On our last night in Cape Town, before we were leaving for the Garden Route, we were sitting outside at the waterfront and there is this massive screen in the plaza playing assorted clips of Africa that we were watching. A clip of Victoria Falls came on and I told Arnold that when we come back to Africa one day, that we would have to head there next and I was a bit sad to not see it, but was happy with our choice to come to SA. After a couple of minutes, Arnold suggested that maybe we should see how much it would cost us to do a quick side trip up there seeing how we had 5 days here that we didn't have plans for. So we got back to the hotel and as it turned out, flights from Jo'Burg to Livingstone, Zambia were actually very cheap (less then $500 for the two of us to fly there and back - which is crazy cheap by Africa standards, because nothing is cheap here). So the next morning I called SA Airlines to see how much it would cost to move up our Cape Town to Jo'Burg flight and it was very, very little so we did it and then booked our
flight to Livingstone right after - and just like that, we are going to see Victoria Falls. We leave first thing tomorrow morning and are spending the next 5 days in Zimbabwe/Zambia. The falls is right between Zambia and Zimbabwe, but the hotel that we want to stay at is actually on the Zimbabwe side so we will probably be going between the two countries for the next couple of days. Arnold wants to do the white water rafting - and well I am completely terrified of water/rafting, but I told him I would do it with him - I'm crazy, I know. And hopefully (fingers crossed) if the water isn't too crazy we are going to take a visit to Devil's Pond, but it all depends on the water. We might be in the wrong season for it. Anyways, I can NOT wait to see the falls and get back into "Africa". We both miss the craziness of Africa, things being TIA and never right and just the general buzz that we had in Tanzania. South Africa has been a great trip and the perfect getaway for us, but we are ready to get back into the thick of things. Sorry for the delay in getting all these blog posts up, but I haven't really had a lot of time to sit down and write. We hope that everyone is doing well and we hope you guys are enjoying reading the blog. Next time you hear from us, it will either be from Zambia or Zimbabwe ... and hopefully I survive rafting if we go - aaah .
(lots of posts today so keep scrolling toget caught up)
Much Love,
Melissa and Arnold
Thursday, March 10, 2011
SAFARI!!!
Sorry for the delay, but this blog post needed time and a bit of thought so it was put off. We are trying to figure out the picture situation, but our pictures are very large files and its hard to download them, but we will keep trying and figure something out. (Also sorry for the grammatical errors, posting on the fly).
Coming to Africa is something that I have wanted to do for a very long time, since I was in Grade 9 actually, and it is a place that I didn't want to go for just a couple of weeks, I wanted to spend some time here. So when we finally decided to go and then booked our safari it was pretty surreal. We decided to do a 7 day safari with a mix of game viewing and culture tours in Southern Tanzania (and then an added bonus was doing the two day safari in Kenya at Lake Nakuru). We were unbelievably lucky in what we saw and nothing was short of amazing. The first park we went to in Tanzania was beautiful and so different then Kenya - as Arnold described it, it looked like a golf course at times.We must have seen close to 200 elephants that day - and most of them very close to our cruiser. It was so interesting watching them and how they all co-existed together. We spent the night in that area in our tented lodge and my alarm clock that morning was an Elephant walking next to our tent - all I have to say, is that they make a lot of noise - but sooo sooo cool to be woken up by that and to look outside and see one right there.
The next two days were the culture part of our safari - we visited a Maasi family and learnt about how they lived and their lifestyle. Which is a bit crazy - they have more then 1 wife (many more), the whole family (including all the wives, live together, they live off the land and are quite primitive in comparison to normal African lifestyles. One of the main males in the family we saw was 35, had two wives and had killed 2 lions by his spear. He was a great warrior in their family.He also told us their recipe for curing Malaria - part of the recipe involved cow's blood - umm yuck. It was very fascinating spending time with them and very educational. The next day was spent hunting with the Hadzabe Bushmen - who lived an even more primitive lifestyle then the Maasai's. They would only stay in one spot for a week or so before packing up and moving to another location. Their huts were made of branches and sticks. They ate food that they hunted (if they were successful) and roots and vegetables they could find in their surroundings - one of the reasons they were always on the move, for more food. When hunting, they used homemade bow and arrows and for the larger game they would put a homemade poison on the arrow tip in order to kill their prey. Which was made from plants and roots in the area. (IT was so strong that it would kill a human in seconds). We learnt that there were only 1,500 bushman left and that they weren't a growing tribe because most of their children under the age of 5 would die. As you can imagine, the huts provide little warmth and therefore the child could not survive the cold nights. We went on a morning hunt with three of the men from the tribe, but they were unsuccessful in their attempts (and we couldn't help but laugh, because they weren't really that skilled with their aim that morning haha).
