African Adventure Part II - Cape Town, Chobe River and Victoria Falls

This is Part II of my blog about our African adventure in July of 2016.  If you didn’t read Part I, you should scroll to the bottom and click on the Blog Archive, August post, because I get paid by the number of views on the blog.  Go ahead and read it two or three times.

Just kidding - I don’t get paid at all, except in opportunities to do all the amazing travel we have done in the past few years.  Our two weeks in Africa had to be one of best trips ever, and we have traveled a lot.

Part I of the blog covered our stay at a private game reserve, complete with two game drives a day, luxurious tent accommodations, good food and wine, and excellent service, all in a stunning setting with mountains, water and plentiful wildlife.  We were convinced that if you go all the way to Africa, make sure you experience this. 

The landscape around the Marataba Safari Lodge was unforgettable.

The lodge was beautiful too.

When we left the Marataba Safari Lodge, we flew to Cape Town to join our AmaWaterways tour for the next 10 days.  AmaWaterways is our favorite river cruise company, so when we received an invitation to participate in their Discover Africa tour, we jumped at the chance.  The trip consisted of three days in Cape Town, four days on the Chobe River on the Zambezi Queen riverboat, and two days in Victoria Falls.  Each segment of the trip was exceptional in its own way.

We arrived in Cape Town and checked into the Cape Grace Hotel.  Very upscale and elegant with very attentive service.  The rooms were spacious and beautiful – the hotel ranked way up there with the best we’ve stayed in.

The Cape Grace Hotel - one of the finest we've stayed in.

The lobby of the Cape Grace Hotel - our reception was in the room at the back.

Esther in the elevator lobby on our floor.

At an evening welcome reception, we met our fellow travelers on the tour, and our Tour Manager, Andrew Schofield.   Andrew explained his role, our itinerary and schedule, and answered questions while we had delicious hors d’oeuvres and wine.  Our group consisted of a few other travel professionals, a group of seven from California, an AmaWaterways business development manager, a couple with their 9-year-old son, and an elderly couple from Australia.  All in all, a fun, well-traveled and interesting group.

Andrew was an interesting character – very patient, at times a bit dramatic, and extremely knowledgeable about all things Africa. Sometimes it felt like he was treating us like we were in kindergarten, but we did have a couple of people that needed that approach on more than one occasion.

The next morning we boarded our coach for our full-day Cape tour, which included a drive along the coast on Chapman’s Peak all the way down to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, a stop to visit the penguin colony, and lunch at a local restaurant.  I’m going to let the photos tell most of the story. 

You should notice in the pictures that our weather was absolutely spectacular for the entire two weeks we were in Africa.  July is winter in southern Africa, and we were warned that Cape Town could be cold and rainy.  Instead, we got bright sunshine, near cloudless skies and incredible visibility, and daytime temperatures in the mid-60s to low 70s. 

Some of the beautiful scenery along the coast as we drove along Chapman's Peak.  See what I mean about the weather.

Hout Bay Beach - still a little cold for beachgoers in July.

This baboon was letting all the others know who was boss along the boundary fence of the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve.  You can see why baboons can be dangerous.  One of my favorite photos on the whole trip.

The Nature Reserve was the only place we saw an ostrich during our trip.

The Cape of Good Hope is the southwestern-most point in Africa, not the southern-most point as some people think.  

The funicular at Cape Point to go up to the lighthouse - if you've read my previous blogs, you know I love a good funicular!

The lighthouse above Cape Point.  We did the rest of the climb to the top to get the steps on Esther's FitBit.

Breathtaking view of Cape Point, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean.

We should have gone to the Olympics - Rio was the closest city in the bunch, by far.

Part of the penguin colony at Boulders Beach.

These two look almost as happy together as me and The Boss.

It was fun watching them go in and out of the water.

Lunch was at the Harbour House, a seaside restaurant where we were seated with a view of the water.  We saw seals sunning on the rocks and during lunch a pod of dolphins swam by, leaping in and out of the water.  As you can see, AmaWaterways picked a great restaurant – the food was delicious!

Lunch was included at this seaside restaurant on today's tour.

Esther got the mussels.

Add 

I got the shrimp - and these were just the appetizers.

Needed the full 40X zoom on the new camera to capture this dolphin jump!  He was pretty far away.

Dinner was on our own that night.  The Cape Grace Hotel is conveniently located at the Cape Town Waterfront, which is a lively place with a huge mall, lots of restaurants and bars, an aquarium, and a ferris wheel.  Esther and I walked down through the mall to the walkway along the water and got some more great African sunset photos.

Sunset at the Cape Town Waterfront.

