Our First Trip to Africa

Our First Trip to Africa

This post provides an overview our of first trip to Africa including the process we used to find an agent to help us plan our trip. Subsequent posts will provide more details.

This trip was a journey of over 23,000 miles with 11 air flights.

I’ve wanted to visit Africa for years, however, Mona was staunchly against such a trip so I thought it would never be. However, recently, several friends convinced us that visiting South Africa would be the trip of a lifetime, but now, figuring out how to make that trip come true seemed daunting.  Nevertheless, I did what I normally do: research on the Internet and talk to others who have gone there. Through my research I landed on three companies (Kensington Tours, Africa Travel Resources and Africa Direct, USA) that had great reviews and which seemed to have reasonable prices.

I then sent emails to each of the three companies giving them the general parameters of our trip (length of trip, budget, definite sites we wanted to see, etc.) and asked them to reply with proposals. Each replied with good proposals and I evaluated them based upon how well they seemed to meet our criteria along with how well they seemed aligned with us. We ended up choosing Africa Direct USA. Our contact there was Diane.

We worked with Diane over the next few months to tailor our trip to get the most bang for our dollar and to explore as much as we could in our timeframe (two weeks). Diane was extremely patient with us, answering all of our questions in detail, and seemed to know what we wanted without even asking. We booked the trip and then waited over a year to go.  Finally, it happened!

We flew into Johannesburg and stayed at the City Lodge OR Tambo for two nights. We were originally scheduled for only one night, but using frequent flyer miles restricted our flights so we stayed two. That worked out well as it allowed us to book a private tour of Soweto Township with Kwathlano.  There we visited the Regina Mundi Church, the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Nelson Mandela’s home. This was a very moving and emotional tour and it gave us a much deeper insight into South Africa’s past. Our guide was Herby Prinsloo and he was very patient with us; answering all our questions and taking us wherever we wished to go.

MNM in Soweto

The next day we flew to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Getting through immigration was a challenge as the process was very slow and virtually all manual. It took us so long that we were late for our first excursion. We FINALLY got through immigration and checked into Victoria Falls Safari Lodge. This is a great place to stay, especially because it’s located above a watering hole and you can see lots of wildlife down there!

Victoria Safari Lodge – Looking at the watering hole from the deck.

As I said, we were late for our first excursion – Victoria Falls with Wild Horizons. Wild Horizons was very understanding and they sent a driver to give us a personal tour of the falls…amazing! After touring the wonderful falls we went on a Sunset River Cruise with Wild Horizons. This is a great cruise with lots of opportunity to see wildlife. Our day ended with dinner at The Boma. This is an African-stye BBQ with lots of great food, dancers, singers and lots of fun. What a way to top an incredible day!

The incredible Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Sunset over the Zambezi River, Zimbabwe
Dancers at our Boma Dinner

The next day we boarded a Wild Horizons bus for a day tour of Chobe National Park in Botswana. The crossing from Zimbwabe into Botswana was quick and easy and in no time we were on a boat cruising the Chobe River. We saw an incredible amount of wildlife including elephants, hippos, water buffalo, crocs, and so much more. We even got to get close up views of the elephants swimming across the Chobe River. AMAZING!

Elephant swimming across the Chobe River, Botswana.

The afternoon was filled with a game drive in a Land Cruiser through Chobe National Park. Once again, we got to see lots and lots of animals, many of them up close and personal. What an amazing day!

Waiting for Elephants to cross. Chobe National Park, Botswana

Wild Horizons took great care of us and responded well to the hiccups in our itinerary. I highly recommend them.

The next day we flew to Cape Town and checked into the Derwent House Boutique Hotel. We spent four days here and I must say that it’s one of the best hotel experiences we’ve ever had! The staff was always “on-point” and there to help us in every way. The decor was a cozy African-eclectic and we felt so at home here. And the breakfasts…I looked forward to the specials every day! The Derwent House is also within walking distance from Kloof Street with all its shopping and dining opportunities. This hotel has my highest recommendation!

Our check-in experience at the amazing Derwent House Boutique Hotel.

Next, we had a full day custom tour with Beautiful Cape Town Tours.  Our guide was Rob and he began by talking to us for about 30 minutes to get a clear idea of what would constitute our ideal tour. Then we set our for our first destination: Kalk Bay, where we met local fisherwomen and learned more about how they earn their livelihood. Then off to Boulder Beach where we got to see penguins in the wild and learn about their plight. We wrapped up the day with a visit to Original T-Bags. Here we met incredible women who have climbed out of poverty by doing creative things with used Tea Bags. Amazing! Throughout the day, Rob gave us information about South African history, the penguins and the beautiful landscape. He truly is a fount of South African knowledge. What an incredible day!

African penguin at Boulder Beach, Cape Town, South Africa.

Next up was a tour of Langa Township with Wandile of Vamos Township Tours. This was an incredible walking tour of Langa Township where we met many people who lived there and visited some of their homes. We also got the joy of visiting the iThuba and Happy Feet Projects where they are working to get the children a good education and to help keep them off the streets. This is a moving and very emotional tour. We were amazed that so many people live this way and at the same time we were amazed at their happiness and hope. This is a visit that more Americans should take so they can better understand the issues faced by South Africans today.

