesting it. Hhhhmmmm….interesting eh?

We were also able to feed the ostriches with corn. Man do they attack your hand!
The only way to tell the gender of an ostrich is through the color of their feathers. if it's black, then it's male. If it's brown, then it's female.

Their necks are also very flexible and they can twist it around easily. You can even put their food on their backs and they can just eat it from there.

Did you know that their eggs can hold up to 150kg without breaking? And to prove it, our guide challenged Eric to stand on the eggs.


Then the best part of the tour was when we were to sit on an ostrich.

Our next stop was to go to Table Mountain. But we stopped by or hotel first and to our amazement, our room had the view of Table Mountain. It is actually quite breath taking. We took a revolving gondola up to the mountain. The view up their was nothing we’ve ever seen before.
It was absolutely amazing!

It’s the best view we’ve ever seen and there’s nothing like it in B.C.

The view was so nice that we actually overstayed more than our allotted time. Afterwards, we headed to the Waterfront …which is equivalent to San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. I shouldn’t say that actually….it’s much grander than that. This place is full of all kinds of shops and restaurants. I think I can retire here. And that’s pretty much our day:)

day 7 in South Africa

Day 7- Bongani/Johannesburg March 19, 2007

It was difficult to get up this morning. We were both sooooooo relaxed! But we wanted to see the sunrise and check out the observation deck one last time to see if we can spot any interesting animals in the Serengeti. So that’s what we did. We didn’t find anything worthy of note but it was still exciting whenever we saw something boring like the impala or a nyala through the binoculars. We’re just one of those people so easily pleased you see. Eric was even very fascinated to see a dung beetle munching on baboon poop!

The chef gave me the recipe for the incredible brownies so if you’re one of the lucky few, you just might be able to try them too:)

The staff gave us a very warm departure as if one of their own family members are leaving for good. This is "mama" Connie...she's everyone's mama in the lodge and she made us feel so at home while we stayed there.
This is Solomon holding Eric's hand while he accompanied him to the car to say good bye. They looked so sweet.

We didn’t want to leave yet but we didn’t have much choice….sigh!



On the way down, Simeon was still looking for animals and eventually, he spotted 4 elephants from a distance. I didn’t see them but Eric and the rest did…so I just pretended that I did. What I did see though was a group of wildebeest (that’s Pumba from the Lion King) just before we exited the game park. They’re actually from the antelope family as well.


After Bongani, Rudolf drove us to see some beautiful landscapes of South Africa.

We reached our hotel, D’Oreale at the Emperor Palace, late at night around 9:30pm. This hotel used to be called Caesar's Palace and it actually looks like a ini verson of the one in Vegas. Everyone was super tired and hungry
and so we had a late dinner at the hotel's chinese restaurant. After dinner, Eric tried his luck at the slot machine and won 200 Rand.

Tomorrow we set out for Cape Town!

Day 6 in South Africa

Day 6 Bongani Reserve March 18, 2007

We had a 5:30 am wakeup call but I was already up at 4:30 am because I was so excited for our sunrise safari! It was pretty cool outside and the weather was just perfect for a morning ride.



We were served some coffee and tea before heading out. This time they made sure that our car was in mint condition!

Our goal today was to find the leopards, the buffalos, the elephants, and the rhinoceros. Lucky for us, we spotted 3 rhinos right away. These guys are huge!



Simeon’s actually quite knowledgeable about the different plants in the area so he spent a huge amount of time explaining the uniqueness of some of the plants we passed along the way.



Frankly that was a waste of time because I really wanted to see the animals instead
of learning about botany.



So we didn’t really see much this morning except more giraffes, impalas, and nyalas.







This is a buffalo carcass. It was killed by lions a few weeks ago.


This is a klipspringer.



Eric and I decided to go on a walking safari after breakfast. This was much more interesting because there was just me and Eric and Simeon as our guide. He had a loaded rifle with him as we walking inside the game park.



He asked us to walk in a single line and closely to each other so that we would appear as one unit.



At the beginning of our walk, Simeon picked up some marula fruits from the tree and mentioned that these are one of the elephant’s main diet.


When fermented, the marula is also the main ingredient for Amarulla…which is the African version of Baileys. No wonder African elephants always look drunk.

It was a very different feeling walking amongst the wild. In a way it was more thrilling than riding inside a vehicle because there’s always that sense of danger that is ever present all the time. Simeon pointed a lot of the animal droppings that we found along the way and approximately how fresh or how many days old they are and from which animal they’re from, what was inside the dung, which one was
old and which one was fresh. Yup….pretty interesting.

There was a tensed moment for a few minutes when Simeon spotted very fresh buffalo dung. Then suddenly 3 wild buffalos from out of the bush ran across our path at about 50 feet. Simeon quickly grabbed his rifle and placed his fingers on the trigger ready to shoot should the inevitable occur. He said that they have seen us and consider us as potential danger and that we should quickly leave the area or else they will attack us when they come back in a few minutes. Drama galore! Eric kept squishing me from behind and telling me to shush!


We continued walking and we saw some Giraffe tracks and when we looked up, we
saw a family of giraffes staring at us.


After a few pictures, we then headed back to the lodge for lunch.



In the afternoon, we headed out again for our last safari drive.


This time, Simeon was determined to find us some elephants. Reports came in that the elephants were on the other side of the mountain and so we then had to go through some serious off-roading. It was the bumpiest ride we’ve ever experienced! Unfortunately, the weather was too cold and the elephants were in hiding. But nevertheless, the ride itself was already an adventure especially when Simeon drove the Land Rover almost to the edge of the cliff on purpose in search of
the elephants.




So we just decided to have some wine and some refreshments up there before heading back home. We did see a herd of African buffalos and some rhinoson this ride though. We also saw a cobra slithering away onto a bush; and an owl, which kinda looked like a cat in the dark.



After dinner, we had arranged a masseuse to give us a massage in our room. I was also pleasantly surprised that they’ve prepared our tub with flowers and candles.
I had a very relaxing bubble bath followed by a very soothing massage…African style. What a great way to end the day!