2010 South Africa I
04/22/2010&04/23/2010
Got up at 4:00 am, got everything ready by 4:40, left the house at 4:50 am when Jack (our shuttle driver) came 10 minutes earlier. Picked up Elly at her house, crossed bridge 92 (toll free between 5 and 10 am) and got to SFO at 5:55 am.
SA (South African Airways) flights in the US are operated by UA (United Airlines). We got to Washington D.C. Dulles airport in about 5 hour and 20 minutes, took shuttle to Gate A14 for our SA connecting flight (SA208); Surprisingly, there was no further security check as anticipated.
- Departure was delayed by one hour and 20 minutes due to bad weather or certain unknown situation near north side of Dulles airport.
Flight SA208 from Dulles to Johannesburg stops at DKR (a small airport in Senegal) for one hour to drop off/pick up passengers. Despite our late taking off at Dulles airport (although compensated by strong tail wind), additional delay at DKR, plus yet another delay at JNB (due to aerial thunderstorm - we were close to being diverted to Durban if the weather condition didn't improve), we were actually only late by 35 minutes.
- We experienced the longest (15~20 minutes) continuous turbulence ever, it was not very severe but enough to make us dizzy.
Our Gate1 tour guide (John) met us at JNB airport exit lobby. There were a total of 40 people in the group, some had already arrived, some were waiting at JNB (like us), and some were on their way. On the shuttle to Protea Hotel Wanderers, we saw several accident scenes on the freeway contributed by the severe storm.
Protea Hotel was a 4-star (see photos on Picasa) accommodation that both Anita and I like very much.
Went to bed at 11, woke up at 2 - long wait for breakfast (starts at 6:30).
04/24/2010
The Big Apple Restaurant had one of the best breakfast buffets we ever enjoyed.
Got on our bus at 8:30 to begin Soweto tour. Hector Peterson Memorial Museum and
Buffet dinner was ok, fish & chicken turned out to be the best.
04/25/2010
Heading toward Kruger National Park.
- Failed to relieve myself after nearly 30 minutes trial.
- Our bus left the Protea Hotel at 7:45
- Pit stop at 10:50
- Belfast Township
- Tram alley (forgot which city)
- Pilgrim’s Rest Township
- Kolkgate (Bourke's Luck) Potholes: Junction of rivers Sorrow and Happiness, spectacular view.
- Arrived Protea Hotel Hazyview at 6:00 pm, bigger room, older construction, no central air conditioning, no bathroom mat, and the safe does not work (fixed
by hotel personnel after several tries).
2010 South Africa II
04/26/2010
<Safari Ride in Kruger National Park>
- 10 Persons per car (3x3 rows in the back, plus one next to the driver)
- We were late getting to the parking lot and had to sit in separate cars, Anita sits in the back and I got the front seat, on the same car though.
- Took 30 minutes to reach Park entrance, another 30 minutes for permit
- It was wet and humid, we did not see much in the first 2 hours (2 small deers, several Impalas, some buffalos in the distance, a few zebras, and one elephant behind trees)
- The experience after breakfast was guite different (may be helped by improved weather and better visibility), we saw
- A couple of zebras
- Three adult elephants eating, two actually crossed the road only a few feet from our game drive vehicle, our driver had to maneuver the car to avoid their possible sudden charge. This may be considered the best experience of this morning.
- Four giraffes grazing
- Taking the afternoon easy, explored the hotel garden a bit, a nice garden with great view.
04/27/2010
- Woke up at 2:15, 3:30; 6:00 -->got up
- 6:45 -->Breakfast
- African Flame (a beautiful local flower)
- 9:00 -->Heading toward Kruger National Park Malelane Gate to meet those attending optional morning game drive.
- 11:30-->Stopped over at a shopping mall in Malelane for supplies.
- 12:15-->Heading toward Swaziland
- 1:20-->Left SA, entered Swaziland
- 2:25-->Stopped at roadside stone carving stands
- 3:30->Visit Glass Factory
- 5:06-->Checked in Lugogo Sun Hotel, a 3-star hotel with: no adapter to borrow, no central air, no hair dryer, no convenient restaurant (also it costs ~$20 for dinner buffet), with only one small and old elevator.
- Dinner was taken care with left over and donation from Elly/Jenny.
2010 South Africa III
04/28/2010
- 8:00 -->Left Lugogo Sun Hotel
- 8:30 -->Visited Candle Factory
- 9:20 -->Heading toward Swaziland/SA boarder
- 12:05 -->Arriving Swaziland/SA boarder
- 12:30 -->Entering South Africa
- 12:45 -->Lunch break at 1stop, got a couple of scones for dinner
- 2:40 -->Arrive Hluhluwe Game Reserve
- 2:50 -->Began our second game drive; this is a better experience than the one in Kruger, better weather, better visibility, and better sitting.
