Chapter 1: South Africa
“There are no seven wonders in the eyes of a child, there are seven million” -Walt Streightiff
As a mother and a doctor still chasing my next degree, I could call myself (in my mom’s words) a wet blanket when it comes to planning any family travel. Some could call me a damper, downer, grinch or killjoy (and all such synonyms looked up from wikipedia). Not to justify, but even the thought of planning and executing a trip totally drains me.
My SO (significant other), on the other hand, is a soccer dad and a travel enthusiast, whose main aim in life is to book the next trip, the next flight tickets, the next hotel, the next bedazzling experience for my LO (Little one). My LO, true to his paternal genes, is a vibrant five year old who collects coins in his piggy bank as “travelling fund”. LO is also a “wildlife enthusiast” and I say that confidently because he is a 5 year old who can name at least 20 different types of deer without blinking once, and can list out differences between a leopard and a cheetah while I struggle to remember if they belong to the same big family.
SO and LO had decided long back that they wanted to visit South Africa, but before the trip could happen, the whole world got locked down. Last two years were all about waiting, planning and hoping. So obviously, after a travel hiatus of over two years, when international travel resumed, LO’s big blue genie (read my SO) turned a blind eye to all my (baseless in retrospect) cribbing and booked a week long trip to South Africa!
Day 1: Cape Town
We landed in Cape town, picked up our rental car and headed through the pitter patter of a drizzle straight to Radisson Red Hotel, situated at the VA waterfront. A magnificent view of the Table top mountain greeted us through the raindrops on the window of our room.
Exhausted after a long plane ride, SO and I stood still for a moment and took a deep breath to shrug off the travel fatigue. And a moment was all it took my LO to excitedly clamber onto the top bunk of the bunk bed and make it his home for the next two days! The next fund that he’s collecting in his piggy bank is a “bunk bed fund”!
We spent the afternoon at the Two Oceans aquarium, where we all saw penguins and sharks (although in captivity) for the first time in our lives! And that was the beginning of the exotic trip that this was going to be!
Day 2: The Cape peninsula
After a scrumptious breakfast, we picked up our day bag and set out on a drive along the Cape Peninsula.
Our first stop was Hout Bay for seal watching. There were no ferries taking tourists to Seal island that day, but we did get to meet a few seals at the bay.
Trivia: Seals are also called Pinnipeds (who knew!).For seals used in entertainment, trainers toss a ball at the animal so it may accidentally balance it or hold the ball on its nose. It may require a year to train a seal to perform a trick for the public (Source: Wikipedia)
We then drove to Chapman’s peak along the mesmerising South Atlantic Ocean. The vast expanse of deep blue water meeting the sky was the kind of view that inspires poets, dreamers and philosophers.
SO was thrilled to be driving on a mountain road which was winding lazily along the ocean, and brought us to Boulder beach. The beach is famous for watching the African penguins in their natural habitat. Me, being the least informed about wildlife, found it intriguing to see penguins in Africa.I mean, aren’t they supposed to live near ice and snow ? Yet there they were, waddling away. Scientists estimate that less than 5% of the ~ 5000 mammal species in the world practice any form of monogamy whatsoever. That makes humans and penguins quite similar (or does it!?)
Trivia: The African penguin is a charismatic species of penguins, also known as the black-footed penguin and jackass penguin, due to the species’ loud, donkey-like noise. The monogamous bird is known to breed in colonies and returns to the same site each year. Once extremely numerous, the African penguin is declining rapidly due to a combination of several threats and is classified as endangered (Source: Wikipedia)
Bidding adieu to the penguins, we drove to the Cape of Good Hope. As a pang of hunger hit, we found the only open restaurant in the vicinity, and SO brought us cheese pizza hidden inside his jacket to protect it from the notorious baboons of the cape!
Witnessing the sun setting from the most south-western point of the African continent was a surreal experience.
Trivia: The Cape of Good Hope is the legendary home of The Flying Dutchman, a legendary ghost ship. According to legend, crewed by tormented and damned ghostly sailors, it is doomed forever to beat its way through the adjacent waters without ever succeeding in rounding the headland (Source: Wikipedia)
By the time we reached our hotel at night, LO had collected a bunch of African folk tales to read during the leisure hours of the trip.
He had also purchased a cute little seal (Sealy) soft toy and a baby leopard (Luna) and they became his “boys” to look after and read bedtime stories to. He happily climbed onto his favourite top bunk and put his babies to sleep before sliding into dreamworld himself.
Day 3: Table top mountain
Day 3 was for riding the cable car up to the top of the Table Mountain, which until now, we had been gazing at from our hotel window. Now would be a good time to mention the fact that my travel enthusiast SO is ironically terrified of two things in the world: heights (the cable car is open from one side) and airplane travel (hmm well..). But he did surprise us all when he thoroughly enjoyed the ride up in the cable car!
Trivia: Named over a decade ago following a public vote, Table top mountain was chosen as one of the New 7 wonders of Nature for its beauty, diversity, ecological significance and geo-location (Source: Wikipedia)
We came back to the city, devoured some naan and butter chicken in an Indian restaurant, and then headed towards Mossel Bay.
