When we plan a holiday to a new place, we research it and work out the places we want to visit and how long we want in each place.
We are going to start our trip in Beijing. There is a lot to Beijings history and plenty of historical sites we want to see, a culture we want to experience, enjoy and learn about….
So I will share with you our research…hopefully you too will be inspired to visit this intriguing country and see the sites which interest you.….
A brief history of Beijing – as I understand it…
Beijing became the capital of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. It is a city with over 3,000 years of history. It has evolved from the ancient states of Yan and Ji to the capital of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. As the political, cultural, and scientific hub of China, it boasts landmarks like the Forbidden City and served as a crucial strategic location against northern nomadic tribes.
In prehistoric times the area around Beijing was inhabited by some of the earliest-known human beings. Beijing was home to the ~500,000-year-old “Peking man” fossils. It served as the capital of the State of Yan between 7th Century BC – 221 BC.
The 10th- 14th Centuries were known as The Imperial Rise The Khitan (Liao) and Jurchen (Jin) dynasties made the city a regional capital.
Between 1271-1368 the Yuan Dynasty in which Kublai Khan established his capital, Dadu, marking the first time all of China was ruled from this location.
Ming (1368–1644) & Qing (1644–1912), renamed Beijing in 1403. At this time it became the established capital, with many famous landmarks like the Forbidden City built during this time.
During the early Republic and Japanese occupation (1937–1945), Beijing officially became the capital of the People’s Republic of China on October 1st 1949.
The city was designed around strict geomantic principles, resulting in a grid system with the Forbidden City at its heart.
The Qing Dynasty expanded the city, adding significant structural, social, and military components, such as the division between the Inner and Outer cities.
Beijing transformed into a massive, modern metropolis following 1949 and after the 2008 Olympics while it still tries to balance its ancient history with modern architecture.
The sites we want to see and the experiences we want to have in and around Beijing are :
THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA –
The Great Wall of China is located roughly 60–130 kilometers (35–80 miles) from central Beijing, with popular sections like Badaling and Mutianyu reachable in about 1.5 to 2 hours by car or train. The Mutianyu Section is known for being less crowded. A round-trip cable car ticket is roughly 140 CNY (£15). The cable car takes you to Tower 14, and you can also purchase a popular chair lift up and a toboggan ride down from the wall.
Historically, the Great Wall of China was built to fortify China’s northern border. The Great Wall has been the site of multiple battles and skirmishes between the Chinese and various peoples across history, including the Xiongnu during the Qin Dynasty the Khitans during the Song Dynasty and the Moguls during the Ming Dynasty .
The total length of all sections of the Great Wall of China adds up to about 21,196 kilometers (13,171 miles), including overlapping sections that were rebuilt. The wall constructed during the Ming Dynasty the most well-preserved section, is about 8,850 kilometers (5,499 miles) long.
We will continue to show you our research of more places we intend to visit in Beijing in forthcoming days…
Still planning this trip…..we have brought it all forward a week….because 1-7th October are a Chinese holiday and the information we’ve received says it would be incredibly busy …so best to steer clear of National Day…sometimes called Golden Week.
At present we are awaiting quotes on having a driver and tour guide for all the parts I’ve costed with Viator. It could work out much cheaper and give us greater flexibility……more of that when the quotes are in and I can finalise the itinerary.
We are beginning to put together ideas for our 2026 holidays. We are off to Scotland in May for 3 weeks and we are also fitting in other UK based breaks as well as nipping over to Spain to see family. However our main overseas holiday this year is a toss up between China and Egypt…but our thoughts are that we will do China later this year and Egypt next year ( because we’ve been to Egypt before). We have never been to China and there are certain sights we want to see.
Like every place in the world people will say “Why didn’t you go to see” this or that…. Well my answer is that you sometimes just want to see what you want to see!!!!!
We’ve put the package we want to do together… and I’ve now emailed it to Maisie Morton at DialAFlight…(+441618418179. Maisie.morton@dialaflight.co.uk) to see if she can work her magic on it. I want to bring it down further in price which I can do by changing hotels and breaking some tours down…but at the moment I have put the skeleton together with some meat on the bones to give us an idea of what we want to do and see…….one of our main reasons for going is to see Giant Pandas and also the Terracotta Army and the Great Wall of China.
26/09/26 meant to read with local family meal !!!!!!………… we did something similar in India a few years ago and it was a lovely experience….
I’ll let you see what Maisie has to say and what we decide on.
Well! actually I’ll stat on Day 2 evening. We had an absolutely splendid meal at The Royal Oak HillTops, Beaulieu…. It’s a quaint, quirky pub/ restaurant.
On arriving we were greeted warmly by the lady who both waitresses and ran the bar. She seated us at a really nice table, gave us menus and pointed out the specials board. I took a photo of the specials board…a little trick my sister taught me to save everyone getting up to look…..
