Vonderful vistas very close to home!!!

 

It is hard to imagine that you are just 3 hours away from the great metropolis of Johannesburg when you are staying at Marakele National Park (telephone 014 777 1745) just the other side of Tabazimbi.

We headed out on the road to Warmbaths but a deviation on the highway sent us off to the directions of the ever faithful Garmin and we ended up on the R511- this turned out to be a much more interesting route! About 32kms past Brits we came to a< href=”http://www.beestekraalstasie.com/”>Beestekraal Stasie Restaurant</a>  (tel 012 2771297) the old station house converted into a restaurant and coffee shop.( closed on Mondays We only had a coffee here but the meals coming out of the kitchen looked hearty if not nouvelle cuisine and we decided next time we will leave Johannesburg before breakfast and stop there for eggs and bacon!

There are four choices of accommodation in the Parks board reserve but we always plan our nature getaways around tented camps so checked in to Tlopi Camp. Ten tents set along the banks of a beautiful little dam make up this camp. We were so excited to arrive at our designated tent- tent barbet, equipped with a kitchen, deck and spacious en suite bedroom tent. We always find the National Parks tented camps really well appointed and equipped and a pleasure to stay in. This camp is fully serviced and after a morning drive it is a great to get back to a clean and tidy camp!

TT1. If you can, book tent 10 – the last tent that means it has slightly more privacy. Called Lourie it faces the other way and has a large tree over the deck. Our ten, tent 9 or barbet, was lovely in winter but would be extremely hot in summer as there is no shade on the deck. My second choice would be tent 8 that also has a tree over the deck.

TT2 The monkeys are a real nuisance so take a trunk or lockable cooler box in which to store food- they even opened the small cupboard and stole a packet of dried fruit.. from then on we stored our dry foods in a cooler box that we secured shut with a piece of wire.

TT3 You must take charcoal and wood and we took a coffee plunger as none are provided!

TT4 We always travel with a ball of string, knife sharper and champagne glasses!

TT5 The water is fine for drinking and as they now say bottled water creates 600 times more CO2 than tap water and South African water is rated the third cleanest in the world don’t take bottled water but do take anything else you want as the small shop at the entrance has no food items.

 

Day Trippers!

Ok I know this is probably not the thing to say but I really do not like Florence!! What a beautiful city it is and the Duomo is so beautiful it literally takes your breath away when you first see it – to say nothing of the almost “life-changing” moment of seeing Leonardo de Vinci’s David. Follow that wonderfully experience with a private tour of the Uffizzi Gallery and what more could you want. But oh dear the crowds and vendors and continuous harassment by people trying to sell anything from locusts made from palm leaves to fake Louis Vuitton make this a disappointing and tiring place to visit.
TT1 Do not stay in Florence! Rather take the hour and fifteen-minute, 5euro bus trip from Lucca for the day and see what have to rate as some of the most beautiful things in the world.
TT2 Do take a private guided tour to see the Duomo, David and the Gallery- it is expensive but there is little queuing and really we found that this made our experience of seeing these things even more special.
TT3 If you don’t take a private tour at least reserve entrance tickets on line-you cannot believe the queues outside the museums!
TT4 Get off the very congested streets around the Duomo for lunch and have a peaceful and excellent meal at Robiglio at 11 via Tosinghi. You can eat outside but we prefer a table in their air-conditioned dinning room.
TT5 A great place for a cocktail is the roof top of Renaisance-a large department store on Piazza de la Republica
TT6 If you do rent an apartment in Florence check before hand the terms of the deposit-our deposit was not returned but the full amount retained as electricity payment when we could have used no more than a fraction of it on electcity(this is the only place in the world this has happened)

 

Puccini’s Town

Lucca has the oldest complete wall in Europe and is the only place “in the whole world” that has an opera festival every day of the year! In the beautiful Church of San Giovanni you can hear auras of Puccini’s sung by Luccesians every evening. The performance starts at 7 o’clock..more or less!!!..and lasts about an hour.
TT1 Really do go more than once as it is such a wonderful experience-remember to take your tickets from the first visit and get a good reduction on your second set of tickets!
TT2 You do not need to buy tickets before the performance and we find it is perfect to go for an aperitif and then wander to the church just before seven.
TT3 During the short interval stroll through the church.

