9. - 15 Dec.: Knysna golf and spa

Breakfast at home on our panoramic terrace. It is inspiring to overlook the estuary of the Kynsna river from up here, an unobstructed view that stretches to a distance where the naked eye can barely make out the low lying buildings that make the Eastern side of the town.

Mike then takes us for a town tour which is made even more enjoyable by the fact that we are driving is his vintage convertible Merc. Knysna is indeed an idyllic paradise and I have little difficulty understanding why many like to spend time here, especially the warmer months between November and April.

Another round of golf practice (yes I am getting addicted, I know because I get the first blisters on my hands and don't mind) and it's time for some shopping downtown. Great opportunities for outdoor clothing and equipment here. I am like a child in a candy store as all this khaki colored multipocketed garments are my favs. Besides being practical, they project my ego into endless Indiana Jones fantasies and make me feel less a tourist and more an explorer. Well, at least an eccentric travel writer.

In the afternoon massage Yan and I book a massage and steam room at the Conrad. We are given a twin room and get our muscles pain relieved by a couple of young South African ladies, one white and one black, both excellent masseuses.

Dinner (which was included in our massage package) is in the Conrad's terrace. The sun is setting behind a row of houses but it's still warm enough to keep our bleach-white robes on for the meal. As some point Yan feels a draft: because of an open door nearby the warm air from inside the building gets sucked out and blows over our table. Funny, usually a draft is only a problem if one is inside: and the ladies then ask to close the windows or doors. Superb cheese cake to close off the night.

8. - 14 Dec.: Knysna golf and tour

Today we take it easy after the intense pace of the last few days. Breakfast at the Pezula golf club, sitting in a wide terrace under a blue sky. Full English breakfast with the most appropriate African enhancement of tropical fruits.

We then go and try some golf. It is my first time ever and I kind of like it. I can see how it can become addictive. Just try some putts for now. I am quite excited so I run to gather my balls after shooting my first set too far from the flag, only to be gently reprimanded by Mike who intructs me that one never runs on the golf course lest the impacts of fast feet landing on the delicate grass should dig holes that would distort the game. OK lesson learned.

My first ever golf ball

We then drive around a bit and explore the Pezula property. About 400 hundred lots, some two thirds of which have beed developed into beautiful villas of various sizes. Eighteen golf holes naturally, plus all the infrastructure that makes this a world-class course. It seems that most owners, who are by right members of the Golf Club, don't even play golf at all, but enjoy the setting, the scenary and the company.

Dinner is at a family run restaurant downtown, Pembreys. Well appointed yet informal and warmly welcoming atmosphere, with excellent fish from the region, and of course Cape wines. The owners are Vivian and Peter Vadas, who besides their lives share a passion for Mediterranean and especially Italian cuisine. Their son Peter John has moved on but not before he absorbed his parents' dedication to high quality food, and recently has become the chef of a top notch restaurant near Cape Town. I opt for a pair of excellent Cape soles, nicely grilled and served with potato wedges.

Much to my own chagrin I decide not to drink nearly so much as I would like. Alcohol tests are apparently taken very seriously here and spending a night in a local prison (the usual penalty for speeding, it seems) is not my idea of an alternative, off-the-beaten-path journey through South Africa.

Another problem with driving home is that the speed limit changes every few hundred meters and, while I strive not to exceed it, Mike tells me not to go too much slower either, lest I become suspicious as the police think I can't cope with the allowed speed. It's a little stressful to keep within the narrow speed range that will keep the police away for either reason - I did drink a bit after all. But eventually we make it home in one piece and can cap off the night with a little grappa.

7. - 13 Dec.: Schotia Game reserve to Knysna, via Elephant Back Ride Safari

Get up at the crack of dawn (well almost, it must have been 6:30am) for a quick (wood fire heated) shower in the open, an instant coffee and an early morning walking safari in the hills around our tents. Justin is there as promised and so is the Washington couple we met yesterday.

