Tag: South Africa

South Africa 2025 – Day 1 & 2

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We arrived at Terminal 5 Heathrow in good time…..wow is it different from the last time we’d flown out of here…we usually fly Virgin, but Maisie Morton at DialAFlight (+44 1616418179) had done a great job getting us cheap British Airways flights. Everything at Terminal 5 seems to be automated – boarding passes, baggage tags and drop, security – very efficient…machines certainly do it quicker than humans !!! From being dropped off to sitting in the departure lounge was just under 30 minutes.

We boarded the plane and took off 30 minutes late. The flight was uneventful. The food was the usual airline food….who serves curry on a long haul flight….the smell in the cabin proved it’s a definite “ no, no”!!!! The plastic “English Breakfast” was also rejected so I got off the plane somewhat hungry.

Getting off the plane was easier said than done. The ground crew were unable to attach the gang-way to the upper deck so we had to climb down the stairs into the main cabin to disembark….not BA’s fault we hasten to add. By the time we had reclaimed our baggage and cleared customs we were about 40 minutes late to pick up the hire car….no big deal they had our flight number so they would know of our delay…..or so you would think

Alas!! They claim because we were late they had let our car go and consequently they didn’t have the Toyota Urban Cruiser we had booked instead we were getting a Kia, they claimed it was the same category as the Toyota….I wasn’t at all happy as we had booked a “ guaranteed “ car ….but evidently the tiny small print states it’s only guaranteed if they have one 🤣🤣 and because we were late …..grrrrr…… I don’t think so…Alamo, Enterprise and Woodford cars all use the same desk…there were about 6-8 people all stood around waiting for cars which just weren’t there… they said to wait for 15 minutes….45 minutes later I asked if we had been forgotten!!! Eventually after me telling them that “ sorry” didn’t solve the problem and I would pay more if we could have the car we’d ordered NOW !!! Miraculously we were told to go upstairs to bay 26 and a Toyota was waiting for us…yeah!!!! Our elation was short lived. There was no car in Bay 26 …the priority desk on the garage level told us to wait 15 minutes and the car would be there !!!! 30 minutes later a Kia arrived….its nothing like a Toyota Urban Cruiser…much smaller, only one case would fit in the boot, it was much lower to the ground and I couldn’t get the very narrow drivers seat in a position where I could reach the peddles, see over the steering wheel and fit my fat tummy in….NO we were not accepting this car for a month…The manager was trying really hard to be helpful…he rang around trying to locate a Toyota…he did manage this but it meant us driving into Johannesburg and swapping the Kia over there….No!!! We know didn’t trust them at all so we didn’t believe they would honour their promise and we’d be left with an uncomfortable biscuit tin on wheels for a month….so wait we did…along with numerous other people who were threatening to pull out of their corporate contracts unless they got their cars NOW……of course they got ungraded immediately after losing their cool….not just one customer but 4 while we waited…eventually our nice man went off and came back with a Toyota Urban Cruiser… as we went over to it a rep said “no” it was for his customer…where upon I said “ No “ that’s for us….our nice man agreed the checks were done and I asked about the paper work for it…our nice man said he would change it and we could get going…. as far as we can see to date the paperwork hasn’t been changed…but hey ho…3.5 hours after we should of picked the car up we were on our way, in the vehicle we had hired. ……Would we use Holiday Autos again..Yes but we would select either an Avis or Hertz car defiantly not a Alemo, Enterprise or Woodford…

We drove through to our friend, Gills, very easily. We were so late she was on grandmother duties so Salmena, the domestic, greeted us with her usual cheery persona and we went straight to bed for an afternoon nap.The horrors of the car hire desk began to recede and we were able to relax. We had a pleasant evening with Gill. She cooked us a nice lasagne and salad and we had a good natter and an early night.

Packing for South African Safari 2025

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I am not very succinct with my ramblings about what we take but I’ve started with the odds and sods which make life easier…then I’ve sub headed the clothing, electrics, essentials and other bits….. hope you find it helpful.

