South Africa and Seychelles Islands

Friday, July 30 – Today was a lazy morning. We finally made it on the road by 10:00 am or so, after having a delicious breakfast. We hit a couple of craft markets and made a few small purchases. We were then off to Hazyview, a town located right outside of Kruger National Park and the place we would be calling home for the next week. We crossed the border back into South Africa with little trouble and otherwise had an uneventful drive to Hazyview. By 3:00 pm or so we had made it to our four bedroom cabana. It was quite big, but a little dated. The grounds of the resort were decent, with 3 pools, a tennis court, spa, coffee shop and bar. Keith and I hit the grocery store to stock up on provisions for the week, made some dinner, had a couple of bottles of wine and called it a night.

Saturday, July 31 – Today we ventured off to the see the sights, other then Kruger National Park, around Hazyview. Since it was a Saturday, we decided to avoid the crowds at Kruger and see what else the area had to offer. We started off by touring the area around Blyde River Canyon. We visited Lisbon Falls, Bourke's Luck Potholes (round holes carved into the rock by whirlpools), Three Rondavels (three huge round rocks with grassy tops that look like giant huts) and God's Window and Wonder View (two view points). Overall the scenery was beautiful. We then ventured off to Pilgrim's Rest,a gold-rush town frozen in time. We ended the day by checking out the various waterfalls around the town of Sabie, including Mac-Mac Falls, Lone Creek Falls and Bridal Veil Falls. Overall it was a packed day filled with many beautiful sights.

Sunday, August 1 – Today we finally ventured off into Kruger National Park. Though we had intended on just stayed a couple of hours, we ended up driving around for a good chunk of the day. Kruger National Park is the size of Wales and Keith and I caught but a glimpse. We did so-so on on gamedrive – spotting impalas, tortoise, elephants, two black rhinos, some kudu, a duiker, waterbuck, vervet monkeys, warthogs and various birds. Not bad for our first day.

Monday, August 2 – Today was day two at Kruger National Park. Though we got a little bit of a late start, we did pretty well on our gamedrive. As an aside, our gamedrives consist of driving around for several hours, sometimes on paved roads, sometimes on unpaved roads, in a car the size of a toaster, hoping to catch a glimpse of an animal. We saw impalas, more elephants, a couple of rhinos (though neither sighting was particularly good), a couple of vervet monkeys, warthogs, zebra, several giraffe, an animal called a steenbok, a crocodile and some blue wildebeest.

Tuesday, August 3 – Today we started off heading towards Nelspruit to go to Jane Goodall's Chimpanzee Eden – a spot where rescued chimpanzee are able to live in semi-wild environment. It was a fantastic experience. Though all of the stories of how the chimpanzees got to be at the Eden were heartbreaking (many of them being addicted to alcohol, cigarettes and even drugs when they arrived), it was wonderful to see them recovered and living in a safe environment. It also was quite educational as we learned that chimpanzees share 98% of their DNA with humans and that chimpanzees are more closely related to humans than they are gorillas. We then headed back to Hazyview for lunch and set off on a late afternoon gamedrive at Kruger. We made a few sightings here and there, but overall it wasn't our best gamedrive.

Wednesday, August 4 – Today was a full day gamedrive and Keith and I successfully saw the Big 5 – rhinos, lions, elephants, leopards and buffalo. Yippee! We were up at 5:00 am and were at the gate shortly after opening at 6:00 am. We had some great sightings in the morning, with the highlight being a beautiful leopard on the prowl. Mid-morning we had another great sighting of two huge male lions ripping apart a recent kill. The sound they made, a deep loud purr, was like nothing I'd ever heard before. The rest of the day went well as we saw more zebras, giraffe and elephants. We finally made it out of the park by 5:30 pm or so – exhausted, but happy that we had seen the Big 5.

Thursday, August 5 – Our previous morning's gamedrive had been so successful that Keith and I decided yet again to rise at 5:00 am to get to the gate by opening. Our sightings were quite as good as the day before, but the highlight was seeing a spotted-hyena nursing her little pup. By noontime we were back at our cabana, in time for us to do laundry, pack our stuff, clean the car and generally get ready for the next leg of our trip.

