Summer Adventure: Week 54, July 30 - August 5, 2023

Before reading this blog, we want you to forget all the negative things you have heard about tourism in South Africa. Yes, it is developing country. Yes, they underwent a huge regime change less than 30 years ago. Yes, their populations are still overcoming poverty. Yes, there is crime in the big cities. Before we arrived in South Africa, we were told was "it's unsafe", "you shouldn't go there", "there is a lot of crime". While we have been cautious during our time here, as you should be anywhere you travel, we have also loved exploring this beautiful country.

This week we spent time further exploring Cape Town before heading on safari, and then to Johannesburg.

On Sunday, we woke up bright and early to drive to the Cape of Good Hope. We started our day driving along beautiful coastlines, and weaving up and down the mountainside. The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland near Cape Town. It is the most south-west point of the African continent. The Cape of Good Hope is the legendary home of the Flying Dutchman. According to the legend, crewed by tormented and ghostly sailors, the Flying Dutchman is doomed forever to beat its way through the adjacent waters without ever succeeding in rounding the headland. We spent the morning exploring the area, and the national park in which it is located.

Then, we made our way to Boulders Beach. A small seaside town, 45 minutes outside Cape Town. Boulders Beach is a sheltered beach made up of inlets between granite boulders. It is famous for its resident penguin - the African penguin. This penguin is the only species of penguin found in Africa. They grow to be about 27 inches tall and weigh between 4 and 11 pounds. They have a black stripe and a pattern of unique black spots on their chest, as well as pink glands above their eyes that become pinker as the penguin gets hotter. South Africa’s penguins are under threat from the loss of habitat, declining fish and expanding land use for human development. At Boulder’s Beach the penguin population is safe from predators as SAParks have taken control of the beach making it a national park. We spent some time walking up and down the boardwalks, on the beach, and in the forest, looking for the little penguins.

Later in the day, we spent some time at Muizenberg Beach. Of course, Webster went surfing even though the water was a chilly 10 degrees! I bundled up and took photos from the beach.

That night, we finished our time in Cape Town with a delicious steak dinner at Iron Steak. It was a delicious meal at a reasonable price.

On Monday morning, we woke up bright and early to head out to the bush - back on safari! We flew from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth (about 900km east), stopped for breakfast overlooking the runway, and then drove 200km north.

We arrived at Lalibela Game Reserve - a private conservation near Kruger National Park. Lalibela is owned by a third generation granddaughter of the Heinz family (yes, like the ketchup). We chose to visit Lalibela because it is the only game reserve in the Eastern Cape that has more lions than game viewers, which made for such great big cat encounters!

Lalibela is a conservation project that currently consists of 10,500 hectares (approximately 26,000 acres) and is home to the Big 5 (lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo & leopard) as well as other predators like cheetah, hyena, jackal & lynx. Unique to our area of South Africa, we are blessed with vast areas of Savannah Grassland, the biome that has by far the highest carrying capacity – this means that we are able to sustain truly vast herds of plains game like zebra, impala, wildebeest, red hartebeest, blesbuck and eland. This, in turn, allows us to sustain a remarkable density of free-roaming lions. Our primary focus at Lalibela is the conservation of our indigenous flora and fauna taking into account the community in our area. This is achieved by a huge team of diverse and special people – all who share the vision of long-term sustainability in a fast-changing world

We also chose Lalibela because they are a not-for-profit - 100% of profits are put back into community and conservation projects. No profits are ever taken out of the Reserve.