We are intending to cook quite a bit ourselves, so this does need planning. South Africans tend to be big on barbecues or braii as they call it. So the first thing we pack is a self contained barbecue set….very cheap on amazon about £20. It contains everything you need…tongs, long fork, metal slicer, wire brush etc…I’ve taken the skewers out and replaced them with wooden ones and I’ve taken the chefs knife and the salt and pepper out because I don’t think the airport scanning machine will like them much. We’ve also packed oven gloves, dish cloth and tea towel two melamine plates, bowls & dishes, two knives, forks and spoons and two cups. Most the accommodation in Kruger provides this if you book the right type, they also provide a fridge, sink, hot pate, and plough dish barbecue with a grilling grid which you can raise and lower ( hence the need for oven gloves) …. But we booked late and took what we could get not all our accommodation offers this although all has the barbecue.

You could buy most of this fairly cheaply when you’re there. We are fortunate in that we have friends in Johannesburg and we leave a cool box and pillows at their house. We will leave the melamine plates etc there when we return.

You may well ask why pillows? Because the ones in Kruger all seem to me lumpy chip foam which balls together to make hard lumps or just one piece of foam…they are very uncomfortable so we have bought 2 luxury pillows from Mr Price…very cheap you could give them to one of the camps cleaners when you leave…we take pillow cases with us.

What else do we take…..even though September and October are the start of spring it’s still chilly at night and we like to take The Parks Board sunset and night drives on their open safari vehicles. We take jeans, layer t-shirt and long sleeved top and a light weight fleece jacket and a scarf, they often give you a rug. Then we can start in t-shirt and gradually put layers on.

Food wise we take a plactic caddy of coffee and sweeteners. We take a flask which we fill with ginger cordial……that’s what I drink all the time and you can’t buy it there, We decant the cordial into empty coke bottles when we get there…then we can use the flask for its true purpose and have hot coffee when we have early morning self drive game viewing……..nothing better than having a coffee while watching a waterhole or a lion having its breakfast 😁😁

Electrics…ummm always a hard one as there is often only one plug socket in the room which has the aircon plugged into it…so…we have a South African double socket. This way we can keep the aircon on and still have a socket. We have 2 South African to Uk plugs ( just incase we find another socket …we are always optimistic 🤣🤣 )And we take an extension lead with 4 uk sockets and a multi usb charging socket….yup it seems a lot but we have to charge 2 cameras, 2 iPads, 2 iPhones, 1 laptop for downloading all pictures from both cameras everyday….then there’s the occasional toothbrush charger, hairdryer etc… There are usually sockets outside where the kettle can be plugged in…but BE WARNED you can’t leave anything unattended…not even while you nip to the loo because most the camps have monkeys and they will steal anything…the last thing you want to see is a vervet monkey up the tree with your camera battery or trying to use your iPhone 🤣🐒🐒 We’ve seen it happen. I’ve even lost a yogurt from the table while I turned my back to get another one out of the fridge……please don’t encourage these little tinkers because when they get too cheeky the Rangers have to cull them, so you’re signing their death warrant.

Clothing…this is what we take..

3 pairs of long trousers each – to mosquito- proof our legs in the evenings

3 pairs of shorts each

6 T-Shirts each

12 pairs of pants each

6 pairs of socks each- we only wear them in the evening so we wear them twice.

5 bras – me only🤣

1 pair of sandals each

I pair of closed walking shoes each – sketchers

I long sleeved top- polo or thicker blouse

1 fleece each

1 scarf and fingerless gloves- I don’t like to be cold🤣

Other must take with us –

First aid/ medical bag containing plasters, antiseptic cream, cold remedy, antibiotics, moisturiser, eye drops, Imodium, senakot, paracetamol, bite ease/ anthisam cream, antihistamines.

Shampoo and conditioner

Toiletry bag

Travel hairdryer

SA maps, Kruger guide book, animal and bird ID books- all can be bought there but as we have them we take them with us.

Washing detergent – fairy pods. Some of the camps have washers and driers…if you’re lucky they’ll be working and take R5 coins….but if you’re not lucky the cleaning lady or man at the laundry may do your washing for you. We generally drop it off in the morning, go for a drive and pick it up later. We’ve always done this and we pay some money up front and promise the rest when we pick up…we give a big tip and a couple of washing pods which surprisingly always seems to bring a bigger smile than the money.

