The Best Vacation Ever (Part 3)

The wonderful vacation in Africa didn't stop after the safari. The next stop after Botswana was to Victoria Falls for two nights at the Royal Livingstone on the Zambian side of the Falls. The hotel itself was beautiful in a colonial opulent sort of way. If you've ever been to the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, you'll know what I mean. Staff were friendly and the food was good. But surrounding the hotel, just immediately outside the front gates, you were confronted by a sense of pervasive poverty. Sad in some ways.

The Falls themselves however were beautiful from every angle. You get very wet so you should dress appropriately and bring a rain coat from the hotel. Wrap your camera in a clear plastic bag to keep it from getting wet from the spray. The microlight flight was amazing and well-worth the money I think. The whitewater rafting also looked really good but there wasn't enough time in two days to do so many things. There were also other options for things to do which you could book from the hotel travel desk - short daytrips to the game reserve, river boat rides to watch the sunset, elephant back safaris and a trip to a game reserve to walk with lions. Plenty of things to do for even three or four days if you wanted to stay that long.

Here are some of the highlights:

Victoria Falls









Royal Livingstone





Outside the Royal Livingstone in the Zambian handicraft market



Taking a long walk from the Zambian side to the Zimbabwean side was also an interesting experience, although probably not one to repeat. The view of the Falls was equally impressive, but the highlight was probably the walk itself. Getting asked by the customs officer for a tip, or being followed all the way by someone asking for money, you could sense the desperation. One more tip if you feel in a bargaining mood. At the market selling handicrafts, the price of the bookends on sale started at 10 dollars. At the Zambian side it was 40 dollars. After bargaining the price down to 5 dollars and buying quite a few as a result, as I turned to leave, the tout shouted out running after me and offering as many more as I wanted for 1 dollar each.

Probably the highlight of the time at Vic Falls was the lunar rainbow. A full rainbow at night! Apparently Victoria Falls is one of the few places on earth that you could catch a nice full rainbow regularly during the full moon. It was cold and dark to wait in the park, so dress warmly and bring a torch or some some of light (your phone perhaps). Also, make sure you bring a tripod if you want to take pictures, otherwise there is no way to catch anything.

The next final stop of the trip was Cape Town in South Africa for four nights. Cape Town is a delightful place to spend a few days because of the numerous day trips you could do. The Cape Winelands were marvellous and so was the trip to Cape Point. Self-drives were common. A package tour was somewhat more convenient although it required quite a bit of sitting in the bus.

Within Cape Town, you could probably fill up two days of things to do if you pack it in - going up to Table Mountain and having a look at the town. Tours to see penguins, sharks and whales also run regularly. The food was excellent and good value all around Cape Town. Staying at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, you would be pretty close to everything. It was a very nice hotel as you can tell from the pictures.

View of Table Mountain from the hotel room window at the Victoria and Alfred



Table Mountain views





Mount Nelson (a nice place for high tea!)





Cape Winelands tour stops









Cape Point tour stops







Hope everyone enjoyed the pics and tips! And stay tuned for more updates!

The Best Vacation Ever (Part 2)

So here is what a typical day at the safari camp in Botswana was like.

530am - Wake up call by the staff. It seems awfully early to be waking up at 530am while on holiday but in fact it was quite alright and we never missed a day (I'll get that why later). The toughest part was the cold because we were there in winter. It was about 2-3 degrees Celsius with no heating apart from the hot water bottles in our beds. Those were good but they just made you want to stay in bed more!

530-630am - Breakfast at the campfire. We had porridge, coffee and breads and cheese. The hot coffee was an excellent antidote to the cold.

630-1030am - Game drive! It was freezing to have the wind in your face in the open-top jeep. I think we had four layers on including my ski jacket but it was still colder than I have ever been while skiing. By 10am though, it was warm enough to be in a single t-shirt.

11am - Lunch followed by afternoon siesta. This is the main reason why we could wake up at 530am every day. You could take a nap, swim in the pool, read in the library, go on a tour of the lodge or perhaps a walking tour of the surrounding area with a guide.