“Its a 4 hour drive” SO said, and I happily settled in the back seat of the car. Then he announced “just about 384km” and my eyes popped out. You cant drive 384km in 4 hours! But hey, unfortunately the drive was on a highway where minimum speed limit is 80 kmph. That is exactly the kind of driving that I do NOT look forward to. I am the kind of person who loves to roll along at 40 kmph, and am ever so reluctant to press my foot on the pedal beyond that , much to the chagrin of fellow drivers on the road, particularly the ones behind me.
The route boasts of many farms and wineries scattered all along the way. That, however, was not on our itinerary this time. The first 2 hours of the journey were mostly spent listening to a kids playlist while devouring candy, driving through the gorgeous terrain. LO slept off after a while. And then the sun set, and suddenly everything was pitch black. Let me warn future travellers to SA- avoid travelling after 6pm in the month of June because the sunny day suddenly turns into a chilly dark night without warning. As much as I’d like to express the beauty of the milky way and the unfiltered galaxies that I could witness in the clear night sky- the truth is, we were a bit scared. We drove through the darkness, both of us ever so quiet but comforted by the presence of the other. And finally, we reached our quaint little hotel in the quaint little oceanside town called Mossel Bay. We went straight to bed and slept as soon as our heads hit the pillow.
Day 4: Mossel Bay
Mossel bay was the perfect little coastal town to unwind and relax in. We stayed in Protea Hotel by Marriott, which added to the charm of the small harbour town. Their restaurant is one of the finest, and I was almost certain that their chef is Indian judging by the authenticity of their delicious north Indian chicken preparation (which we ate twice in one day!)
What we had planned was a quick trip to the Oudtshoorn Ostrich farm or the caves.
What we actually did was we just spent a wildly lazy day on the Santos beach, occasionally running into the ocean, building terrible sand castles and just watching the day go by. We concluded the day with a short catamaran ride to a seal island nearby.
Best. Decision. Ever.
Trivia: One of the most famous landmarks in Mossel Bay is the Post Office Tree, where ancient seafarers on their way to the east left their letters for home in a shoe or iron pot. Sailors returning to Portugal would collect these letters, and so the first Post Office in Southern Africa was founded (Source: Wikipedia)
Day 5,6 &7: The REAL African adventure
We checked out of Mossel Bay the next morning, and drove to Garden Route Game Lodge, which is a private game reserve and is home to an abundance of animal and bird life.
Now began our REAL African wildlife adventure (or at least as real as it gets with a 5 year old in a family friendly wildlife reserve)!
Our stay at the lodge began with a delicious poolside lunch.
We stayed in the sunset ridge luxury suite for the next two days, which opened up into a balcony with unhindered views of the vast expanse of the reserve! The view from the lodge was the perfect prelude to the adventure that was to follow.
The first of our four game drives was in the evening. It was freezing at sundown, but our safari guide was prepared with waterproof ponchos and hot water bottles for each one of us on the jeep. Donning the ponchos and grabbing the bottles, we set off for the first game drive.
Our first drive proved to be more exciting than any of us could have expected.
Trivia: A group of cheetahs is called a “coalition” of cheetahs (Source: Our super smart safari guide)
And we got to witness one such coalition of five cheetahs planning an attack on a herd of springbok. We watched them proceed slowly and stealthily, taking their time. By the time we returned to watch them, they had successfully caught a springbok and were feasting on him together.
To be honest, based on my limited safari experience in India, I had assumed that four such drives into the reserve would be boring and would probably be ginormous waste of time. I was more than pleasantly surprised to be proved completely wrong. Each one of the drives was engaging, gripping, exciting as we were introduced to all the magnificent BIG FIVE of the African continent. For the uninitiated, the Big Five are the lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant and cape buffalo.
Put a wildlife enthusiast (LO) , two other talkative kids and a wildlife expert (our guide) in the same vehicle, and expect nothing short of non-stop excited wildlife banter!
Some more trivia: Leopards and cheetahs both belong to the Felidae (or cat) family, but are very different. While a leopard can climb a tree, a cheetah cannot. Cheetahs have dog-like non-retractable claws. This limits their tree-climbing ability but gives them a speed advantage when charging. Cheetah, without doubt, is the fastest animal on land (Source: Wikipedia, and our extremely knowledgable safari guide Frans)
Our stay at the Garden Route Game Lodge left us completely content and grateful, because we knew that LO’s heart was full and he had gotten what he had been dreaming of, googling and planning over the last couple of years.
The day before boarding our flight did include some panic visits to a Covid testing centre for LO, and the anxiety of getting the report on time. One of my fond though vague memories is an elderly nurse scolding SO for asking way too many questions about the test and the report.
Day 8: The day of return
We finally boarded our flight back home.
At the airport:
SO: “I need a drink (or many) to be able to fly
Also SO (earnestly): “ So Sai, what trip should I book next?!”
I just decided to roll my eyes and go back to being a wet blanket again, knowing in my heart that soon enough, I will be pampered to a lot more travel and adventure with these two ❤.
The End