Here are some details about their community programs:

Sports Development Fun and exercise are essential to one’s wellbeing and health. We support and sponsor two soccer teams, a netball team, a gumboot dance troupe and a boxing initiative. We assist with transport to matches, equipment, sport uniforms and facilities. Education Lalibela funds a Recreation Centre in the Seven Fountains Community where the children come in for assistance with their homework and school projects as well as for extra reading classes. Children’s feeding scheme The children hail from impoverished homes, so we look after them by providing nutritious meals. We supply the local school with breakfast porridge ingredients for 130 children. There has been a marked improvement in school attendance and academic performance. During school holidays, we provide both breakfasts & wholesome lunches to the children. Functions and Celebrations We support and are a part of various functions and celebrations within the community throughout the year, such as Mandela Day and Women’s Day. Community Enrichment Old Age Pensioners get treated at Easter and Christmas to formal lunches held at the Recreation Centre. Each receive a gift to take home and entertainment in the form of singing and dancing is organised for these pillars of society within the village. EcoBricks We encourage and educate the community about environmental issues. We have an ongoing EcoBricks project where plastic bottles are filled tightly with plastic litter and these EcoBricks are then used to build tables, benches and walls with cement. Hope Jars Soup Jars, or better known as “Hope Jars” are jars filled with rice, beans, lentils and other plant proteins. 30 – 40 Hope Jars are handed out weekly to households in the Seven Fountains Community. This helps to ensure everyone remains fed with hearty, nutritious meals. Dog Project The Ikhala Veterinary Clinic visits the Seven Fountains Community regularly. They treat the various medical ailments of the dogs which include sterilization, wound treatment, deworming and provide medication for ticks and fleas. Lalibela provides dog food for the dogs two times a week. Kennels are gifted to individuals who are looking after their pets. These kennels are made from old pallets and decking planks which were replaced when one of our lodges were refurbished. Stationery Packs & Holiday Club We supply basic stationery packs each term to all learners and during the school holidays, we host a holiday club at the Recreation Centre where the fun and learning continues.

From Monday-Friday this week we enjoyed time at Lalibela, relaxing and going on game drives. We were invited to join two game drives a day, one at 6:30am, and another at 3:30pm. Our guide was Liezel and she took us in each different direction to see as much as we could throughout the week. We were lucky to spot lots of antelope, rhino, hippo, monkey, baboon, caracul, giraffe, elephant, lion, lioness, cheetah, warthog, buffalo, jackal, hyena, wildebeest, mongoose, aardwolf, and various birds. On our drive, Liezel took us through some beautiful landscapes. The one difference between Lalibela and the Mara was we had a coffee stop in the morning, and drink stop in the evening. This was a neat way for us to get out of the safari vehicle and explore a bit of the area on foot and talk to our guide up close and personal.

Liezel was a skilled guide with more than 10 years experience in the field. She was able to follow animal tracks in the sand and find big cats from the bones they left after a kill. She was passionate about birds, plant species, and could answer every, single question we had. Thanks Liezel for a great adventure!

You might notice in the photos that some animals are tagged, meaning they have collars or bracelets on. This is because of the high risk of poaching in the area. Earlier this year, Lalibela had 3 rhinos killed in one night. Nothing like this had happened in more than 15 years, so it was a shock to the entire community. The poachers cut off the rhino horns and left the animals behind - just awful. Now they are investing in anti-poaching through animal tracking, cameras, a canine squad, and a trained anti-poaching team that surveils the area 24/7.

One of our highlights was seeing a lion roar... yes, actually roar! Lions do this to mark their territory and tell other animals they are "king". It was such a cool experience and the roar really goes right through you!

Between, game drives we enjoyed time at the lodge soaking up the sun, lounging by the pool, or relaxing on the various decks around the property. Since it was low season, there were very few guests around and it felt like we had the entire place to ourselves! The meals were over the top… with three courses at each meal, yes even breakfast. We were treated to gourmet options like fresh baked bread at every meal, and fresh vegetables picked from a garden earlier in the day.

On Saturday, we packed up our things, enjoyed a quiet morning at the lodge and headed to the airport en route to Johannesburg! The airport near the reserve was very small which made for a quick and easy check in. We flew two hours northeast to Johannesburg. That night, we checked into our hotel and wandered around the area. We got dinner at Tiger Milk, a local burger spot, and had an early night.

This week we are exploring Johannesburg, South Africa before heading to Cairo, Egypt! En route we have a 36 hour layover in Abu Dhabi where we plan to do some sightseeing but mostly lay by the pool and enjoy the sun!

Thanks for reading the blog and following along with our adventures. See you next week!