Monday, December 24, 2007

Our Honeymoon in November

We went to South Africa in November for our honeymoon and had a great time. It's a fantastic holiday destination that we fully recommend. We arrived in Cape Town on an overnight flight from Singapore and went up Table Mountain that first morning. It was a good decision as the next two days were cloudy and the mountain top became invisible.
The view from the top is incredible...
And the cable car ride is impressive too...
The aquarium in Cape Town is definitely worth a visit. They had all kinds of eels, rays, sharks, turtles, giant crabs, penguins, etc., but the jelly fish had to be the wierdest thing there...
We ate and drank lots (all really good and cheap) - and always better with good freinds Neil and Charl...
Cheers guys!
November may be coming in to South Africa's summer but it can be very chilly by the coast...
After a couple of days in Cape Town and it's environs, we set off in our hired car to explore more of the Western Cape. Again and again we came across scenery that was simply stunning...
The Western Cape has plenty of places to stop and relax in the towns along the way...
A must-stay place is Oudtshoorn. It is famous for ostrich farms but also has an impressive zoo/wildlife breeding sanctuary. Here, I got a pet a rather large tiger cub in return for a contribution to their conservation fund...
The Cango caves at Oudtshoorn are another must-see place...
They are huge! Another world...
Then it was on to Addo Elephant Park where our guide Derek made sure we had a fabulous day...
Of about 450 elephants in the park we saw about 200...
You have to watch out for small animals as well...
This bird showed very little fear of us...
Most the time you shouldn't leave your vehicle and if you do it's at your own risk...
And 10 minutes later we saw this lion. The collar has a radio beacon so the rangers can monitor it's movements. It's one of just a few in the park so we were lucky to see it - luckier still not to have seen it 10 minutes earlier...
This, if I remember correctly, is a "kudu". They're a bit shy and tend to move away from vehicles. Tastes good though (along with crocodile, ostrich, etc. that we tried)...
The next day we went to Schotia Safari where we saw yet more animals, some of which aren't actually native to South Africa...
We saw a few more lions. This one looks fierce but she was just yawning...
While these guys hardly moved (having recently finished dinner in the foreground)...
There is so much to see and do in South Africa. If animals don't excite you, how about the world's highest bungy from a bridge?
Here we have Peter's "bungy" injury. Um, not from jumping exactly, caused by tripping on a step at the viewing area...
Did someone say enough animals already? Well, maybe you'd be tempted to visit the monkey sanctuary. So cute but watch your food and and all your belongings carefully...
Arguably the most beautiful place in South Africa is Knysna...
And certainly the best place we stayed (out of several great places) was Villa Africana on Paradise Hill over-looking Knysna...
The Western Cape coast has many beautiful places...
Finally, it was back to Cape Town, shopping and views of Table Mountain...
We had a great 2 weeks - we will definitely come back again and will always have some unique memories of our time there. Our thanks to all the people who made our stay enjoyable!
Peter & Lynn.

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