Happy Feet Dancers at Langa Township, South Africa

We did two more cooking-related things in Cape Town: 1. Malay cooking lessons with Lekka Kombius where we went shopping with our cook, Gamidah, and then cooked a meal for 7. Great fun and lots of insight into the Malay history of Cape Town. 2. Dinner at Mzansi. This took us back into Langa into a private home for a home-cooked dinner. The dinner was buffet-style and was delicious with lots of selections and generous portions.  Our favorite part of dinner was talking with Momma, the owner. She was incredibly gracious and told us the story of how she came to offer meals in her home. This restaurant is rightly rated as #1 in Cape Town on TripAdvisor!

Our delicious buffet at Mzansi! Langa Township, Cape Town, South Africa

We absolutely loved Cape Town but it was finally time to say good bye to Derwent House and head to our safaris. We flew to Hoedspruit, South Africa and were met by a driver who took us to our first game lodge: Simbavati Hilltop Lodge.

Simbavati Hilltop Lodge is a wonderment! We stayed in tent-rooms which were two tents, one for the bedroom and one for the bathroom. These were luxurious tents! The staff here is incredible and cater to your every need.  It seemed as though they were constantly feeding us! We had two game drives per day: one starting before sunrise and the other starting an hour before sunset. These drives were INCREDIBLE! We saw the big five and so much more! We even saw wild dogs two of the three days. For the second time in a trip, I give Simbavati Hilltop Lodge my highest recommendation!

We saw this leopard while on a safari with Simbavati Hilltop Lodge, South Africa.

After three days it was time to move on…this time with a drive to Elephant Plains Game Lodge. Here we were lodged in an individual spacious cabin with a huge veranda that was perfect for watching wildlife. Once again, we we enjoyed wonderful food, excellent service and incredible game drives. Plus, we had a game walk each afternoon where we followed our armed guide into the bush! Thrilling and heart-pounding! Once again, we saw the big five and so much more! And for the third time in one trip I give Elephant Plains Game Lodge my highest recommendation! What an incredible experience!

Sleeping rhino – spotted on safari from Elephant Plains Game Lodge, South Africa.

This post is lengthy, but I wanted to give you an idea of what you can do with two weeks in South Africa. It was definitely a complex itinerary, but at no time did we feel rushed. I attribute that to Dianne at Africa Direct USA.  She did all the inter-Africa bookings, transfers, the flights…everything!  Even though we book all our other trips on our own, there is no way we could possibly have put this together in such a seamless way. Diane built us a personalized and beautiful web site that laid out our itinerary in an easy-to-follow format. Not only that, but she provided us an app that had our full itinerary on it which didn’t require a network or Wifi to view it. This was invaluable! She also took care of our travel insurance and provided us with a list of contacts throughout South Africa in case something went wrong.

There is so much more information that we want to share. So, as I said earlier, in the future, we will be writing detailed posts on our experiences in Africa. We hope you’re looking forward to reading them as much as we’re looking forward to writing them.

We loved our initiation to South Africa and can’t wait to go again.  I hope all this is helpful to anyone planning a similar trip. I also have posted detailed TripAdvisor reviews of everything mentioned in this report. (Our TripAdvisor name is MNM1011.)  Check them out if you want more details! One final note: At no time did we feel unsafe.  We visited two townships and were on 15 safari expeditions and we always felt safe.

Two of a pride of nine lions we saw on safari with Elephant Plains Game Lodge, South Africa

Happy travels, and we hope we added a little inspiration for you to visit Africa, especially South Africa!

References:

Note: None of the companies referenced in this post are our sponsors, nor have we received any compensation for mentioning them.  We simply think they’re great!

Africa Direct, USA: http://africadirect.us

Derwent House Boutique Hotel: http://www.derwenthouse.co.za

Simbavati Hilltop Lodge: Simbavati

Elephant Plains Game Lodge: Elephant Plains

Wild Horizons Tours: http://www.wildhorizons.co.za

10Comments
  • Kathy/ 05.11.2018

    Loved your write-up and the photos are outstanding! What a great trip and adventure…I’m so envious!

    • MNM/ 06.11.2018

      Thanks for the kind comments! Hopefully, you will get the chance to go, too!

  • Ellen/ 06.11.2018

    Your photos look as good as Howard Buffet’s. I hope you have some of them reprinted in a photo book or canvas. They are amazing. Now I have to go check my dictionary for a word I don’t ever remember seeing.

    • MNM/ 06.11.2018

      Thank you for your comment about our photos! We are indeed putting together a book and many more will be featured in future blog posts. What’s the word?

  • Kathleen/ 06.11.2018

    Try kenya next Kenya airways has just started flying New York to Nairobi direct. Visit Governors camp Masai mara home of the big cats can highly recommend x

    • MNM/ 06.11.2018

      Thanks for the tip, Kathleen! I would love to fly direct and will definitely look into your recommendations!

      • Kathleen/ 06.11.2018

        My husband and I have been many times Pollmans safari and Somak both good to deal with and the Kenyans are wonderful people always felt safe in their country.

        • MNM/ 06.11.2018

          Great to know!

  • Robin/ 12.11.2018

    Amazing!! This along with the FB posts makes me want to go!

    • MNM/ 13.11.2018

      Thanks! Every time we re-look at our pictures we get the yearning to go back!