Trip to South-Africa

Hi everyone,

A few weeks ago we planned a wonderful trip to South-Africa. We have been writing a blog during the 14 days we were travelling through South-Africa.

This itinerary will tell you which cities we will visit at which days:

Days 1-2 Pretoria

Days 3-4 Johannesburg

Days 5-7 Durban

Days 8-10 Port Elizabeth

Days 11-14 Cape Town

This is the route we will be taking (of course we are going to use airplanes very often)

Before the trip

Hi everyone,

We have planned to stay for 14 days in South-Africa, so we have to pack lots of stuff we are going to need.

We choose the biggest suitcases we can find and we are packing them full with clothes, shoes and other stuff.

Today is the big day, we are going to South-Africa! We stood up early, hailed a taxi and off we went to the airport! After a few hours of driving we finally arrived at Schiphol. Our plane would leave in less than 3 hours and we still had pass security and the customs. So we were quite in a hurry. After an hour or two and a half we could enter the plane and after waiting in the plane for about thirty minutes we finally took off.

Our plane!

 

       South-Africa

Day 1, 1^st of February

Hi everyone,

We arrived just this morning at Johannesburg airpoirt. After a long and exhausting flight we finally are in South-Africa! We had us driven to the Sheraton hotel in Pretoria where we immediately started unloading our suitcases because we had planned to go on a safari the same afternoon. We went picking up our car which we would be using the next few days, and we drove to the Rietvlei Safari reserve.

We had a very pleasant trip through the reserve and after we finished our guiding tour we drove back to our hotel. After an 11 hour flight and a safari we were very very tired. We could finally go to sleep. This is how our first day in South-Africa went.

The entrance of park

Some animals

Day 2, 2^nd of February

Hi everyone,

Our second day in South-Africa was one we would never forget, we were going to see lions!!! After we got up and had breakfast we head for the Ukutula lion park. When we arrived there we just didn’t know where to look. Everywhere were lions, which were very very large and heavy. Even though the lions looked very aggressive and mean they were surprisingly nice and sweet. There also were some baby lions we could feed and stroke. Next to lots of lions they were also giraffes, antelopes and zebras.

After we fed and stroked some baby lions and watched lots of other animals it was time to go back to our hotel again. This would be our last day in Pretoria. Next day we would move further to Johannesburg.

 

The logo of Ukutula

Some people who worked at Ukutula

Day 3, 3^rd of February

Hi everyone,

As soon as we woke up the next day, we packed our bags and drove to our hotel in Johannesburg, the hotel where we would be staying for the next 2 days is called: The Hilton Sandton Johannesburg. This day we had planned to go to the Gold Reef City Theme Park. This is a very large theme park in the city of Johannesburg. During our visit we had very awesome and enjoyable rides in very cool coasters.

After the excitement of our theme park visit we went back to our hotel again. This time we were very exhausted because we had been walking all day long through the theme park. So after we had a wonderful meal in our hotel we could finally go to sleep.

Johannesburg’s skyline

Gold Reef City Theme Park

Day 4, 4^th of February

This would be our last day in Johannesburg, so we had planned to do something very special that day. We visited the WC soccer stadium. This was the largest stadium of the championship with over 80,000 seats!

We had a very interesting guide tour through the stadium, which also showed us the places you wouldn’t normally come. It was very nice and cool to visit such a big soccer stadium, even though the soccer team of the Netherlands lost the finals in this stadium.

After our guide tour through the stadium we drove back to our hotel. As soon as we arrived there we started packed our bags for the flight to Durban of tomorrow morning. After we finished packing we had a nice traditional South-African meal in a tiny restaurant.

 

Johannesburg’s soccer stadium

 

The 2010 world cup logo

Day 5, 5^th of February                                                                                

Hi everyone,

Today we went to the city of Durban. Early in the morning we took the flight from Johannesburg airport to Durban airport. In Durban there’s one of the greatest beaches of South Africa. The uShaka Beach. You can do a lot of things on the beach, but the most interest thing of all is the opportunity to go diving. You can dive with a group or with animals like sharks! We were going to dive with a group. It was fantastic! We saw lots of beautiful coral reefs with the most beautiful fishes around them. There was someone who was guiding us, so that we wouldn’t get lost.

He told many things about the fishes and the beautiful things we saw in the sea. Suddenly there appeared a big whale right in front of us! I was shocked, but it was fun afterwards. This was one day we would remember for the rest of our lives.  We went back to our hotel. Which was called: ‘The Hilton Durban Hotel’.  When we arrived at our suites we started preparing for the next day. After we were finished we went to sleep.

