April 2, 2024 – the trip to Sabi Sand Today was an exciting day. To start we left the Royal Malawane, driving about 15 minutes to a gravel airstrip where we boarded a helicopter. This was a 45-minute flight through the Blyde River Canyon, the third largest gorge in the world, after the Grand Canyon …
Each day here consisted of two drives into the bush, the first started at 7:00AM and returned to the Lodge somewhere around 10:00AM. The second started at 4:00PM and we returned to the Lodge around 7:00PM. With each drive we would search for various animals, sometime going off road following the tracks of Rinos, Leopards …
March 31 & April 1, 2024 – Thornybush Game ReserveRead More »
We left our hotel, La Residence, early for a flight to Hoedspruit and the Thornybush Game Reserve. Our stay here is for 3 nights at the Royal Malewane. We landed at a small airport that looked like it had been carved out of the bush. After picking up our luggage we were driven to the …
While we know it as the prison for those opposed to the apartheid government of South Africa, most notably, Nelson Mandela, who served 18 of his 27-year sentence there. Robben Island has a history that dates back to the 15th century. The island gets its name from the Dutch word for seal, “Seal Island”. First …
Our flight from Namibia was about 2 hours. We arrived in Cape Town on schedule and were met at the airport and taken to our Hotel, The Silo Hotel, which was near the Waterfront in the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, an area with shops and restaurants. Tired, we had some cocktails and snacks at the …
March 23 – 26, 2024 – In and around Cape Town South AfricaRead More »
After 4 days at sea, we finally arrived at Walvis Bay, Namibia. Waking early to see the sun rise over the Desert. Who know that Namibia is home to the world’s oldest desert. Once the ship was docked and cleared, we disembarked, cleared immigration, and headed for a tour of the “Living Desert”. Aside from …
Our last day among these islands of the Atlantic. One more opportunity to view the fantastic wildlife here. As promised, we made it back to Inaccessible Island for one last zodiac cruise along the shore. We were among the first to be called at 7:45AM so it was a very early wake up with breakfast …
Nightingale Island, or rather the many islands in this group are more volcanic islands from over 15 million years ago. Erosion by wind and water over the millennia has left fascinating structures that are the habitat for many sea birds, penguins and seals. The plan today was to do a zodiac cruise around some of …
We awoke to the site of the volcanic island of Tristan Da Cunha. Tristan da Cunha (/ˌtrɪstən də ˈkuːn(j)ə/), colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying approximately 2,787 kilometers (1,732 mi) from Cape Town in South Africa, 2,437 kilometers (1,514 mi) from Saint Helena, 3,949 kilometers (2,454 mi) from Mar del Plata in Argentina, South America and 4,002 kilometers (2,487 mi) …
This morning, we were still in transit between Gough and Inaccessible Island. We are anticipated to be there for a zodiac cruise this afternoon. After breakfast we had biosecurity check. That is where we need to make sure anything that will be going assure on Tristen is clean of any foreign matter. The daily briefing …