We start slowly and enjoy the cool early morning air but no animals in sight. The Washington lady jogs around and gets way ahead of the rest of us but suddenly grinds to a halt when in sight of the two huge mammals. Rhinos! Two big white rhinos, buth sadly dehorned by poachers in May 2013.

We can get very close. Maybe a bit too close when Justin tells me to freeze as I drop to the ground to photograph from down up and one rhino puts its big lips on the ground within two meters from the tip of my lens. Great pictures though!

After breakfast we drive to Lenmore, a restaurant not far and our meeting point with Walter, from elephant back ride safari. Yan insisted on doing this and while I was initially a bit reluctant as we have a lot of driving today and lots to see on the way, she was right as this turned out to be a unique experience.

From Lenmore it is a long drive, over one hour on a highway then 45 minutes of a dirt road with potholes the size of bomb craters. We are pretty shattered when we get to the reserve but thrilled with anticipation.

Walter tells us he used to work here but then changed jobs to driver because too remote wants to be with family. Proudly show his name and number still on gate. He now takes cigarettes and other stuff to the staff at the camp who don't see civilization for weeks on end.

There are three elephants, and they always go together even if there are no clients. We rent two elephants and the third just follows... We start a bit late: while the elephants are tamed, they are free to roam around and to gather them for the tourist ride is not always a five minute affair.

It's a lot of fun to ride them, and it is as natural as it gets: no saddles or seats, just our bums on their bare back. Walter smiles when we say we'd like to ride longer than the standard half an hour: "You'll bruise your behind raw!" After 45 minutes we realize he was right, but it was worth it!

At the end of our ride we get a tasty lunch by a small lake, and then all start our way back over the bomb craters to Lenmore and our car.

 Time to drive to Knysna, which we reach after an easy five hour drive on the N2, the long coastal road that runs along South Africa's maritime regions.

Dinner is at the Golf club with Mike, a German friend of mine who used to be my neighbor in Belgium. Rather an ex German I should say: he moved to Italy from his native country when he was very young, married Carla, a bright and beautiful Italian lady he met at work, and lived and worked around the world ever since. Ten years ago he retired and they decided to abolish Fall and Winter from their vocabulary: May to October in Italy, and November to April in South Africa, where of course the seasons are inverted. Carla sadly passed away a few years ago but Mike keeps his seasonal hybernation routine.

There is a birthday party going on and the main dining room is taken. Crowds of all-white friends singing South Africa's national anthem. I am especially struck by their singing the rifst lines in Xhosa: Nkosi sikelele Afrika... A song full of meaning, especially when sung by whites. The new South Africa.

No fear: we get table in the main hall, between the kitchen and the bar. Delicions seafood, nice full bodied Chardonnay from the Cape (beer for Mike) and a very forgiving check. The strong Euro buys a pretty good time in South Africa this year.

6. - 12 Dec.: Game drives and walks at Schotia Game Reserve

This morning our driver is Justin, son of owner of Schotia who is going to take over at some point.  He is very passionate about the reserve and his job and shows both affection and authority while is leading our tour. A close up encounter with a lone male lion soon after breakfast is just what we need to wake up.

Readying a hot bath

After lunch we rest a bit and then go for a walking safari around our tented camp. We run into a family of giraffe who let us come pretty close.It is warm and sunny, an ideal afternoon for a leisurly walk in the wild. I take the opportunity of our stop at the camp to add more wood to the water heating furnace.

Later on we keep on driving and share car with a couple from Washington state. He is cool and easy she is a bit paranoid about the animals and diseases. I wonder why she came to Africa in the first place.

In the evening, after another filling and tasty meat buffet by the fire, we welcome the night by driving out again in search for the lion, whom this time we meet as he is lying in the open grass.

But the most frightening encounter of the day is yet to come: it's about 11pm and we are making our way home when our good old friend Old Boss who is not yet ready for a good night sleep. He is in musth and when Justin tries to drive on the way to our tents he seems to have alrady lost his sense of humor.