The Waterfront is pretty lively in the evenings.  You can see Table Mountain in the background.  We go there tomorrow.

For dinner, Esther and I went to the basement bar in the Cape Grace Hotel, where we ran into John, from our group.  We had three glasses of wine apiece and split a delicious plate of fish and chips, and our bill was less than $50.  Another good reason to go to Africa – the exchange rate was about 15 rand to the dollar.  And we discovered pinotage wine.  Pinotage is a red wine grape that is South Africa’s signature variety, and is a hybrid of pinot noir and hermitage grapes. 

The next day we had an option to either visit Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years, or go to the Winelands region for wine tasting.  The Boss and I agonized over the choice between options…prison or wine? What should we do, what would be better?   Hello….did we just meet?

The Winelands were amazing, but we’ll get to that in a minute.  The day started with our group splitting up between the prison goers and the wine drinkers.  We got into a mini-van with Katie, the Wine Fairy, and our first stop was Table Mountain.  Table Mountain is the defining geologic landmark of Cape Town and probably the primary tourist attraction in the area for good reason.  The name comes from the flat surface and steep cliff edges all around, and the views of Cape Town and the surrounding area are incredible.  We had an absolutely perfect weather day and could actually see all the way to Cape Point from the mountain. 

If there's anything I like better than funiculars, it's cable cars.  These go to the top of Table Mountain - a neat ride.

The cable car station at the top.  Table Mountain is over 3500 feet above sea level.  Check out that blue sky.

Me and the Boss with Devil's Peak in the background.

The perfect weather allowed us a spectacular view all the way to Cape Point.

A view of Cape Town from the top of Table Mountain - Robben Island in the middle of the bay, the soccer stadium built for the 2010 World Cup, and Devil's Peak to the left.

We descended from Table Mountain and seven of us headed for the Winelands with Katie.  She was amazing – full of energy, very jolly, and extremely knowledgeable about all things South Africa, but especially wine.  We drove about an hour through some beautiful scenery to reach Stellenbosch, the second oldest settlement in the province after Cape Town, dating back to 1679.  We stopped and strolled through town as Katie pointed out landmarks and explained some of the town’s history. 

An example of Cape Dutch architecture style in Stellenbosch.

The mountains provide a gorgeous backdrop for this charming town.

The church sits at the end of the main street through town.  The ladies did a little shopping here.

The walk around town made everyone very thirsty, so off we went to our first winery of the day, Grande Provence, a beautiful estate surrounded by its vineyards.  The wine, weather and setting, along with some education from Katie, combined to make this a truly enjoyable stop.  We wondered how the others were enjoying the prison tour…..

One of the buildings on the beautiful Grande Provence estate.

Did I mention that the scenery and weather were amazing?

Katie taught us some wine tasting techniques!

From left - Katie, Roger, Carson, Tom, Maxine and Andy.

Our next stop was Glen Carlou, another picturesque winery where we had a delicious lunch, followed by a tour of the cellars and more wine tasting.  

The restaurant area at Glen Carlou was very cool - note the glass floor on the left, where you could see into the cellars.

The meals included on AmaWaterways tours are always outstanding - this was the dessert sampler!

Katie and Esther with empty wine glasses - how sad.

We did the wine tasting in the cellar.

The incredible scenery was typical of most of the Winelands region.  

We had so much fun that we tried to get Katie to stop at one more winery, but we ran out of time.  I bet the Robben Island group didn’t beg for more time at the prison.  

We absolutely loved Cape Town and could easily have spent more time there, but Africa is a big place and we had lots more to do. The next day required waking up at 4:00 AM in order to get our transfer to the airport for our flights to Botswana.  From Cape Town we flew to Johannesburg, and caught a connecting flight to Kasane.  In Kasane, we got into jeeps for a short ride to immigration, then got on a tender boat to take us to the Zambezi Queen.  The Zambezi Queen was anchored in the Chobe River, which forms the boundary between Namibia and Botswana.  One of the nice things about tours like this is that we didn’t have to handle our luggage at all after leaving outside our room at the Cape Grace Hotel, and it was waiting for us in our stateroom on the Zambezi Queen.  

Stan and Carson help me repair Esther's carry-on luggage handle at the airport - we used a paper clip and tape, and it worked the rest of the trip.

Baggage claim at the Kasane Airport - who needs a conveyor belt?

The Zambezi Queen - Esther and I had the stateroom on the bottom left - our balcony is just above the boat's name.

Welcome drinks were waiting when we arrived at the boat.  This is the bar/lounge/dining area on the top deck.