330pm - Afternoon tea followed by the second game drive. At sunset we would stop for sundowners at a good spot to catch the wonderful sunsets.

8pm - Dinner followed by coffee around the campfire exchanging stories of the day's happenings with other guests.

So that's the taste of what a typical day was like. But of course, each game drive was completely unique and you never knew what to expect. The guides would ask you what you'd like to see and try their best to show you what you wanted, especially if they knew what you had already seen.

Here are some of our favourite pics from our game drives.

Lions











Elephants







Leopards





Others









Sunsets and scenery







Hope you enjoy these! Anyway the trip isn't over yet. Stay tuned for Part 3 with Victoria Falls in Zambia/Zimbabwe and Cape Town too!

The Best Vacation Ever (Part 1)

(Post written by my husband, David, who has taken on our travel posts)

This post is a little belated since I actually went on this trip some time back - July 2008 to be exact. But I think most of stuff would still be quite accurate as I suspect things don't really change so quickly.

Those of you who know me well might think that with a title like "Best Vacation Ever" the post was going to be about Disneyworld Orlando, or maybe Tuscany Italy, but nope. They are very close contenders but I think the best vacation I've been on so far has to be my trip to Africa. The main reason is that the safari part of it felt like a real vacation - no Blackberry, no Internet, no mobile phone, no TV either. I can't remember the last time I felt such peace and quiet. To be honest, the first day was a bit of panic and sense of loss of being disconnected to everything, but that feeling very quickly turned into calm contentment. Feeling as if you were worlds away. That's what a real vacation should feel like.

But I'm getting ahead of myself a little. Let's start at the beginning.

The journey up was a bit intimdating, not to mention that it was also more expensive that we had imagined. It seems it costs a lot to get away from it all. The airplanes got successively smaller and smaller - from Singapore to Johannesburg, then directly transiting to Maun in Bostwana, then immediately flying off to the first safari camp called Chitabe run by Wilderness Safaris.

But the adventures started even before the safari began - at the airport. After some of us had waited about 15 minutes at the shortest luggage belt ever, we realised, as we watched the red carpet being rolled out, that the delay had been caused by the arrival of a VIP. One of the baggage crew popped his head by the door and said "No more bags!" grinning and waving goodbye. Everyone laughed at the joke, welcoming the warm African hospitality, and continued to wait for the entourage to pass. It was only about 20 minutes later, when we began to get worried and asked the staff about our bags, that we realised that he hadn't been joking and that the rest of the luggage had missed the flight and would be on the later flight or the next day.


Arrival in Maun Airport in Bostwana



The world's shortest luggage belt



From this...



to that




But things quickly turned around as we took to the air and had a magnificient view of the Okavango Delta in Bostwana.



When we arrived at the airstrip for Chitabe camp, we were amazed by how simple everything was.

Long piece of sand to land on...



The aerobridge...



The emergency fire response unit...



So I was beginning to expect a "rough it out" type of camp-site, but the camps turned out to be beautiful and luxurious beyond my wildest dreams. Four-poster beds with soft sheets, double sinks, huge indoor and outdoor showers, what more could you ask for! Take a look for yourself.

Chitabe







Our second camp Savuti











All the staff were exceptionally friendly and helpful and with a staff to guest ratio of something like 4 to 1, there was always someone around to help with anything you needed. Everything else was also well taken care of. There was free laundry, which you need because you're only allowed to carry a soft duffle bag each because the planes are so small. Accomodation was also full board with excellent food, all day alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and cocktails and the list goes on. The meals were good quality, with chefs taking pains to use some of the more unusual game like kudu or warthog.

But of course the point of a safari is not the accomodation, or the food, but the game drives. I have to confess I was never a great fan of nature, or animals. I've never watched an episode on Discovery Nature and Living or National Geographic in my life. But this was something different. To see how beautiful a lion's mane is, without a zookeeper to groom it every day, is nothing short of wondrous.