The remainder of our safari was solely game viewing after that and what an experience we had. Any big game animals that you can think of, I think we saw. The one day we came across three cheetahs and they were looking like they were about to start a hunt so we stayed with them and got to see them go in for the kill. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful in their attempt, but seeing a Cheetah in action is so impressive. We ended up spending two hours watching them. On our last day we had another cool experience with the cheetahs and saw them again in action, but we were so shocked by what we saw. The cheetahs were trying to locate either the young or the weak in the group of Zebras that were in the area, but the Zebras would hide the young amongst the adults and then the males charge the cheetahs trying to steer them away from the young. We thought that the Zebras would bolt at first sign of the Cheetahs, but the exact opposite happened. It was pretty cool to watch. Our guide told us that the strips on the Zebras confuse the cheetahs and make it hard for them to pick out the babies when they are in a big group like that. Another amazing experience that we had the chance to witness was baby season!,!! On two different occasions we arrived about 15 minutes after the birth of a Water Buffalo and Zebra - the baby zebra we saw was just starting to walk and it was exactly like that moment in Bambi haha - it could barely walk ... sooo amazing. We definitely got lucky. I could go on and on about our safari, but I think that gives you a pretty good idea about it. And yes, we saw Lions, lots of them actually and man are they impressive up close, we just wish we could have seen them in action, but considering they sleep 19 hours a day, I think it can be a bit tough unless you follow them around. None the less, they are impressive and scary all at the same time. They are still Arnold's favourite animal, whereas the Cheetah is now my fave. Our guide for the safari was fantastic and we learnt a lot of the Tanzania lifestyle and the people.
But hopefully we can figure out the picture situation soon, We are actually going to be in one place for a bit of time so I might be able to finally do it. Ooh and I should mention that most of our safari was spent in "tents", but when I say "tents" they aren't your average tent. They were amazing and beautiful, just creepy at night when you hear all the sounds.
Love Melissa and Arnold
Coming to Africa is something that I have wanted to do for a very long time, since I was in Grade 9 actually, and it is a place that I didn't want to go for just a couple of weeks, I wanted to spend some time here. So when we finally decided to go and then booked our safari it was pretty surreal. We decided to do a 7 day safari with a mix of game viewing and culture tours in Southern Tanzania (and then an added bonus was doing the two day safari in Kenya at Lake Nakuru). We were unbelievably lucky in what we saw and nothing was short of amazing. The first park we went to in Tanzania was beautiful and so different then Kenya - as Arnold described it, it looked like a golf course at times.We must have seen close to 200 elephants that day - and most of them very close to our cruiser. It was so interesting watching them and how they all co-existed together. We spent the night in that area in our tented lodge and my alarm clock that morning was an Elephant walking next to our tent - all I have to say, is that they make a lot of noise - but sooo sooo cool to be woken up by that and to look outside and see one right there.