 

Dolce Vita

Lucca is a maze of cobbled streets with many little piazzas and beautiful frescoes on the buildings. As it is flat it is a perfect place to ride around and the old city wall is wide and lined with beautiful, up to 400 hundred year old chestnut trees making it a perfect cycle track…look down on the old town and see into beautiful gardens and really observe an important part of every day life in Lucca-children on roller blades, dogs being walked and all ages promenading in the evenings on the wall. It is one of the reasons we really enjoy our stays there
TT1 Hire a bicycle on your very first afternoon-. There are several bike hire shops
but we always use Chrono at 93 Corso Garibaldi
TT2 You an also hire segways from Gabriele who is stationed near Chrono

 

Hey Mr Train Man

If you ever drive from Provence to Tuscany and want to overnight somewhere than try Villa Pagoda-one in the chain of Romantika hotels this is a small hotel on the coast of Genoa. A beautiful building with an excellent dinning room and a lovely 2-kilometer sea walk make for a very elegant stay.
TT1 Be prepared for trains to go very close by and very regularly!!! The only redeeming thing is they seem to go very infrequently at night!! And actually we all slept very well.
TT2 make sure you get clear directions from the hotel- we spent more than an hour battling through the Genoa traffic- first thing only get off the autostrada at the Genove/Nervi exit.

 

A Long and Lovely Road

As we set off for the Kalahari to the strains of Paul Simon’s Gracelands how could we not be excited when the map I was reading had notes that said” Beware of Kudu” along our route! We didn’t have to heed this warning but did see a mass of flamingoes on the lake as we came into Kimberley-so look out for a pink haze of flamingoes as you approach the historic diamond town.
TT1 Break this long journey with a night at The Kimberley Club -steeped in tradition this is a stay in a bygone era
TT2 I would not spend more than one night in Kimberley and then just to experience the club but it is worth visiting a beautiful small art gallery The William Humphrey’s Art Gallery before resuming you trip
TT3 Marvel at the wide open barren spaces-totally amazing to look for mile and miles and only see very beautiful hills and open landscape
TT4 If you blink you will miss Griekwastad but plan to fill up with petrol in this little “dorp” and do have a very good coffee and homemade rusks at Tip Top-a local “kofee winkel”, located in the row of dingy shops alongside the garage, that offers Nescafe or Ricoffy or filter coffee all at the price of R5!
TT5 We spent two nIghts in Upington in order to visit The Augrabie Falls and stayed at La Boheme-ignore the unusual décor and you have an extremely hospitable and well run bed and breakfast with a lovely outlook-you do not feel that you are in a town or suburb but isolated with a beautiful view.The owner’s attention to hospitable detail makes this a very nice stay
TT6 Don’t expect cuisine but book at Le Must for dinner-reputably the only good restaurant in town we had a pleasant enough meal there and do think it is really your only choice
TT7 On the drive to The Falls – about an hour from Upington, look out for Vergelegen Guesthouse,it is on your right as you pass through Kakamsa. A surprisingly good little restaurant and guest house- we did not stay there but looked at the rooms which are very nice and had a good coffee on their terrace. A group was eating breakfast there and that meal certainly looked delicious-a true local find!
TT8 If you are stocking up for a few days in the park both Pick & Pay and Spar (local grocery chains) are open 7 days a week until 8 at night! I do suggest starting at P&P as it seemed better stocked-do not expect special deli items but all basics are certainly available.