Old Boss is not ready for sleep

The day ends with a candle-lit hot bath in our large tatch-covered tub house. I add more wood to the furnace and the water is nice and hot, a pleasant contrast to the moonlit chilly evening outside.

5. - 11 Dec.: Lalibela Lodge to Schotia Safari Game Reserve

Funny how these two private game reserves have names coming from different parts of the world, very far from South Africa.

In the morning another early game drive and then an easy move a few km to the west to Schotia Safari Game Reserve . This is a very different type of reserve: not luxury and in fact in part a tented camp. Our tent is quite big and it is raised from the floor by a system of stilts.

Quite a romantic bathroom too: water is heated by wood, and one of the first things I must learn is how to add wood to the furnace just outside the bathroom, next to the shower.

Male elephant

Our ranger for the afternoon drive is Leandi, a petite and seemingly fragile blond girl in her late twenties. (OK Leandi if you are reading this by any chace please don't be upset if I got it wrong, I am always wrong with ladies' age.) Yan asks about the meaning of her name and the answer is quite unique: her mother had six sisters and L.E.A.N.D.I. are the initials of their names. I forgot the sisters' names, but the ethimology stuck in my mind.

Bull chasing jeep

Leandi drives better than I have seen any man drive, especially when shifting our big 12 seater 4x4 into reverse and backing off in the mud from a charging elephant bull in chase. She also knows quite a bit and gives us comprehensive explanations about the fauna and the flora we see.

Dinner buffet by the fire, just next to the croc and hippo pond. Then a night drive during which, with the help of a big halogen light, we see a lone male lion resting in a bush. Can't really see much of him but enough to get some adrenaline pumping.The best sight though is a majestic male kudu who passes nonchalantly by as we drive home.

Male kudu, my fav antilope

4. - 10 Dec.: Game drives and night safari

In the cold afternoon drizzle we again brave the elements but are rewarded when we meet the resident cheetahs with a recent kill. The mother and 4 cubs rest, stomachs full, next to the carcass of a springbok. They sit atop a hill, with clear visibility in all directions, and are probably waiting to finish off what flesh is left on the bones of the antilope before the hyenas home in at night.

Cheetah meal leftover

A number of other sightings, including a large family of elephants who block the road and force us to wait a good half an hour, make the discomfort worthwhile after all. It's dusk and we are making our way back to the lodge, we meet a matriarch elephant leading her herd through the thick forest and into a green expanse. They are obviously used to cars and can't be bothered by our presence.

After dinner we go for a night safari, it is my first ever. Yuan is driving with one hand and brandishing a powerful halogen lamp with the other. He only points it at nocturnal animals, who can quickly adjust to it, and avoids shining it into the face of diurnal animals who could easily be blinded and scared away.

We go by our cheetas and they are still there, no signs of hyenas. Yuan explains that normally they would have gone to hide by now but evidently can't afford to leave all that meat behind. 

After a little while we run into  our elephants again, and the matriarchal female moves very close to us to show who is in charge. Yuan is slightly worried, shifts into reverse and backs off. I am a bit disappointed as I would have liked to see the animal closer, even more so when he says he would have let her come and touch the car had he been alone. Still, a magical moment to share with these gentlr beasts under a soft moonlight.

3. - 9 Dec.: Lalibela game drives and walks

Yuan and vehicle

Game drives and walks all day. The weather is not our best friend, it is drizzling and rather chilly, unexpected. I have not taken much warm clothing along, but make good use of a couple of sweaters. Yuan provides us with warm blankets that help moderate the wind chill in our oper vehicles. My major problem is keeping my cameras dry, and Yan her binoculars.

In the afternoon we do a walking safari with Jill, a lady who is the head ranger here. Don't meet much in terms of big animals, or even small animals for that matter. A bit disappointed as I did not come here to see small flowers and footprints. Our guide does not allow us to get closer to  hippos than about 250 meters with a pond between us. Ok safety first but this seems a bit excessive to me.