The next two days were the culture part of our safari - we visited a Maasi family and learnt about how they lived and their lifestyle. Which is a bit crazy - they have more then 1 wife (many more), the whole family (including all the wives, live together, they live off the land and are quite primitive in comparison to normal African lifestyles. One of the main males in the family we saw was 35, had two wives and had killed 2 lions by his spear. He was a great warrior in their family.He also told us their recipe for curing Malaria - part of the recipe involved cow's blood - umm yuck. It was very fascinating spending time with them and very educational. The next day was spent hunting with the Hadzabe Bushmen - who lived an even more primitive lifestyle then the Maasai's. They would only stay in one spot for a week or so before packing up and moving to another location. Their huts were made of branches and sticks. They ate food that they hunted (if they were successful) and roots and vegetables they could find in their surroundings - one of the reasons they were always on the move, for more food. When hunting, they used homemade bow and arrows and for the larger game they would put a homemade poison on the arrow tip in order to kill their prey. Which was made from plants and roots in the area. (IT was so strong that it would kill a human in seconds). We learnt that there were only 1,500 bushman left and that they weren't a growing tribe because most of their children under the age of 5 would die. As you can imagine, the huts provide little warmth and therefore the child could not survive the cold nights. We went on a morning hunt with three of the men from the tribe, but they were unsuccessful in their attempts (and we couldn't help but laugh, because they weren't really that skilled with their aim that morning haha).
The remainder of our safari was solely game viewing after that and what an experience we had. Any big game animals that you can think of, I think we saw. The one day we came across three cheetahs and they were looking like they were about to start a hunt so we stayed with them and got to see them go in for the kill. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful in their attempt, but seeing a Cheetah in action is so impressive. We ended up spending two hours watching them. On our last day we had another cool experience with the cheetahs and saw them again in action, but we were so shocked by what we saw. The cheetahs were trying to locate either the young or the weak in the group of Zebras that were in the area, but the Zebras would hide the young amongst the adults and then the males charge the cheetahs trying to steer them away from the young. We thought that the Zebras would bolt at first sign of the Cheetahs, but the exact opposite happened. It was pretty cool to watch. Our guide told us that the strips on the Zebras confuse the cheetahs and make it hard for them to pick out the babies when they are in a big group like that. Another amazing experience that we had the chance to witness was baby season!,!! On two different occasions we arrived about 15 minutes after the birth of a Water Buffalo and Zebra - the baby zebra we saw was just starting to walk and it was exactly like that moment in Bambi haha - it could barely walk ... sooo amazing. We definitely got lucky. I could go on and on about our safari, but I think that gives you a pretty good idea about it. And yes, we saw Lions, lots of them actually and man are they impressive up close, we just wish we could have seen them in action, but considering they sleep 19 hours a day, I think it can be a bit tough unless you follow them around. None the less, they are impressive and scary all at the same time. They are still Arnold's favourite animal, whereas the Cheetah is now my fave. Our guide for the safari was fantastic and we learnt a lot of the Tanzania lifestyle and the people.
But hopefully we can figure out the picture situation soon, We are actually going to be in one place for a bit of time so I might be able to finally do it. Ooh and I should mention that most of our safari was spent in "tents", but when I say "tents" they aren't your average tent. They were amazing and beautiful, just creepy at night when you hear all the sounds.
Love Melissa and Arnold
Driving in SA!
HA ... it is such a trip to actually drive yourself on the other side of the road and to be mixed in with the crazy drivers here (they actually remind me of how Albertans drive - FAST!! haha). I am happy to say that this time around I never got pulled over once (unlike when I drove in New Zealand and got pulled over for driving to slow haha). Arnold did most of the driving, but I helped out from time to time and its like you are a new driver all over again. Its hard!! Shifting with your left hand takes a bit of getting used to and we have a tendency to hug the shoulder so yes, we definitely had a good couple of laughs about our mad driving skills. The road signs, rules and construction here is honestly crazy. You can drive 100km+ and pass other cars (even though the signs say different) in construction zones. If someone is driving too slow for you, they will pull all the way over onto the shoulder so you can pass them (regardless of where you are) and after you pass them, you put on your four ways to say thank you. I think they should implement that into Canadian driving - its awesome and then you don't have to until a passing lane to pass. Also, passing police is okay, I did it once and so did Arnold. Its definitely a bit scary because you don't know if you are going to get pulled over or not haha, but we just did as the locals did. And chivalry isn't dead here - remember back in the day when you were taking road trips with your parents (but some of you were probably driving on your own by then) and people would flash their lights to warn you of cops ahead, well they do that here and its great! I love it - and it might have even saved me a speeding ticket as well. It's another thing that I wish Canadians would do again - I don't really see that on the highway anymore. On the topic of speeding tickets, I have a feeling we may have gotten a couple on our way back to Cape Town, but I guess only time will tell if the charges show up on our visa. LOL