The Zambezi Queen has only 14 staterooms, and has a staff of at least 8 or 10 people, so the service is outstanding.  To get a good feel for the experience on the boat, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW2b-wPowpM

Starting with an afternoon river game cruise the day we boarded the ship, we had a total of five game cruises on the river and one game drive in jeeps through the Chobe National Park during our four days on the boat. I won’t even try to describe each one, and the hardest part of this blog was trying select from the literally thousands of photos I took with that new Nikon camera.   I have to say that pictures and words can’t adequately describe the experience of seeing all of the amazing animals and birds up close and personal – it’s simply something you have to do yourself!  Here is a collection of some of my favorites. 

We saw so many different types of birds - this is the yellow-billed stork

Two of the "Big Five" - elephants and cape buffalo.  The others are leopard, hippopotamus and rhinoceros. Never saw a rhino on this trip.

The malachite kingfisher - we also saw a ton of pied kingfishers, but they aren't as colorful.

Maybe it's just me, but this cape buffalo reminds me of Donald Trump.

Caught this open-billed stork just after he caught a fish.

We saw tons (get it?) of hippos, but this one looked like he was smiling.

First night sunset on the Chobe River.  They were all magnificent.

This impala and elephant look like they could be friends.

An African water monitor lizard.  The guides are amazing at spotting the wildlife and pointing it out.

This was one of the largest crocodiles (no alligators in Africa) we saw, and we saw plenty of them.  We guessed he was close to 16 feet long.

The kudu weren't as common as the impala, and their huge horns made them seem more regal.

I was really lucky to get this picture - he was far away and we rarely saw them open their mouths.

We climbed into jeeps for the game drive in the Chobe National Park.

The Boss next to an elephant skull at the entrance to the park. 

The view from the National Park looking out to the Chobe River.

These birds are call bee-eaters, for the reason you might guess.

A family of baboons.

The guinea fowl was easily the ugliest bird we saw, and they were everywhere.

This monitor lizard was about 15 feet up in the tree, and the 40X zoom got me this great shot.

This is the spoonbill (for the obvious reason), a relative of the ibis.

Carson spotted this owl as we were rolling by in the jeep, so we stopped for photos.

The Chobe area is known for a tremendous population of elephants.  Always enjoyed seeing the little (?) ones.

This is what a lion track looks like. 

The lilac-breasted roller,

A banded mongoose.

We watched these giraffes "necking" for a while - sometimes this is playful, but it can get violent when they bash their heads together.

For me, nothing beat seeing lions in the bush.  The guides knew where to look, because they aren't everywhere like the elephants, buffalo, hippos,etc.

Another sunset on the Chobe River.

Look at the teeth on this guy.

The Goliath heron, the largest kind.

Joey from our group tries to make a friend during our visit to the village, but she wasn't interested.

July is "winter" in southern Africa, but it was probably 70 degrees on this day, so this looked like overkill.  

After trudging through the bush all day, a cool drink hits the spot.

We watched these two lions eating something they had killed. One of them was wearing a tracking collar.

When the lions finally had their fill, this jackal darted in to grab some leftovers.

Very cool to watch these two walk side by side.

You can't see this at the zoo!

We were less than 100 feet from this herd of elephants that came down to the river to drink.

This lion was in a group of seven that stalked three of the elephants that lingered by the water after the rest left.

On the last game cruise of our Chobe River experience, just as dusk was falling, we watched an amazing drama as seven young male lions stalked three elephants on the river bank (photo above).  Andrew, the Tour Manager, said he’d never seen anything like it, and said the lions were like teenage boys full of testosterone.  It’s in their DNA to hunt, but they were young and dumb and didn’t realize they were no match for elephants.  Still, it was fascinating to watch the lions slowly circle around the elephants and get into position to pounce.  When the elephants finally spotted or scented the lions, they began to walk away and the lions followed.  When one of the elephants turned and charged at the lions, they quickly scattered and that was that. 

The lions have given up after realizing they were no match for the elephants.

One last sunset on the Chobe River.

We had a farewell dinner and celebration on the Zambezi Queen on the last night.  The crew sang and got us all up to dance around the dining room.  The food on the boat was consistently excellent and drinks were all included.  The boat was a different experience from the Marataba Safari Lodge, but both were outstanding ways to do safaris in style!

The next morning we went through all of the immigration gyrations again, to leave Namibia, enter Botswana, then leave Botswana and enter Zimbabwe.  From the border, it took about an hour on our coach to drive to Victoria Falls and check into the Victoria Falls Hotel.    

The town of Victoria Falls isn’t much more than a collection of souvenir shops and places to eat, but the Victoria Falls Hotel may be my favorite hotel in all of our travels.  The hotel dates back to 1904 and has a distinctly British colonial vibe and décor.  The rooms were large and included a four-poster bed with mosquito netting, and a marble bathroom.  The hotel setting, with a view of the mist rising from the falls and the bridge across the river dividing Zimbabwe from Zambia, was both grand and comfortable.  

