Kruger National Park is the biggest game park in all of Africa. It has the Big 5 (leopard, lion, elephant, buffalo and rhinoceros), Small 5 (leopard tortoise, ant lion, elephant shrew, buffalo weaver, rhinoceros beetle), Ugly 5 (hyena, maribou stork, wildebeest, vulture, warthog), Shy 5 (meerkat, aardwolf, aardvark, porcupine, bat-eared fox). We only did 2 days in Kruger since Mjejane was so darn good! Mjejane was right in between two gates to Kruger so we did one gate each trip – first Crocodile Gate and then Malelane Gate the second trip. Any time you can go on safari it is …
Category: General
Awesome timeshare – Mjejane Bush Camp
In our 15 years in Hong Kong, one of our best buys has been our Marriott timeshare in Phuket. While on our adventure we have saved up a few weeks to exchange for other timeshares through Interval International. We had spent a fair bit of time trying to figure out how to explore Africa’s largest game park, Kruger National Park. One morning we suddenly saw a large unit for exchange in a park called Mjejane which borders onto the Kruger Park and is open to Kruger. IT WAS AWESOME! We had animals all around the place and a small …
Hazyview Part 1
After a totally amazing time in Johannesburg, we spent 4-5 days near the town of Hazyview which is just west of Kruger Park, the largest game park in Africa. I remembered Hazyview for its amazing natural sites – huge vistas, canyons and rock formations. We had planned to see a few but also found some other gems in the area which really made our stay perfect. Our cool accommodation also had a water slide which helped. With kids, natural beauty has its limits and on the day we were to drive to see all the sites we found that we …
Soweto Part 2
After the poor part of Soweto, we got to see some better areas. First we went to the Hector Pietersen Memorial and Museum. http://www.soweto.co.za/html/p_hector.htm This place was not open when i was here in 2001. Mandela opened it in 2012. To understand Joburg and Soweto it seems one must understand apartheid and it’s oppression – and the uprisings against that oppression. One of the most famous uprisings was in June of 1976 and Hector Pietersen was the youngest victim of the Soweto shootings. The police had guns while the students had songs and rocks. Guess who lost? Hector …
Soweto Part 1
Soweto is arguably the most well known part of Johannesburg. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soweto It is the largest township in South Africa with over 1.2 million people. Townships like Soweto are where the black people would go at night when they left Joburg after work in aprtheid era S。A。 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Township_(South_Africa) Most of the city was then left for white people. I had last been in Soweto in 2001 and was amazed at the differences today. The improvements were very clear and it was more like a city than a shanty town like I saw in 2001. Many houses were …
Acrobranches
The day after the Apartheid Museum we needed a lighter mood to our day so we went to a place called Acrobranches. We had all done something similar in Montreal and loved it called Voiles en Voiles. https://www.voilesenvoiles.com/en/ It is all about climbing, balance and channelling your inner monkey. This was a bit different as we had to hook and unhook ourselves from safety line to safety line. Overall it was super fun as we climbed our way on 4 courses through the trees of a lovely park in Joburg.
Neighbourgoods Market.
Saturday morning in Joburg means the Neighbourgoods Market! It’s in a cool neighbourhood and offers good food, good clothes/jewellery and good beats. We all loved what the live DJ was playing! The crowd was very mixed and super friendly. We indulged in craft brew, nice wines and innovative foods. It was a superb local experience. The girls were also entertained by making flower crowns and telling our story to all who asked. The non-South African accent gave us all away and many people were interested in out story. It took up 2 levels of a parking garage right in the …
Joburg – Apartheid Museum and Skyline
As we had a few days to spend in Johannesburg we were keen to catch a few highlights including the Apartheid Museum. It would be a tough learning experience for the kids (and adults too) but necessary when there are places in the world that still practice apartheid like habits. No pictures were allowed in the museum. https://www.apartheidmuseum.org/ It was very intense. You learned a lot about how colour determined everything. As with many situations students played a big part so the girls could see what some kids there age went thru. They heard of Hector Pietersen, a 13 year …
Johannesburg – Dove’s Nest
Johannesburg has always had a bad reputation for personal safety and high crime. My past experiences have always been good in Joburg and fingers were crossed that good luck would reign. We found a lovely place near the airport where Skye and Willow befriended the owners 4 year old grand- daughter. We chose it off the list of places the Baz Bus uses and it was fantastic especially the owners Game and Maria. They had 2 rabbits, Clover and Blackie, so we lost our youngest two whenever we were ‘at home’. Our room fit the five of us and inexplicably …
Africa
After three months in Asia and a variety of adventures, it was off to Africa for more adventures and some animal encounters! Everyone was heartbroken to leave the hospitality of Tonya and Max in Abu Dhabi but the Dark Continent was waiting for us. We had read mixed reviews of the Saudi airline but our flight from Abu Dhabi to Jeddah was great – not too crowded and a fine selection for in-flight entertainment. Unfortunately the red eye from Jeddah to Johannesburg wasn’t as pleasant. Not crowded but no movies/tv at all. A double edged sword as the …