Love Melissa and Arnold
Love Melissa and Arnold
The Garden Route
So the whole reason for coming to South Africa was to drive the Garden Route - it's an 800km drive down the coast of SA to Port Elizabeth. Most people hire a car and then stay in bed and breakfasts along the way in any of the towns along the route. After doing a bit of research we decided on the towns we were going to stay at and our game plan for the next 5 days. Our first stop was Stellenbosch - wine country!!! We spent the afternoon doing winery tours and soaking up the hot, hot heat (it was +37 that day). We managed to visit 4 wineries and everything was incredible - we did a wine tour while in France, but we enjoyed this more, maybe because we were driving and weren't on any sort of schedule except our own. We didn't learn as much about the wine as we did in France, but had a lot of fun (Poor Arnold had to be the DD for me). The next day we were off to Mossel Bay (about 400km from Cape Town) and spent two days there, one of the days there, Arnold had a chance to golf at Pinnacle Point. I'm not much of a golfer and/or seen a lot of courses, but WOW, this course was stunning!! Right along the ocean with some beautiful views. You will have to ask Arnold about his thoughts on the course and how hard it was because I was just there to watch. After Mossel Bay we spent the night in Knysna and toured around the area that next day. And that was the furthest point we made it to on the Garden Route because we had to head back to Cape Town after that. We spent our last night in a small town called Swellendam and are now currently driving back to Cape Town as I write this. The landscape is beautiful and at points so different then Canada and then at other points you feel like your driving through parts of BC/AB and then through parts of Europe. So it's a bit hard to explain, but it was such a great experience and we are so happy that we were talked into it by our hosts in Arusha otherwise we would have missed out on SA and everything that is has to offer.
Love Melissa and Arnold
Love Melissa and Arnold
Cape Town
Cape Town is an extremely beautiful city and South Africa, in general is definitely not what I would have ever expected. You definitely don't feel like you are in Africa when you are here. From only what we saw (and I know we aren't seeing a lot) it is definitely not third world. Cape Town is a very modern city and it has everything we could want or need here. We went into the mall and they have all the beauty products that I use (Redken, MAC, Kerastase) and I couldn't believe it. We are actually going to load up on a couple of goods before we leave haha. You can drink the tap water in Cape Town (and I think most of South Africa actually), you feel very safe in the areas we were, but still need to exercise common sense and take Taxi's when it gets dark. Since leaving Canada, I had been craving vegetables like crazy - I have had veggies since arriving in Africa, but never fresh, raw veggies. So when we got to Cape Town, I was so excited to finally get to eat a salad, actually, I have had a lot of salads because I know it will be a while until I can have them again. (Long story short - I don't eat any raw vegetables where the tap water is undrinkable due to getting very sick in the past). I have also been eating a bit of chicken - I'm breaking all my travel rules here, living on the edge! haha. But back to Cape Town, we stayed at a hotel within walking distance to the V&A Waterfront and spent most of our time there, exploring the area. Lots of places to eat and shop. On our last day in Cape Town, we went to Robben Island to see the prison where Nelson Mandela spent his jail term. It was pretty incredible to go there and hear the stories and see the prison and his cell. Our guide for the prison tour, spent 7 years in that prison in the 80's because they thought he was a terrorist and charged him with it (which is incredibly sad). I don't know if i would be able to go back to the place that I had to spend 7 years at for something that I didn't do (and the conditions obviously weren't very good, especially for a black man at that time). But as we learnt, the unemployment rate in SA is at 43% and it doesn't leave a lot of people an option and they have to do jobs that they would much rather not. Our guide said he has forgiven what has happened to him, but I'm sure its still hard to see every day. We are both really glad to have had the chance to see that and learn even more about South Africa's history. But on a lighter note, I wish Calgary was more like Cape Town because we went into the grocery store to get a couple items and I bought a great bottle of wine for $5!! It was amazing - we had a french picnic in our hotel room every afternoon a couple of hours before dinner. I could really get used to all this great wine and for so cheap. So yes, Cape Town has definitely been amazing.
