2013 South Africa
This three-week trip to South Africa would be the first time Gail would travel to South Africa and experience the place where I grew up and attend my niece’s wedding. It would also be Gail’s first experience to drive on the “wrong” side of the road!
The flight from the JFK to Johannesburg is 23 hours, with one stop to refuel without deplaning in Isle de Sol – Cape Verde which is approximately 350 miles off the coast of Senegal. Once we cleared customs, we caught our SAA flight to Cape Town which is where we began out 3-week vacation. We rented a car and checked in to 5-star condo. The Peninsula, with its fantastic ocean view and behind it, was Table Mountain. What a beautiful City! We were blessed with great weather and spent four days driving around exploring Table Mountain, Cape Town, Kirstenbosch Gardens, Stellenbosch for some wine tasting and the incredible automobile museum in Fanschook.
We then caught a flight from Cape Town up to Durban, where we spent the next two-weeks with family and friends attending the wedding and visiting Tala Game Reserve, St Lucia and Umfolozi Game Reserve before returning home to the USA.
Once in the part of South Africa that I grew up in, we had the time to explore parts of Kwa Zulu Natal, Durban/Hillcrest, Pietermaritzburg, Richmond in the Natal Midlands where we attended Boarding School at Richmond Primary School. Tala Game Reserve was a fantastic location for Gail to be acquainted with some of Africa’s wildlife, and most certainly or visit to the SANS Park’s Umfolozi Game Reserve would be the “real thing” and much larger. The other part of being back home after many years was visit with family, of course, and see old friends, plus indulge into the local food again like Biltong, Curry, Bunny Chow’s, plus many homemade Braai’s/ BBQ’s and restaurants.
Spionkop Lodge, Umfolozi Game Reserve and St Lucia