The menu was extensive and there was nothing on it or the specials board which cost more than £19.99…..what a pleasure so many places now charge the earth for just mediocre food. We all found something we fancied. I had the pheasant from the specials board. It was absolutely delicious, the mash was properly freshly home cooked and the pheasants breast very tasty and tender…pheasant legs are always more for decoration than eating and this one was no exception it had obviously walked a long way 🤣…a perfect meal leaving some wonderful tastes in my mouth …yummmy
Dad had his favourite Sea Bass with smashed potatoes and samphire, followed by ice cream.
John had Beef cooked in Guinness with a dumpling, parsnips, mash and carrots…followed by a large ice cream.
An absolutely great meal, with superb service…even with drinks the bill was only £81.00, very reasonable for what we had…needless to say we’ve booked again for tonight. It is only a 10 minute drive from our hotel.
Day 3
We started the day with a very similar continental breakfast to the previous day. The only difference was I asked them to make the coffee much stronger…this time at least I could taste that it was coffee…scoring it 6/10, John gave it a 7/10 and Dad a 5/10…. To be honest the beans blend was not too our liking they were very bitter…we prefer pure Costa Rica coffee beans which is strong, powerful and doesn’t leave you with a bitter taste like cheaper coffee beans and blends do …..yes we are coffee snobs🤣🤣
We set off to Hythe Marina, another favourite haunt of ours and one which Mum and Dad introduced us too. On the way we saw a couple of deer.
On arriving at The Marina John and I got out of the car and I took a very bracing walk along the promenade…..it was bitter and I had to jog back fearing that my watering eyes might freeze on my cheeks….
John took a variety of pictures ..
Dad very sensibly stayed in the car…it was 1 degrees Celsius….a tad chilly.
We carried on to Calshot …another favourite “walk down memory lane” for me….when I was 18 I had spent three weeks at the activity centre before going off to college. The first week I had been taught the basic skills in a variety of activities..cycling in a velodrome, skiing on a dry ski slope, rock climbing on a wall, canoeing/kayaking, skating etc…then the following two weeks I had been a carer/ mentor/ coach and general dogs body for 2 different groups of disabled children….i still remember my fear as I taught a blind boy to rock climbing and took a wheelchair bound girl in a sledge down the ski slope, they loved it but I was petrified …I bottled the velodrome because I couldn’t peddle fast enough to stop the bike slipping down the wall, I’ve never been any good on a bike….but I was a superstar on the skates safely taking my protégés around and I managed the kayaks without drowning anyone🤣🤣🤣 They were days I shall always remember with immense fondness and consequently Calshot spit holds a special place in my heart…..but today it was cold and inhospitable and non of us ventured out of the car.
Driving back along the Spit we saw an egret in the stream
We drove back along the Lepe waterfront, past the lighthouse.
Having picked up petrol and sandwiches we headed for Horseshoe Bottom carpark. Today we had all the correct components to make coffee. We ate our sandwiches in the car, snug and warm, while watching the ponies, dog walkers, riders and generally just enjoying my mums special place and a little Robin kept us entertained …
After a nice relaxation, people, pony and robin watching we headed on towards Nomansland…another quirky village at the edge of the forest. We past by many New Forest Ponies and some Shetland Ponies and of course the off spring of The Grey Stallion.
It’s a lot more foresty than moorland on this side of the forest.
Whilst going through one of the picturesque villages we came across a group of donkeys…they are the first we have seen this trip. This is unusual as we usually see a lot. But we are later visiting this year and during the winter many of them are taken into farms for protection.
We were just commenting that we were unlikely to see any free roaming pigs at this time of year, because the pannage was over – that is when the pigs are let out free roaming so they can eat the acorns which are poisonous to the ponies – Then suddenly walking down the edge of the road was a massive pig…
Wow! now the only thing we haven’t seen, which we usually do is free roaming cows…We headed back to our hotel. Parking up we were about to return to our rooms when we caught sight of 4/5 cows just coming out of the wooded area opposite the hotel…
…Our checklist was complete…we can rest up in peace. This evening we are going back to the Royal Oak, I’ll blog about it tomorrow. Tomorrow we are returning home…it is also our 11th Wedding Anniversary…
Several years ago we came across this absolute gem of a Game Lodge…….it was Johns first time on Safari and I really wanted him to fall in love with the bush. I couldn’t have chosen better….
Masodini Private Game Lodge is ideally located in the 40 000-hectare Balule Nature Reserve. It is situated in the Greater Kruger National Park, and offers visitors a true feeling of Africa. It is in a Big 5 Conservation area. It is a bush lover’s paradise and the lodge is surrounded by fever trees and evergreen African date palms which create a perfect oasis. Guests of the lodge can immerse themselves in the untamed beauty of the African landscape while enjoying superb amenities and fantastic service.
The camp overlooks the waterhole it is safe and fenced-in, providing protection against unwanted animal intruders. This was the view from our chalet veranda.
We could have opted for game walks but we preferred to enjoy game drives with an experienced ranger…..there were wonderful birding opportunities as well as getting up close and personal to a range of wildlife…..
Our evenings were spent enjoying the company of the other guests, eating superb food and watching the semi tame, shy bush babies come and go…all of which took place in the boma.
We had dinner bed and breakfast, now their package is Full board + 2 game drives a day….during the day we sat on the viewing platform watching wildlife come and go at the water hole or we went out and visited a local attraction.