Love Melissa and Arnold
Love Melissa and Arnold
First Time for Everything...
Our journey down to South Africa was going to be a long one - we had to take three different flights in order to get to Cape Town. Our flight leaving Arusha to Dar left at 7:30pm, our next flight from Dar to Jo'Burg left at 2:30am and then our last flight from Jo'Burg to Cape Town was at 7:30am. So we knew we had a long night of travel ahead of us, but we were excited about SA and knew it would be worth it. The wait for our Jo'Burg flight at the Dar airport was long and a bit weird because we didn't have anywhere to go and we couldn't check in yet because it was too early. So we went to this cafe until we were kicked out of there and then we sat at the check in counter (amazing race styles) and waited till we could get checked in. While we were waiting we met a really cool guy from Jo'Burg who was taking the same flight as us - he was super nice and gave us a bunch of information about his country and offered to show us around if we came to Jo'Burg and even told us his brother in Cape Town could take us out as well. Anyways, after finally being able to get checked in we sat down in another cafe (at 12am) and watched the last bit of the Man U football match with a bunch of airport staff (which I thought was pretty cool - everyone down here loves their football). I think it was at that point that I started getting a bit of heartburn, but didn't think too much of it because I get heartburn every so often. Just figured that it was because I should be sleeping and my body was just off. Once we boarded our flight (at 2:30am) it progressively got worse - which once again, I wasn't worried about, it was just uncomfortable and I didn't feel the best. Seat belt sign comes on, they go through their safety routine and we were off heading to the runway and well that's when things got ugly hahha. I knew I was going to puke, but I couldn't get up because we were taking off so I had to grab those nice little white bags they provide for those situations and yes, puked my guts out into the bag. I was pretty embarrassed, but thankfully the plane wasn't full. Still not feeling better, about two minutes later, my body thought that it was time for round two (seat belt still on) so yep, was sick again into my little white bag. The worst part of it was that I had to hold onto the bag for another 5 minutes until I could get up. I think the flight attendants felt really bad for me because I looked rough, had tears in my eyes and had a bag of puke - they kept asking me if I was okay and were very sweet to me for the whole duration of the flight. I made one more bee-line for the bathroom and then passed out. Thankfully my stomach settled down after that and there were no more incidents. And so that is my story for my first time use of the white bags on airplanes and I hope that it was the last as well.
Love Melissa and Arnold
Love Melissa and Arnold
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Our next destination
Just wanted to post a quick update (as usual, the power was out for the majority of the day, meaning no internet). Anyways, as of yesterday morning, it was decided that we are going to South Africa!! Actually, we are leaving for the airport in about 30 minutes. Never, ever did I think that I would ever go to SA, but here we are soon to be on our way. We booked our flights yesterday morning after hours of researching which country we should go to next.
The plan was always to head to Zambia to see Victoria Falls - and then we thought about heading to Rwanda, Uganda, back to Kenya, Mozambique etc etc and the owners of the hotel we are staying at convinced us to go to SA. And actually, we are very, very excited about it - me especially, because we are going on a bunch of wine tours - woot woot. And before you panic, we will not be staying in Jo'burg (at all - we just fly in and out of there and don't even leave the airport)
By tomorrow morning we will be in Cape Town.
Anyways, I have to run, gotta get ready for the flight - we might be back on later to post more if we can get internet at the Airport.
Much Love
Melissa and Arnold
The plan was always to head to Zambia to see Victoria Falls - and then we thought about heading to Rwanda, Uganda, back to Kenya, Mozambique etc etc and the owners of the hotel we are staying at convinced us to go to SA. And actually, we are very, very excited about it - me especially, because we are going on a bunch of wine tours - woot woot. And before you panic, we will not be staying in Jo'burg (at all - we just fly in and out of there and don't even leave the airport)
By tomorrow morning we will be in Cape Town.
Anyways, I have to run, gotta get ready for the flight - we might be back on later to post more if we can get internet at the Airport.
Much Love
Melissa and Arnold
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