 

The Durban beaches

 

Durban from above

Day 6, 6^th of February

Hi everyone,

The next day we planned a day off. Relax during our busy trip through South Africa would do us good. We were going to lay on the beach and do a bicycle tour. From 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. we were on the beach and we went swimming in the ocean. There’s always fun on the beach, wherever you are. We also made a bicycle tour through the environment of Durban. We cycled with two tandems. You can hire these at the Ushaka beach.

But the most special thing was yet to come.  We got a surf lesson at uShaka beach. At the very beginning it was hard to follow the things what the instructor says, but because of our determination we did succeed. It was so awesome to be floating on the waves. In the evening we went to a restaurant in Durban. After we had a delicious meal we went back to our hotel.

The Durban beaches from above

Surfing

Day 7, 7^th of February

Hi everyone,

This was our last day in the city of Durban. Being in Durban was very relaxing, because of the beaches and the temperature. There wasn’t many to do in the city, but luckily there was enough to do at the beaches.  In the morning we didn’t do many things. Lying on the beach was the only thing we did, actually. Just getting some rest for the flight to Port Elizabeth which was planned for the next day. There are lots of beach sports to do on the beach like: beach volleyball and beach soccer. These things we also did in the afternoon. I found the most interesting sport beach soccer. In the evening we went shopping. We purchased lots of souvenirs. All in all, Durban has one of the most beautiful beaches and sea environments we had ever seen. You can do awesome things like diving with sharks, viewing whales and dolphin shows and do many beach sports.

The beaches of Durban

                                                                                                                  

Diving

Day 8, 8^th of February

Hi everyone,

In the morning we arrived at the airport of Port Elizabeth. We went straight to our hotel. This hotel is called: Radisson blue hotel Port Elizabeth. Today we were going to the KraggaKamma Game Park. This is a safari park where you can sleep in a house between the big five of South Africa: an elephant, a rhino, a lion, a cheetah and a buffalo. We took a drive through the park. Two hours cost 500R (€42,60). During our safari we saw following animals: a White Rhino, a Buffalo, a Cheetah, a Giraffe, a Zebra, a Nyala, a Bontebok, a Lechwe and many more species. It was very exciting to see the animals coming very close. I’ve made lots of beautiful pictures of the environment so that we could watch them as soon as we would get back home.

 

Some giraffes

A buffalo

Day 9, 9^th of February

Hi everyone,

The next day we were going to watch and learn lots of things about animals in Bayworld. It’s only a short ride from our hotel to this snake/sea museum. I expected it to be a really nice trip because they say there are also some animal shows and an Oceanarium.

The ride was indeed very short, only four minutes, but there was a long queue for the entrance for the dolphin show. So we skipped the dolphin show and went straight to the museum.

After 2 hours in the museum and the snake perk we really wanted to go to the Oceanarium, but it was also very busy there. We really wanted to go in but we saw that most of the people had finished looking at the dolphin show and went to the Oceanarium. After 10 minutes we were in the room where the dolphin show was being held. It wasn’t very busy so we watched the show quietly. After the show it became late so we went back to our hotel and we are now going to sleep a bit because tomorrow we are going to have a longer car trip.

 

The oceanrium

A dolphin show

Day 10, 10^th of February

Hi everyone,

After a good breakfast we immediately went looking for the car because we had planned a trip which would take almost two hours to the next activity: the Tsitsikamma national park. Tsitsikamma is famous because of its ‘Storm Bridge’ and its nature. The ‘Storm Bridge’ is a suspension bridge across a cove at the coast where the waves are gigantic.

We walked on ‘the storm bridge’! Luckily we were very careful because if we hadn’t been the waves would have bumped into the rocks beneath us, which would make the water splash all over us.

After that fantastic experience we went back to our hotel in Port Elizabeth. Tomorrow we have to bring the car to the airport and we have the flight to Cape Town. This was just like all other days during this trip, absolutely fantastic.

 

The Storm Bridge

The Storm Bridge from another view

Day: 11^th of February

Hi everyone,

The day after our amazing experience at ‘the storm bridge’ we flew to Cape Town. When we arrived at Cape Town we went to get our hired car. This time the car was a bit more expensive and luxurious than before, so we were all very happy and we immediately drove to Boulders B

each. At boulders beach you can watch penguins. That looked very strange to us, penguins in Africa, but there were many penguins today.

The man who knew a lot of the penguins said that we were lucky to see so many at once.