 

One Fun Day

Did we have a great day!
While staying at Buhala Game Lodge, near Malelane in Mpumalanga, South Africa we decided to visit Maputo for lunch. Setting off at about nine we arrived at the border near Komatiepoort after a 40-minute drive. We went through the border posts with little delay and were soon on the very good road to Maputo-capital of Mozambique. This was an amazing 90-minute drive- from dry and almost desert landscape to bustling Maputo.
TT1 Buy your compulsory third party insurance at the garage in Malelane- this saves a lot of time and hassle at the border. You must have your car registration papers.
TT2 Have small change on you as you go through 2 tolls in Mozambique and change is given in the local currency meticals- 1USD is about 25,800 meticals
TT3 We drove straight to the Polana Hotel- an elegant and gracious hotel of colonial times that is situated in the heart of Maputo on Avenue Julius Nyerere. If you are not a resident you are not allowed off the patio but this still a good place to have a morning coffee and admire the beautiful view over the Bay of Mapotu.
TT4 Then head down the beach road, past the Polana Casino. You come to a Sasol garage- park here and walk across the local fish market- try and go on a week day as the week-ends are frenetic. Here you can buy fresh seafood and the vendors will cook it for you-if you have more than one day in Maputo this is great but we decided to rather eat on the beach.
TT5 Plan to spread you lunch over 2 restaurants- just to take in more local experiences. We had wonderful appetisers at Mira Mar ( Av Da Marginal. N 4272 tel: -238 21 48 75 73) sitting right on the beach. Try the Camarao Alinho- garlic shrimp prawns and Iula Grelhanda Petisco- grilled calamari snack. And you must order pao-delicious loaves of fresh bread.
TT6 Then keep going until you come to the famous Costa Do Sol(on av. Marinal. Tel: + 258- 21450115)- here the order is definitely prawns and caiparinah cocktails!

 

Up Close and Personal

Then we set off for our last stop- Lake Mburo Camp in Lake Mburo National Park. The park is situated in very different terrain but still majestic with breathtaking views over this enormous lake. Again we wished we had planned on two nights here instead of what really was a stop over on the way back to Kampala.
TT1 Go on the boat trip- be prepared to come fairly close to very large hippo-it is a lovely way to spend an evening and the sightings of fish eagles are prolific and close!
TT2 Look out for the elusive and secretive finfoot bird-unfortunately it was too elusive for us!

 

And on the Fourth Day

Sad to leave Bwndi but so excited to get to Queen Elizabeth National Park and perhaps see the famous tree-climbing lions we set off. The scenery changed- could it get more beautiful? Oh but so amazing and with the Rwenzori Mountains in the distance and The Democratic Congo on the other side of the mountains we were again struck by the beauty of Uganda! Actually words cannot describe the beauty of this reserve and then, to top it all, we did see the famous lions in a large wild fig tree!
TT1 Of course there is no guarantee of seeing the lions so go to experience this reserve and feel you have had a bonus if you do see the lions- we truly did not expect to see them and so were speechless with excitement when we did!
TT2 We stayed at Ishasha Wilderness Camp- a tented camp on the Ntungwe River and wish we had planned three nights there instead of two- it is idyllic!

 

A Long Road to Bwindi

We spent our first night in Entebbe at the Lake Victoria Hotel. This hotel is ideally situated for arrivals and departures, as it is only about 10 minutes from Entebbe Airport. Despite undergoing extensive renovations we enjoyed our stay here- it is slightly run down but a pleasant stop over with a swimming pool.
The next morning we set off early and after exactly 11hours and 9 minutes we arrived at Bwindi having travelled only 486 km.(actual travelling time just over 9 hours) What was so amazing about this drive was that nearly all the way one sees people- walking, riding bikes or living in small villages.
TT1 Be patient in Uganda when ordering- the service is always friendly but can be slow…so remember you are on holiday and enjoy the total experience.
TT2 We took a “picnic packet” it is a long drive and the odd snack was most welcome
TT3 We had lunch at Agrip Motel in Mbarara and really enjoyed it-order the Chicken on Fire!
TT4 Have your camera on hand the entire trip- there are so many photo opportunities