Binoculars…2 pairs if you have them…but I dropped one of ours and I haven’t replace them as we tend to use our camera lenses .

Torches…a must as electricity is unreliable

Money – we take Rands with us because although a lot of places do take cards, the toll roads do not take international cards. Sometimes the camps in Kruger have electricity outages and although they have generators these don’t usually allow the internet to be connected…so you can get petrol but unless you’ve got cash you won’t be able to pay for it until the mains electricity returns which can take 6 hours….a waste of good game viewing time. You’ll also need cash for tips etc. There is a cash point in Skukuza Camp which works if they are on mains electricity.

Well!, I think that’s about it..we fit all this into 2 medium sizes cases both weigh about 20kg. We also take two hand luggage’s which are small wheeled rucksacks and contain our cameras and mine also contain 4 pairs of knickers because I am neurotic about our cases getting lost/ delayed and not having a pair of clean knickers 🤣🤣 The day ruck sacks come in handy for putting clothing layers in when we go on the Parks Safari vehicles.

Hope that helps with your packing…actually apart from the barbecue equipment the space it takes up we would usually use for smart evening clothes but we don’t need them on Safari…..our packing tends to be much the same wherever we go in the world.

The next time I blog we will be in South Africa 👍

South African Safari 2025 – Kruger National Park – Planning Document, Itinerary and costings.

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We are raring to go and lots of people have been asking for our plans. I have to admit that i am pretty proud of myself for bringing this in on budget…. John told me maximum budget was £5,000 not our usual £8000/10,000 …it was a challenge I couldn’t resist……

Those of you who know me know I don’t do “slumming it”… I like my comforts…. I wont share a bathroom so everything has to be ensuite. I have to have air-conditioning in hot climates and I wont camp where creepy crawlies could get into bed with me !!!!! But none of that is a problem when you visit Kruger National Park in South Africa. We have been many, many times…c;oclcking up over three and a half years of accumulated time spent in Kruger…so you could say we know what we are doing.

With the help of my “go to team” at:

DialAFlight Maisie Morton and Sean – +44 1618418179 http://www.dialaflight.com

I got superb prices for our flights. If you decide to use them please tell them that 2jsworldofadventure recommended them, they will then give you the best possible price. The trick is to be flexible with your dates. If you want a really cheap price ask them to look at indirect flights – these often involve a change in Addis Ababa or Rwanda. The only reason we don’t do this is because the flight change and lay-over are at inhospitable times…we are aging and need our beauty sleep. So we fly direct… this time we found British airways on a certain day were incredibly well priced….So a big shout-out for DialAFlight – Thanks Maisie and Sean.

Through experiences earlier this year, when we hired a car to drive around Portugal and Southern Spain, we have found Holiday Autos to be tremendous value. Our car hire in both Iberia and South Africa is less than half the price of hiring direct and you still collect the vehicle from a top brand name. We also took out both times the AXA fully comprehensive car insurance as an additional but with-in the price I’ve put on the planning document.

I’ve included in our trip all our favourite Kruger Camps plus a few luxury nights at the start and the end of our Safari.

Hope you’ll find the planning document useful and feel confident in doing a Do-It-Yourself Safari in the future. If you have any questions just email me on 2jsworldofadventure@gmail.com and i will do my best to help answer your queries.

Travels in 2025 are just commencing

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We have had a shaky start to the year with many trips being postponed, cancelled or just not booked….Why?? John has had to have 2 eye operations which had to be spaced a month apart and then another month awaiting his all clear and new glasses…… But Thank goodness we are about to hit the road again.

So whats booked ???…….