End of the day with another spectacular game drive with Yuan. This time it is cheetahs who keep us company.

To cap an exhilarating drive, a lone white rhino happens to be on our way but keeps grazing carelessly as we drive by.

Great meals as usual in the Lalibela lodge, and enjoyable evening by the fireplace backing up pictures to my hard drives and talking to Yuan about his country and his life. All he wants is a peaceful South Africa, he is too young to even remember apartheid anyway. He says his parents tought differently, but they belong to a different era, that seems almost inconceivable now. Of course.

2. - 8 Dec.: Port Elizabeth to Lalibela and first game drive

Get up at 8:30 and leisurly breakfast in the terrace of our Bed and Breakfast "Admiralty house". It's run by a friendly couple and we share the buffet with patrons of all races and colors, something that won't be happening too often over the next several weeks, where I will witness almost exclusively white tourists monopolize the tables of my hotels.

After breakfast I go sim card hunting again. Can't find any Vodacom store but the lady at the reception recommends to get a MTN, which is supposedly better anyway. They have a store at a little shopping mall nearby, and they are open on Sunday, at least in the morning. If I hurry after the long breakfast I can make it. And I do: before noon I become the proud owner of a South African phone number. The mall is a small affair, perhaps a couple of dozen smallish stores dominated by the ubiquitous Pick n Pay supermarket.

Armed with a data plan I can now install my sim card on my Samsung and confidently place it in the suction cradle I brought with me from Europe. A charge cable ensure a sufficient flow of energy and we are off for an easy drive.

Despite a couple of unnecessary detours owed to my talking too much while I am driving (when I drive I am the living proof of the theory that men can do only one thing at a time) which made me miss a turn or two, we are accurately steered by Google maps to the Lalibela lodge. We arrive at Lalibela in the early afternoon and settle in our beautiful thatched house. A few minutes to drop our stuff and grab a bite to eat and get ready for the first game drive of this trip. It's been a few years since my last one, in Tanzania, in 2005.

The name Lalibela surprises me, it turns out the owners Rick and Sue van Zyl visited the famous town in Ethiopia a while back and loved the name and the meaning behind it: "for whom the bees have foretold greatness". An Ethiopian legend has it that if a swarm of bees buzz around a baby's head, the child is destined to become king. I am not sure I would try on my baby but Sue loved it and the name Lalibela stuck in her mind, only to resurface when it came to name their newly opened business in 2002. It was the coronation of a longstanding plan to transform their earlier farm "Hillside" into a game reserve.

Our ranger is Juan, a 22 year-old enthusiastic nature lover who loves being in the bush and driving his 4x4 open safari "vehicle" as he calls it. He'd be on the road all the time. Rain shine day night he'd be looking for wild life if he did not have to take his guests back for their meals. His favorite words, as he passionately and methodically explains everything from geology to biology, are "basically" and "specifically". It's chilly and it rains intermittently but we are rewarded with a bounty of lions, cheetas and countless antilopes.

This evening is Yan's birthday and the manager has prepared a romantic candle-lit setup in the garden, with a small buffet all for the two of us and a slurpy cake with candles and birthday song at the end. The folk dance at the end is also quite well done and a pleasant, if a bit predictable, end of this first day in the bush. We enjoy the end of the evening with drinks by the fire in the company of a few other guests.

1. - 7 December 2013: Arrival in South Africa and tour of Port Elizabeth

Upon arrival in South Africa customs must be cleared at the first port of entry, in my case in Johannesburg. It's a pain to have to collect my bags and go through customs (no one pays any attention anyway) only to have to check them in again.

As I walk to my check-in counter I notice that everyone wraps their luggage in plastic wrap. For 60 r (4 euro) at least a dozen station will wrap your bags. Maybe it helps, and I d ecide to do it, as Johannesburg has a reputation for theft from transiting bags.