- Encountered: Baboons, Rhinos, Buffalos, Zebras, Nyalas, Dong Beetles, Giraffes, and Hyaenas
- Need a better camera (higher zoom capability, better low light sensitivity)
- 6:00 -->End of game drive
- 7:30 -->Check in Elephant Lake Hotel, recently renovated, much of the detail is either missing or poorly crafted, most likely due to poor workmanship, low budget, and/or miss management.
04/29/2010
- 6:45 -->Breakfast, not too many selections
- 8:45 -->Departing Elephant Lake Hotel
- 9:00 -->River cruise (Crocodile, Hippo)
- 10:45 -->Visit local market
- 11:00 -->Heading toward Durban, coastal route
- 1:20 -->Lunch break at Ballito Bay, a resort town. Bought a small bottle red wine and 2 croissants. Had sandwich for lunch.
- 2:40 -->Leaving for Durban International Airport.
- 3:50 -->Arriving Durban International Airport, this airport would be replaced by the new Shaka International Airport and closed permanently in two days (05/01/2010). We had a group check in - John took all passports and took care of everything.
-6:00 -->British Airways flight 6303 taking off.
- 7:55 -->Arriving Cape Town International Airport.
- 9:15 -->Check-in Protea Hotel Victoria Junction, possibly the best for the trip - hairdryer, alarm clock, usable power receptacle, LCD TV, chocolate, very comfortable beds, safe, carpet floor,
04/30/2010
- 5:30 -->Got up, a much better rest
- 8:25 -->Leaving for city tour
- 8:40 -->First stop-Table Mountain
- 10:15 -->Finishing Table Mountain tour, start city tour
- 1:00 -->Back to Protea Hotel, had scone and croissant for lunch.
- 2:30 -->Use hotel Internet (50 RAND for 60 minutes)
- 3:30 -->Explore hotel neighborhood, found KFC and a grocery store. We bought a bottle of Pinotage ($R28), some pastries, and 4 chicken legs from the grocery store (dinner is ready).
- 5:30 -->Nice dinner (inexpensive AND tasty)
2010 South Africa IV
05/01/2010
- 8:30 -->Start Cape Peninsula tour
- 9:10 -->Maiden's Cove
- 10:10 -->Hout (wood timber) Bay
- 11:00 -->Leaving for Cape Point.
- 12:00 -->Entering Cape Point.
- 12:20 -->Start hiking to the lighthouse.
- 2:40 -->Lunch at Seaforth Restaurant, next to the Indian Ocean.
{Large quantity of fish filet and delicious Milba Pudding)
- 3:55 -->Visited Boulder (Penguin habitat and protection center) beach
- 5:30 -->Visit Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden
- 6:30 -->Return to Protea Hotel
- 6:45 -->Got chicken and pizza roll from the "SPAR" grocery. Got coleslaw from KFC, we were going to get another bottle of Pinostage but couldn't because SA law prohibit sale of alcoholic beverage after 5pm during weekends.
05/02/2010
- 8:00 -->Late breakfast, took it easy this morning.
- 11:00 -->Took hotel green shuttle (Hybrid-gasoline and liquid hydrogen)
to Waterfront, the famous pier shopping mall.
1:00 -->Ride ferry to Robben Island.
3:45 -->Ride ferry back to Waterfront, call hotel for green shuttle to take us back to the hotel.
-7:00 -->Farewell dinner.
05/03/2010
- 7:45 -->Breakfast (did not pack any food -:)), same type of food but tastes better, possibly because this is the last meal here.
- 10:00 -->Left the luggages outside the room
- 11:00 -->Leaving for Cape Town International Airport.
- 11:15 -->Process tax refund (R76); had to check-in the luggages as they were both overweight (~10 kg, 8 being the max).
- 1:20 -->Got to boarding gate.
- 1:50-->Flight delayed
- 2:20-->Flight took off (30 minutes delay)
- 4:15 -->Landed at JNB in heavy rain, spent 45 or so minutes trying to get our tax back AND get to the correct gate-> only got R50 after R25 fee. Security check was extremely tight, may have something to do with upcoming 2010 World Soccer Event. We rushed through the airport after the inefficient tax refund process and got to gate A15->boarding pass/passport verification->body search->carry-on bag check->another boarding pass/passport verification->board the plane.
- 5:45-->Taking off on time (flight duration was 8 hours)
- 12:00 (Senegal time)-->Landed at DKR airport->on-board security check to make sure passengers disembarking the plane did not leave anything harmful behind.
-1:30 -->Flight taking off for IAD
- 6:00 -->Arriving IAD. Since instead of SFO, we used IAD as the final destination for our luggages, we had to go through longer (30 minutes more than Elly) and more complicated route:
- Different shuttle-ours was 10 minutes late leaving air walkway,
- Different luggage handling->SFO's were handled with priority.
- Security check - not sure if different procedures were applied but it took us 25 minutes just to clear custom.
- 7:40 -->Arriving at departure gate.
- 8:55 -->Taking off-40 minutes late.
