Our first step onto South African soil was at Cape Town International Airport. Having collected our luggage and made our way through the arrivals hall, we found our private car transfer ready and waiting.  The drive to our hotel was around 40 minutes as traffic was quite heavy, and our driver was constantly talking to us about places to visit and giving us useful tips. Tips, for example, like traffic lights are known as ‘robots’!

We arrived at the Romney Park Suites, a five star property roughly a 10 – 15 minute walk from the V&A Waterfront.  We were upgraded to a two bedroom suite which was far bigger than we actually needed, but who could grumble at a freebie!

During our stay in Cape Town we discovered some wonderful restaurants. You can expect to pay slightly more for dinner right on the Waterfront, but you are paying for the location and it is worth every penny.  Meats including Zebra, Springbok and Wildebeest were served which went down very well with a glass or three of red wine.  We were lucky enough to get to the top of Table Mountain on a fair day, where views were absolutely stunning. We also went across to the famous Robben Island, as well as going on a full day tour of the Winelands which included Franschhoek and the Stellenbosch region. We had four nights in total in Cape Town, which we found just right.

From Cape Town we flew to Johannesburg but were only here for one night in order to get a connecting flight the next day. Having heard very mixed reviews about how safe or dangerous Johannesburg is, we decided to order Room Service and stay put.

We then took our car transfer back to Johannesburg and waited for our flight to Mala Mala Airstrip.  Upon boarding, I was horrified to see that the aircraft only had 12 seats and two propellers!! I personally feel safer the bigger the aircraft.  I had never travelled on this sort of plane before and found the flight very turbulent and bumpy, and I was continuously watching the propellers willing them to keep going! 

Arriving at Mala Mala was a real eye opener; the runway was tarmaced which is apparently quite a luxury compared to some other National Park areas.  We were surprised to see though, that there was no terminal building. We had quite literally landed in the middle of nowhere and all that there was to greet us was a man in a high-vis jacket who took responsibility of check in, baggage handling, security and passport control (which we found highly amusing!). We climbed aboard our Land Rover and our driver took us to our lodge – The Lion Sands Ivory Lodge.

Continued in South Africa and Zambia – Part 2

At Lion Sands there are two Lodges – Ivory Lodge, which comprises of 6 individual lodges, and River Lodge which has individual lodges but with shared facilities. Everything about Ivory Lodge was just slightly better, more exclusive and more special.  Our Lodge was huge with a large bed, bathroom, outdoor shower, and lounge with fireplace.  The outdoor decked area had a small plunge pool overlooking Sabie National Park and we were right in front of the Sabie River. We saw so much game just from our viewing deck along – a fantastic location!

We received two daily game drives which allowed us to see the big five, and much more including bush baby, hyena lizards and birds. We saw a lion run to make a kill, a leopard that had just made a kill, and a pride of 15 lionesses and cubs. 

On our departure it was almost like saying goodbye to family, as the experience here was so personal.  We bought a couple of Lion Sands souvenirs and have already decided that we will be going back.

We next flew to Livingstone and, for any travellers suffering claustrophobia, I wouldn’t recommend this airport! It was tiny with one terminal and one departure lounge, it was incredibly busy and extremely hot!  We stayed at The Royal Livingstone which was an amazing location directly on the Zambezi River and from our room we could see the slight mist from the Victoria Falls. The monkeys here are a nuisance but also rather funny, and on one day six zebra walked right past us whilst we were in the pool.  At the time of year that we visited, the Zambian side of the falls was almost dried out so we decided to take a helicopter flight so that we could also see the Zimbabwean side. After Zambia we flew home, our luggage got stuck in Zambia as our plane experienced technical difficulties due to the heat, but we received it back the next day and fortunately it was our homeward bound journey!

As an summary, Cape Town is a lovely city and it’s definitely worth doing as much as possible here. It is somewhere that we can say we have been but probably wouldn’t go back, purely because there as so many other places to see .  Zambia was lovely and the setting is just a cut above the rest of the hotels here, although we found the service slightly over the top. 

For my husband and I the ultimate experience that nothing can top was definitely the safari.  The location of the lodge, the service, and the game drives were all just amazing, and seeing animals in the wild was such a breathtaking experience.

A few pieces of advice would be to buy the Zambian Visa before arrival as the queues at the airport are huge. Take plenty of Mosquito repellent (although it didn’t really work for me!) and take plenty of warm clothing as the morning game drives are very cold.

This was a once in a lifetime experience for us, and we would definitely love to go back!