Arrive in Post Elizabeth. I live in the XXI century and decide to do first things first: get online with my smartphone. I try to buy a Vodacom sim card with a data plan but meet no success. I need a mini sim for my Samsung but those in stock at the Vodacom airport shop don't work. The salesman can't complete the required installation online. He also has "normal" (old) regular size sim cards, that can be cut to fir mini sim phones. Try and cut a big one but no success: no connection. They only have micro sim but they are no good for my samsung. Give up.

I proceed to pick up my rental car but not before I am persuaded to upgrade to a larger model. We have lots of bags...

First tour of the town. The former president, larger than life Nelson Mandela, the liberator of the country, died the day before yesterday and the country is in mourning. It is moving to see the lowering of the huge flag that is flying at half mast on the hill overlooking the town. Only a few foreign tourists look on while a military detachment performs the procedure as the commanding officer yells out a succession of orders.

I have reviews a movie about a life defining episode of Mandela's life here on this blog.

Nelson Mandela

Itinerary of trip to South Africa - December 2013 / January 2014

Itinerary - South Africa December 2013 – January 2014 (click on a date or a daily itinerary to link to related post)
Day	Dec.	Daily itinerary	Night	Km
1	7	Arrival in South Africa and tour of Port Elizabeth	P.E.	25
2	8	Port Elizabeth to Lalibela and first game drive	Lalibela	90
3	9	Lalibela game drives and walks	Lalibela	50
4	10	Game drives and night safari	Lalibela	50
5	11	Lalibela Lodge to Schotia Safari Game Reserve	Schotia	60
6	12	Game drives and walks at Schotia Game Reserve	Schotia	40
7	13	Schotia to Knysna, via Elephant Back Ride Safari	Knysna	275
8	14	Knysna golf and tour	Knysna	10
9	15	Knysna golf and spa	Knysna	10
10	16	Knysna golf and dining	Knysna	10
11	17	Knysna properties and drive through the mountains to Swellendam	Swellendam	200
12	18	Swellendam kayak and sherry	Swellendam	50
13	19	Swellendam to Cape Town, through Stellenbosch	Cape Town	160
14	20	Cape Town tour and music	Cape Town	60
15	21	Cape Town to Franschhoek	Franschhoek	75
16	22	Franschhoek	Franschhoek	0
17	23	Wine tasting in Stellenbosch and Paarl	Franschhoek	50
18	24	Paarl wine tasting for Christmas eve	Franschhoek	60
19	25	From wineland to Johannesburg	Johannesburg	75
20	26	City tour of Johannesburg	Johannesburg	80
21	27	Soweto and drive to Mabhoko Ndebele village	Mabhoko	280
22	28	Models and billiard at Mabhoko Ndebele village	Mabhoko	0
23	29	Mbahoko Ndebele village to Kruger National Park	Kruger	450
24	30	Alarms and mating lions at the Kruger National Park	Kruger	60
25	31	Kruger through Swaziland to S. Lucia	S. Lucia	650
	Jan.
26	1	New Year's day at Saint Lucia	S. Lucia	0
27	2	Drive to Durban and flight to Port Elizabeth	P.E.	250
28	3	Port Elizabeth - Seaview - Jeffrey bay	Jeffrey Bay	80
29	4	Knysna township	Mossel Bay	325
30	5	Bartolomeu Dias, Indian food and vintage music at Mossel Bay	Mossel Bay	40
31	6	Mossel Bay to Hermanus	Hermanus	320
32	7	Hermanus to Cape Town via Boulders Park and Good Hope	Cape Town	175
33	8	Cape Town wine tasting and Langa, Khayelitsha and Gugulethu townships	Cape Town	150
34	9	Cape Town slaves, cannons and jazz	Cape Town	40
35	10	Ending with a big bang, see you soon again South Africa	airplane	25
		TOTAL	KM	4275