PORTUGAL – We are off to Portugal and Spain in May. We have only booked a skeleton trip, because we want the versatility and flexibility to do what we want when we want…. SO… we have booked flights with EasyJet from Luton to Faro – £398.22 for us both with hold luggage and seats. In Faro we pick up a Ford Kuga from Avis booked through Holiday Autos for 18 days £680.47 including Premium Cover. We drive to Baia Da Luz Resort where we have rented a one bedroom apartment for a week for £642…… after that who knows?…… We may extend for a week or we may go straight along to Donana National Park in Spain…this park is home to the Iberian Linx. We are, however, not delusional, as we are aware that a sighting of this critically endangered species is about as rare as seeing a tiger in India or a Pangolin in Africa….. But we can live in hope and the park is also well known for its storks and flamingo.. Near the park is a quirky town which looks like something out of the wild west…but more about this if and when we get there. Moving on from here we could spend a few days exploring Seville and Cordoba…..but we will see… if you’re interested follow our blog starting mid May.

SOUTH AFRICA – We are off to South Africa mid September for a month. As usual I have started this planning by booking our time in Kruger National Park. I book directly with the Park at http://www.sanparks.org … its very easy to navigate and you can put the accommodation in your basket and work your days around what is available. There is no point booking your flights first, because if you can’t get the accommodation there’s very little alternative. I’ve booked ensuite Chalets/rondavels for 21 nights at a cost of £1649.08. We are, as usual, starting at Malalane Gate in Berg-en-Dal rest camp, then Lower Sabie, Satara, Letaba, Shingwedzi, Olifants, Satara, Pretoriuskop and finally Berg-en-Dal. I have not paid the conservation Fees because if you’re in the Park longer that 10 days its much cheaper to buy a Wild Card, which gives you a years free access to all National Parks in SA. Having secured our accommodation I then booked the flights. As usual I got quotes from 4 different companies….. and again as usual DialAFlight gave me by far the best deal…. a big shout out to Rosie Price and her team (tel. no. +44 1618418179), in particular to Maisie Morton…what a girl…gave me the sort of price which keeps me going back…lots of our family and friends as well as our Blog followers have booked with them and everyone has been given an excellent price. We have booked direct flights from London Heathrow to Johannesburg for a total of £1375 that’s £685 per person including hold baggage……wow… The trick to getting deals like this with Rosie’s team is to give them some flexibility with flight dates so they can select the cheapest days for you to fly…..We are once again truly grateful for the service they give us. I also know that the dozens of our readers who did a Sri Lankan trip similar to ours with them were all delighted. Well!! that’s as far as I’ve got with the booking. I haven’t booked a car in RSA yet because I want to see how Holiday Autos works out for us in Portugal, they are offering a great deal in RSA…

I will post both these two trips individually as blogs and with planning sheets when I have done a bit more planing… For now its cheerio and thanks for continuing to follow us. Your support is very appreciated.

Leopards – Kruger National Park – South Africa BEEN THERE GOT THE T-SHIRT

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Let’s start with a contradiction!

Leopards are relatively common in South Africa, and in Kruger National Park in particular. Yet they are rarely seen, so why is that? Well, the leopard is a secretive animal and, unlike the lion, does not live in groups, but is usually solitary. The male and female come together to mate, and then go their separate ways. On top of that, the leopard has one of the best camourflages in the entire animal kingdom.

The leopard is the second biggest African cat, behind the lion, and, generally, kills to feed just for itself rather than a whole pride. It is a silent stalker with most species of antelope its favourite prey.

Following a successful kill, it is common for the leopard to drag its prey up a tree trunk in order to feed amongst its branches. The leopard is a powerful creature often hauling more than its body weight in this way.

It is equally at home to stalk under the cover of darkness and is prone to stalk a sleeping troop of baboons in the hope of isolating one and carrying it off as its prey.

Leopards are creatures of habit and can often be seen in dry river beds silently approaching their prey whilst they are drinking in the limited pockets of water.

They can also take you by surprise by climbing a tree to get a better view of where to find their next meal.

Although found through much of Southern Africa, most of our sightings have been within Kruger National Park in the northeast of South Africa. We have been privileged to have spent enough time in the park for our patience to be rewarded with many magnificent leopard sightings. Although occasionally we’ve had a fleeting view of the white underside of their tail as they retreat into the undergrowth and become invisible.

Each such sighting Is accompanied by an ‘adrenaline rush’ which has to be experienced as it’s almost impossible to put into words. For me, this beautiful but elusive creature is the crown jewel, the ‘must see’ on safari in Africa.