He said we were very lucky because lots of the penguins were laying eggs. But we didn’t it very nice to see, quite grose actually.

After like 10 minutes we were done watching penguins. After this busy day we needed some rest because we would be visiting the Table Mountain.

Penguins at Builders Beach

Even more penguins!

Day: 12^th of February

Hi everyone,

The 12^th of February would be the day we were going to go the Table Mountain. But we first had to drive there, which would approximately take 15 minutes.

The Table Mountain is called the Table Mountain because the top of the mountain is very flat (as you can see at the picture). So because of its flatness it’s called the Table Mountain.

The cableway to the top was very unique because the bottom of the cableway was one great moving plate that moved circles around the middle of the cableway. So, if you stepped in at the right, you could stand at the top at the left.

The Table Mountain is very beautiful but it was windy at the top. We took nice pictures of Cape Town and Robben Island, the island with the museum where we will go tomorrow.

We ate something at the top and went back to the city with the cable car.

The next day we had planned to go to the Robben Island Museum. This is also the prison Nelson Mandela was held for over 20 years.

 

The Table Mountain

A cable car

Day 13, 13^th of February

Hi everyone,

We stood up early today. We went to Robben Island early because we wanted to see the sunrise there. It was

beautiful because we saw the sun rising behind the table mountain.

You can see Robben Island in the picture beneath. With on the background: The Table Mountain. The museum on Robben Island is also the prison where Nelson Mandela was being held for over 20 years. So it is very special to see where Nelson was for a long time. You see his cell on one of the pictures.

It was a very interesting day. We saw places where things happened a lot of years ago.
And also the sunrise was very special to see. It was like a ‘sun on a table’.

The day after that we were going to ‘Cape of good hope’. It was 2 hours driving. But that doesn’t matter because we were really excited.

Robben Island

Nelson Mandela’s cel

Day 14: 14^th of February

Hi everyone,

The 14^th we went to Cape of Good Hope. We were in a hotel in Cape Town, so we had to drive for about two hours.

Cape the good hope is the most south-west place of the continent of Africa. It was the place where the VOC had a fortress which was needed to refresh the food supplies of the ships which were headed to Indonesia.

It was a beautiful view over the mountains. And the wild sea was beautiful breaking into the rocks. You can also make a nice picture at the board on the picture.

And if you see it from a helicopter you have a view like on the right picture.

The day after it we went home from Cape Town. We had the flight at 10 o’clock. That evening we ate in a restaurant and looked back at the trip. We went to bed soon after we got back from the restaurant, because we had to rise early the next day to catch our flight back to Holland.

Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope from above

After the trip

Hi everyone,

During our last morning in South-Africa we were very disappointed and unhappy because we had to leave. We became even sadder because we had some delay, about 2 hours. We got on the plane and around 11 hours later we got off the plane again.

Departing at Cape Town

Back at Schiphol again

All in all we had an amazing time in South-Africa, this was a trip we would remember for the rest of our lives. Especially the feeling of satisfaction while feeding a baby lion in the lion park or the feeling of freedom when we were lying on the beach in Durban. Even though we saw a lot of poorness of the local people and the huge differences between poor and rich we could still enjoy being in South-Africa.

So if you want to go somewhere real nice, but you don’t quite know where to go you should consider going to South-Africa.

Here is a nice video about South-Africa:

If you want some more information about the places we have visited in during our trip, you can use the following links:

http://www.rietvlei-reserve.co.za/

http://ukutula.com/

http://www.goldreefcity.co.za/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.baminternational.com/projects-area/africa/soccer-city-stadium

http://www.ushakamarineworld.co.za/ushaka-beach

http://www.kraggakamma.com/content.asp

http://www.bayworld.co.za/

http://www.tsitsikamma.info/

http://www.capepointroute.co.za/moreinfoOther.php?aID=110

http://tablemountain.net/

http://www.robben-island.org.za/

http://www.capepoint.co.za/

We also gathered some current news for you about South-Africa:

Some woman was attacked by a rhino http://travel.aol.co.uk/2013/01/16/woman-
gored-by-rhino-seconds-after-taking-photo-on-safari-holiday/?

Nelson mandala isn’t ill anymore – http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/26/world/africa/south-africa-
mandela/index.html

Strikes at South-Africa  – http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/01/
20131992357198141.html

Weather Forecast – http://www.gct.com/Trips/2013/Highlights-of-South-Africa-2013/Weather-and-Regional-Info/
Overview/South-Africa/When-To-Go.aspx#tripNav

By: Pascal, Tim, Job and Yannick.