Day 7 - Morning in St Lucia and return to Durban airport

November 16th was a wet and windy day in Kwa Zulu Natal province so the first thing we did was take Dan, Jennifer, Beth & Rebecca to a beach so they could put their feet in the Indian Ocean. You can see them racing back to the van! We then went back to Whalesong so they could take warm showers and we could have a delicious breakfast. We had a 10 am Hippo-Croc boat tour scheduled but when we got down to the jetty to board at 9:30 we were informed it was cancelled due to high winds (70 kph or 45 mph). So we looked around a bit and saw about 10 hippos from a bridge and then left for the airport. We stopped in Mtunzini for lunch at the Fat Cat which has delicious food. We got to the airport and shopped around after checking in. We were picked up by Abram and taken to Dukes Court - this time the kids had flat 119 which gave us all a little more room.

Hippos in the water

Mtunzini - the gray line is the ocean

Chicken Curry 

Racing back from the Indian ocean

No swimming today!

Day 6 Safari Adventure to Hluhluwe

Beth, Dave, Cherrie, Rebecca, Dan & Jennifer

Jon Burke, a former ranger, picked us up at Whalesong B&B at 5am to drive us to Hluhluwe - Umfolozi National Park - the oldest game park in Africa (and the world!). Hluhluwe is pronounced like shooshooway. We enjoyed the drive past modern Zulu villages arriving about 6 am on a misty day. After having a break with rusks and a hot drink (malted drink - sort of like hot chocolate) while Jon was paying for our entry we drove to the Imfolozi part of the park first. It was misty so some of photos aren't very clear. Usually when it rains, the animals go into hiding as they want to stay warm and dry like we do, but we managed to see 3 of the Big 5 and many other animals. What we like most about this park is how truly healthy and beautiful the animals appear. It was a good day and our kids really enjoyed seeing real African animals in the bush! Of course Dave and Cherrie always love to visit the animals anytime! Jon is our favorite guide since we have been here in SA.
The photos are not in the order in which they were taken as I struggle to get them to come out right.

Babboon

Jon cooking for our Braii lunch

Malva Pudding, made by Jon's wife - the best in SA!

Braii: curry pasta and potato salads, cheese wors and pork steak

Cape Buffalo

Old elephant

Ele in the rain - Jon "called" them to us

Looking over the bush

Impala Lily - we came the right time to see these beauties!

Giraffe

Impala mother with very young lamb

Female Nyalas

Male Nyala 

Large herd of Rhinoceros

Rhinos that came to say goodbye as we left the park

Cute baby warthogs. They were so cute to watch run around!

Zebra

Day 5 Leaving Cape Town and arrival in St Lucia

On Tuesday (14th) we drove through heavy traffic to the Cape Town airport and flew to Durban where we rented a van and drove 2 1/2 hours to St Lucia, After checking into our B&B, Whalesong, we drove to the beach, the estuary with its boardwalk and into the bush where we saw zebra & impala. Since we could get out of the van, our 4 visitors were excited to get close to the animals.

Cape Town Airport shop sign

First sighting of African animals!

Zebra & Impala

Beaach Sign - note the cautions!

Rebecca, Beth & Dan with Indian Ocean in background

Estuary with cautions - no swimming due to crocs (and other animals)

Family Tree

Estuary boardwalk with cautions!

Day 4 - Kirstenbosch Gardens & Cape Town

Monday, the 13th, we drove to Kirstenbosch Gardens - a really spectacular botanical garden. We've never seen a botanical garden to match it! We enjoyed walking for over 2 hours through the gardens and could have happily spent all day there. It was a little cool with some low clouds (the garden is the back side of Table Mountain so gets the mountain clouds) and even a few sprinkles now and then. We took the lovely and stable canopy walk, saw many parts of the garden, but spent most o the time with the proteas and fynbos gardens.

Mandela Bird of Paradise

Canopy Walk with Rebecca, Cherrie, Jennifer, Dan & Beth

Dan & Jennifer on Canopy walk

Pincushion flower - a protea family flower

Protea

Cherrie with a Protea, a favorite flower

Old building

Old part of Cape Town with a Red Bus, see the Dutch style small building

Old part of Cape Town

Cape Town was our next stop where we got on the Red Bus tour to take us to the old area of the town. We caught a "local" red bus tour for old Cape Town. Rebecca & Beth got off to see the District 6 Museum and then Dan & Jennifer got off to see the Cape Castle. Since we were a little tired we stayed on and got back to the main area of old town where we had lunch. We then hopped on the red bus to follow the path we had gone on Saturday before returning to the harbor area. It was a good day.

Back side of Lions Head from Beach

Nobel Square in harbor area

Nobel Square

Old Clock tower in Harbor area

Rebecca & Beth in front of Christmas Tree - Victoria & Alfred Wharf Mall

Some of the gardens in Kirstenbosch

Day 3 Church, Penguins and Light houses

Us at the Cape of Good Hope

Sunday morning, November 12th we drove to Fish Hoek ward building to go to Church. After that we went back to Simon's Town to Boulder Beach to see the penguin colony there. We then went back to our accommodation, Penguinden about 5 minutes form the beach to change before going to Cape Point part of the Table mountain National Park. We drove through the fynbos plants and up to the light house area at Cape Point. We took the funicular to the highest point it went and then most of the family walked the remaining stairs to the old light house while Cherrie stayed below and looked at the various scenery from a lower point. After the hiking to the 2 light houses, Dan & Jennifer, Beth and Rebecca hiked to the Cape of Good Hope with a stop on the beach while we drove around to pick them up.  It was a beautiful area to visit. On the way back to Simon's Town we saw an eland and also the Dias'Cross to show he had once been there.

Us in front of the Fish Hoek ward building

Boulders Beach Penguin Colony

Penguins!!!

Dan with a penguin

More Penguins!!!

Us below of Cape Point Lighthouse

Cape of Good Hope

Eland

Ostrich and Ocean

Baboon in park