South Africa

Click here to see more pictures and learn more about the amazing city of Cape Town

If you’ve ever talked with someone who’s been to Cape Town they will probably tell you the same thing that we feel…it’s our favorite city anywhere in the world.  It’s a little like San Francisco but much smaller, easier to get around, and the people are, well, they are not from CA.

While we were in Cape Town we went to Robbin Island (where Nelson Mandela was jailed for 18 years),  sky diving, swam with great white sharks (a bit of a drive), raced indoor go carts, went ATV riding on the hillside, hiked up the famous Table Mountain, and were supposed to learn how to kite board but couldn’t because the waves were too high.

While Petra is our #1 must see place in the world, South Africa and Cape Town is our close 2nd.

We highly recommend you on the link above to learn more about our adventures in and around Cape Town.

Click here to see pictures of our trip to the Cape of Good Hope.

The Cape of Good Hope at the Southern Point south of Cape Town may sound boring, but it’s not.  It’s part of a huge national park and the views from the cliffs that make up the park are breathtaking.

You can hike for hours at the park and never be board.

And of course you can get your picture taken in front of the Cape of Good Hope sign and again at the end of the path overlooking the lighthouse. (they also have a nice gift shop at the park with all sorts of items you’ll want to buy as mementos of your trip).

Along the way might run into a pack of Chacma Baboons (look but don’t touch or feed).

Also, on your way to or from the Cape, make sure you stop at Boulder Beach in Simon’s town and see the African penguins (there is a penguin park on the beach you can walk around to view the penguins.

Finally, when you take Chapman’s Peak Drive on the way to or from the Cape. It takes more time but the drive hugs the coast and has unbelievable views (caution though, it might remind you a little of the Road to Hana in Maui (bring a couple of dollars for the tolls)).

Click here to see several more pictures from our safari.

There are advertisements for safaris all over SA. You have many choices. Because we had no idea what we were doing, we just went wherever the travel agents books us to go. We were not disappointed that we ended up in Hoedspruit.

There are many different lodges in Hoedspruit. We’ve been to two of them (dad with daughter one year and son another).

If your idea of a good safari includes seeing the big five (lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo), as well as seeing giraffe, kudo, warthogs, hippos, zebras, impalas and more, then this is the place for you.

We even got out of the open air truck and literally walked around with cheetahs and several times we were lucky enough to have a heard of elephants walk right by use (literally scraping the side of the Range Rover)

While we would tell you that Petra should be at the top of your bucket list, going on safari is an equally amazing but different experience. Safariing is the most exciting thing we’ve ever done (we literally were 20 feet from a lion eating a baby giraffe).