There are so many places to visit using Masodini/ Zazu as your base, such as the Kruger National Park, Khamai Reptile Park, Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre, the Cheetah Project, the Panorama Route and local villages to name a few. We visited the Cheetah Project and on another day we went to the Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre….and we still managed to fit in the morning and sunset drives at Masodini.
All accommodation is in private, secluded and elegantly furnished chalets. Since our visit all the chalets/suites and communal areas have been upgraded and the Safari vehicle has also been replaced, its name has changed to Zazu. However …when we stayed it was all very nice indeed…we can only imagine that the upgrades will have made it even more magical… Masodini is both private and intimate, the staff provide guests with a very warm welcome all guests can use the camp facilities. They only have a maximum of 14 guests at a time, which makes it feel very exclusive.The accommodation was really nice with a traditional African theme ….
Our visit was perfect….the price per night for full board including two game drives a day is:
RACK RATES
FEB ’25 TO JAN ‘26
Adult Rate PPS R5 900.00
13 years and under R3 540.00
3 years and under R1 770.00
Single Adult Rate R8 850.00
FEB ’26 TO JAN ‘27
Adult Rate PPS R6 400.00
13 years and under R3 840.00
3 years and under R1 920.00
Single Adult Rate R9 600.00
Prices can of course occasionally fluctuate when circumstances beyond the lodges control occur…..but this is a guideline to help with holiday budgeting.
……for something so private and so personal with a maximum capacity of 14 guests, this is a superb price ….we loved it and sometime in the near future we will be returning ….
What Zazu Private Bush Lodge has to offer…
Chalet-Style Accommodations and Privacy
• Zazu Private Bush Lodge offers 5 Individual Chalets, of which, 2 are Family Chalets (accommodating four guests), and 3 are Double Chalets (ideal for two guests). Each chalet ensures privacy, surrounded by the natural beauty of the African bush.
Family-Friendly Experiences
• At Zazu Private Bush Lodge, they pride themselves on creating a family-friendly environment. They welcome children and offer safaris where children can join Big 5 game drives when accompanied by a parent.
Included Experiences
• Enjoy 2 game drives per day and the freedom to explore the bush in a Big Five reserve, all while guided by expert rangers.
• Venture outside of the fence line on a guided daytime bush walk to track wildlife and discover the hidden wonders of the bush.
• Full-Board Dining: Indulge in an English breakfast, lunch, and a three-course dinner prepared by Chef Bianca, served around the campfire or on our scenic viewing terrace.
• Zazu offers excursions and outings into the surrounding areas allowing guests to experience all that Limpopo has to offer, including the famous Kruger National Park.
Additional Details
• Conservation Fee: A once-off fee of R115 per vehicle and R285 per person applies at the gate. (subject to changes by the reserve)
• Check-In: 2:00 PM | Check-Out: 10:00 AM (flexible by arrangement).
For more information, please contact the bookings team:
Email: bookings@Zazubushlodge.co.za Call or WhatsApp: +27 73 187 0882
This definitely is “A piece of paradise”….a little bit of heaven which has fallen to earth….if this falls within your budget we totally and thoroughly recommend staying here…be spoilt, be pampered and enjoy a real safari experience…thank you Masodini….you hooked my husband on the African bush.
Pestana Lodge Hotel, Malalani Gate KrugerNational Park.- The price of Bed and Breakfast in a deluxe room is about £120.00 for 2. This is far more a hotel than our other two recommendations. It is superbly situated within a 2 minute drive of Krugers Malalane gate. The deluxe rooms all over look the river, bridge and the far banks of the river are in Kruger …
View from our deluxe room balcony.
The restaurant is mediocre…in that the buffets are like most places luke warm and unappetising. However the A La carte menu was very reasonably priced and the food was pleasant enough…it’s the deluxe room view and the convenience to Kruger which makes this a good place to stay….we will use it again…just remember not to go for the £30 a night cheaper option of £90 because your room could end up overlooking a construction site…
Another benefit of Pestana Lodge is that you can book a Kruger Parks Sunset drive and it will pick you up and return you to the hotel.
Kruger Park Camp Accommodation- the accommodation throughout Kruger is very basic…not for the faint hearted or even those who have to have 4 star plus facilities …ummmm may be 3 star plus….Kruger camp accommodation isnot this sort of standard…having said this some camps are better than others….always go for the huts with a kitchen, utensils, bathroom…for 2 people go for a 3 bedded accommodation then you’ll have somewhere other than the floor to put your bags. Berg-en-dal has good, well maintained chalets. As is Lower Sabi ….. at lower Sabi our chalet had a Kitchenette…..it was a separate room to the bedroom..a kitchen and dinning room with a third bed…great for the cases, it opened out on to the veranda…very comfortable. Shingwedzi Camp has newish chalets which we were told were lovely…our old one was nice enough everything worked and it was well maintained. The accommodation in Kruger is about £80 per night depending on the style you book…get the more expensive ones as they are in better condition.
Well that’s our only recommendations……we’re happy recommending the ones we have…secure in the knowledge that if you pick the one which suits your budget you won’t be disappointed.