Friday, August 6 – We were on the road by 8:15 am, bound for Johannesburg. We had a flight at 11:55 pm (yuck) to the Seychelles (yeah). We neared the airport with several hours to kill and found Emperor's Palace – a spot with several hotels, a convention center, a HUGE casino, lots of restaurants, a cinema and a few shops. We managed to kill a few hours there, even catching a movie – Grown-ups – part of which was filmed in my hometown of Southboro! We were then off to the airport. We dropped off our rental car – thankful that we hadn't gotten in any accidents. We had a few more hours of waiting around and then we were off on an overnight flight to the beautiful Seychelles Islands.

Saturday, August 7 - We landed bright and early on the tropical paradise of Mahe – the main island. We were then shuttled over to the jetty where we would be catching an hour long ferry over to the island of Praslin. Praslin was supposed to have some of the most beautiful beaches in all of the Seychelles and be a little less commercial than the island of Mahe. The ferry ride was quite rough and both and Keith and I felt a little seasick. We arrived in Praslin, picked up our rental car and were off to find our accommodations – a small self-catering spot. The roads were something else – narrow, steep, hairpin turns and no shoulders to speak off – if you go off the road, you end up in a deep ditch – all that aside, the drive to our spot was spectacular as we caught a glimpse here and a glimpse there of the beautiful coastline. After checking in, we headed out to grab some provisions – sadly the groceries stores left a lot lacking, but at least they had wine! Keith and I were both exhausted as neither of us had been able to sleep on the plane the night before and even before it was dark out, we were both fast asleep.

Sunday, August 8 – Today we went exploring around the island of Praslin. We drove out to the furthest spot on northern side of the island to the Anse Lazio – a breathtakingly beautiful beach with white powdery sand, huge granite rocks on either end and the most gorgeous turquoise blue water. Apparently it is often called the most beautiful beaches in all of the Seychelles and it did not disappoint. After basking in the sun for a bit, we then headed to another area called Cote d'Or. We relaxed on another beautiful beach called Anse Volbert and took a stroll along the length of it. After enjoying a gelato, we headed home, crossing through the impressive Praslin National Park.

Monday, August 9 - Today we ventured off to the island of La Digue. It was a short 30 minute ferry ride to the small island where the primary mode of transportation is bicycle. There are a handful of cars and still a couple of ox-carts to shuttle people around the island. Joining in with the crowd, Keith and I rented bikes for the day. We set off in search of beautiful beaches. We headed into L'Union Estate, an old coconut plantation which housed several large tortoises, oxen grinding coconuts to produce oil and most of all gorgeous beaches. The water and the coral was incredible and there was cove after cove of beautiful beaches, each separated by huge granite boulders. It was truly breathtaking. After basking in the sun for a bit, we headed back into town and grabbed some lunch. We then bicycled towards the other side of the island, stopping at various beaches along the way. La Digue had the charm of St. John, the remoteness of Viques and the landscape of Virgin Gorda. By 4:30 pm we were headed back on the ferry to Praslin, after having spent a wonderful day exploring the island of La Digue.

Tuesday, August 10 – Today we were up bright an early and headed to Anse Lazio. We were there early enough that we were able to have the beach completely to ourselves for an hour or so. We took a small hike along the coast, where we discovered several beautiful coves. We enjoyed the beach and the water for a couple of hours and then headed back over to Cote d'Or and Anse Volbert. We relaxed on the beach and had a delicious lunch. We then headed back home for a quick change and were then off to the Praslin National Park and the Vallee de Mai. The Vallee de Mai is a World Heritage Site and we spent an hour or so wandering around the impressive Park. The Vallee de Mai is filled with HUGE palm tree that grow coco de mer, the largest nut in the world. The female nuts can grow as large as 20 kg (40 plus pounds) and resemble the thighs and belly of a woman. It takes 7 years for the fruit to ripen. It was great way to spend the rest of the day.