Our four-poster bed with mosquito netting, and our bathroom (below).

Typical furnishings in the hotel.  Note Stanley's Room in the back - we also drank in Stanley's Bar.

The rear facade of the hotel that faces the falls.  Stanley's Bar is to the left.  

The swimming pool, which is not used much in winter, but still beautiful.

They serve a fabulous breakfast buffet here in the mornings, complete with champagne and made to order omelets.  Breakfast is included in the room rate.

After having a nice lunch on the back patio, we strolled the grounds and rested before our evening outing.  We were taken to an elephant sanctuary for an up-close and personal interaction with the elephants, followed by dinner consisting of African favorites. 

The elephant sanctuary observation area and dining room.

Esther and I make a new friend.  

We fed the elephants before we had dinner.

The next day included a walking tour of Victoria Falls, only five minutes by coach from the hotel.  Victoria Falls occurs on the Zambezi River, the fourth longest in Africa, and at the highest point, has a vertical drop of 351 feet.  Niagara Falls, by comparison, only has a maximum height of 167 feet.  We walked the entire length of the falls on the Zimbabwe side, starting at the David Livingstone statue and ending near the Victoria Falls Bridge.  It’s very difficult to get good photos due to the mist that rises continuously, but the mist also creates rainbows. 

David Livingstone is still regarded as a hero in Africa today.

The mist rising from the bottom of the falls creates rainbows.

The Zambezi River plunges over the falls 351 feet at its highest point.  Photos don't capture how impressive the falls are!

The Victoria Falls Bridge over the Zambezi River, completed in 1905. 

They have bungee jumping off the bridge - No, that isn't Esther.

Threw this in to show the capability of the 40X zoom on the new camera.

Many of us signed up for a helicopter ride over the falls when we finished the walking tour.  Even at $150 per person for a 15-minute flight, we would recommend it.  Great pictures from the helicopter!

The helicopter ride wasn't cheap, but it was worth it.  The next photos were all taken from the helicopter.  They give a better idea of the magnitude and grandeur of this wonder of the world.

Our next activity was a sundowner cruise on the Zambezi River.  Once again, AmaWaterways provided a first-class experience, as our small group was on the private upper deck of the Zambezi Explorer, with an open bar and delicious appetizers.  We had an interesting lecture about David Livingstone’s life and exploration of Africa, and we watched the sun set on the Zambezi River.  A very pleasant evening.

On the way to the sundowner cruise, we stopped to see this baobab tree, which they say is between 1000 and 1500 years old.

Our boat for the sundowner cruise on the Zambezi River - our group had the top deck to ourselves.

You can always count on AmaWaterways for a special experience.

I thought the lecture about the life and times of David Livingstone in Africa was fascinating.

It looks like the Boss loves me, but she was just chilly as the sun was setting and was trying to warm up.

Had to include another sunset picture.

One last picture demonstrating the power of the 40X zoom.  I took this on the sundowner cruise.

We checked out of the hotel the next day and were transported to the Victoria Falls Airport to fly to Johannesburg.  Many of our group were going on an extension trip to spend a couple of nights at Kruger National Park in a game lodge, and some were leaving that day.  So we said our goodbyes to our group at the airport, and Esther and I spent the night in Joberg at the same bed and breakfast place we stayed at our first night in South Africa.   We took a trip to a nearby mall and saw Mandela Square.

Esther, Tom, Linda, Dick, Carmela, Hugh, Janet, Roger, Annamelia, Maxine, Debbie, Joey, John, Jodie, Andy, Carson, Stan and Marilyn.   We enjoyed meeting and traveling with this group.

Esther and Nelson.

In the morning, we were picked up by a new guide and had a driving and walking tour of Johannesburg and Soweto.  Our tour included stops at Mandela and Tutu’s homes in Soweto, a local lunch, and a walk through a market.  We learned about Hector Pieterson, a 13-year-old boy killed during a 1976 student uprising in Soweto. Despite its history, Soweto is a bit depressing due to the huge numbers of people living in what is politely referred to as “informal housing.”   We would call them shanty towns.

Literally millions of people in Soweto live in this "informal housing."

Our guide dropped as at the airport to check in for the long trip home - we flew through Zurich, then to Dulles.   Even on the flight home, we began talking about another trip to Africa.  This should be on everyone's bucket list - a place of incredible beauty, friendly people, and amazing wildlife experiences.  

All comments and questions are welcome and encouraged – they let me know someone is reading these travel journals!