Hotel Boutique Castillo Rojo…

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After an easy trip to Santiago aboard United’s non-stop flight from Houston and zipping through immigration & customs, I found the driver sent by the Hotel Boutique Castillo Rojo waiting with my name on a plaque. While I’ve never had any issues with just taking a taxi upon arrival in any city in the world, it sure is nice to have someone waiting there to take your luggage off your hands and get you to where you need to go quickly and with a smile on their face.

It was about a half hour drive to the hotel, and I was excited to arrive at this historical boutique property in the Bellavista neighborhood of Santiago. The neighborhood itself is referred to as a ‘Bohemian’ and artistic part of town with dozens of cafes, bars & artsy type shops. Upon arrival my room was not quite ready, but everyone at the hotel was so kind and rushed to have it ready for early check-in after my long journey. In the meantime, I had a nice cup of coffee in the Cabildo Restaurant in the lovely courtyard of the hotel.

A little about the Hotel Boutique Castillo Rojo… it was designed and built in 1923 by legendary architect Federico Bieregel for entrepreneur and builder Pedro Lehuedé & his family. It was sold in 1940 to Russian immigrant Boris Krivoss, who turned it into a residence or boarding house for a variety of different types of artists, thus giving it a lively bohemian atmosphere. Today is operates as a boutique hotel and filled with richly colored tapestries, art deco antiques, photos of those who lived here in the past and is exactly the kind of hotel I relish staying in on trips like this! The front of hotel faces the peaceful Plazuela Camila Mori, and I am now sitting on the balcony overlooking this beautiful plaza with a glass of wine as I type & wait for the sun to set.

Today wasn’t exactly a power packed day due to only arriving in Santiago around 10:00 a.m., but my hotel room was ready for check-in at 11:45 a.m. allowing me to take a quick shower before having lunch with my friend Nate who moved to Santiago in September to teach English. He met me at the hotel & off we went to the well known Galindo restaurant just down the street that serves up delicious traditional Chilean fare and brews their own in-house beer. I was famished, and it was fantastic!! And great catching up with my friend and learning of his adventures since he arrived here in Chile!

After lunch we spent a little time walking around Bellavista so that I could become oriented with the area. We found La Chacona, the secret hideaway of infamous poet Pablo Neruda, that he built for his mistress who became his third wife. It was closed because it was a Monday, but I will find time to tour the building before I leave Santiago. We then made our way to outdoor courtyard of Patio Bellavista where there are a bevy of outdoor eateries, shops, bars, etc. Apparently there was a great deal of investment in this area for the 2010 bicentennial celebration, and it is a place that a great many tourists visit when in the city. Nate set me up with a metro card, showed me my closest metro station and then he was off to teach his evening class. I made my way back to Patio Bellavista to do some window shopping, and a nice charcuterie plate at one of the little eateries and am now winding down the day back at the hotel. While Bellavista is known for it’s energetic nightlife, that will have to wait for another night…. I am exhausted!!

So far so good Santiago!!

I’m leaving on a jet plane…

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It has been a while since I did a travel blog update… I kind of fell off the map during my trip to Australia because it was such an action packed trip & life got really busy for me upon my return. As I looked through some of my photos the other day, I was inspired to go back and chronical the rest of my trip to Australia, but it will have to wait until I return from my new adventure in Chile. Yes, I am currently in transit to Chile, my 62nd Country, and I cannot wait to get there!!

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Flag of Chile

This trip came about because a dear friend of mine decided to move to Santiago to teach English and pointedly said to me, “I’m not going to Easter Island without you.” Well, that sounded like a fine idea to me so we picked some dates and the planning began!! While Chile is an incredibly vast and beautiful country, my trip will ‘only’ take me to Santiago for four days, Easter Island for five days and the Atacama Desert for three days. I will have the opportunity to visit three Unesco World Heritage Sites (I believe I’ve mentioned what a Unesco fanatic I am previously), and these three are going to be fantastic. I’ll share more on them in future blog posts, but, for now, I’m just excited to get my travel blog back up and going after this brief delay.

Oh, and I’m also very excited for some warm weather during Chile’s summertime after some very cold, blizzardy weather up in the Vail Valley!! More updates to come soon!!

 

 

 

Through the Rabbit Hole…

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Day 2: I wonder… do they call it the Land of Oz because when you arrive here you feel like you dropped through a rabbit hole to get here?? Still a bit disoriented and sleepy, I spent a bit of time in the morning mapping out a number of places I wanted to see before heading down to the lobby at the Olsen Hotel to get some help from the concierge on where, when, how, etc.

Armed with maps and sent in the generally correct direction I stopped at the local 7-Eleven to purchase a 3-day Myki Card. Melbourne is rather easy to get around with a wide system of trams, buses and even a free city circle tram that circles the Central Business District or CBD. The Myki Card is the touch on, touch off card used to board any form of transportation in Zones 1 & 2 in the city. The hotel I chose to stay out was slightly out of the CBD in a neighborhood called South Yarra but still within the Myki Zones. As I rode my tram into the city, I had several very friendly people ask if I needed directions, help, etc. as it’s alway so obvious your are a tourist in their city with the large map trying to figure out which way you’re going. With some sage advice from the locals on the tram, I managed to exit at the right place and start my day day at the State Library of Victoria.

In 2008, Melbourne was named a Unesco City of Literature, and the State Library of Victoria has been the epicenter of this achievement since it opened in 1854. With over two million volumes within its walls, it is a buzzing center of literary activity. In the center of the building, under a reinforced concrete & glass done, is the octagonal ‘La Trobe Reading Room’ with isles and isles of desks for reading, studying and writing. I was lucky enough to visit while there was a display called ‘Mirror of the World: books and ideas’ was on display. It showcased and highlighted the idea of books opening up a world of discovery, history, culture & exploration… Quotes from some of my favorite writers were displayed throughout, and I couldn’t help think how apropos this was to my own journey of the world that started with books as a young child.

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There was also a section on the great Australian writers, and I found it most interesting that there was large section highlighting the letters of the infamous Australian outlaw Ned Kelly. Although he was not an educated man, his letters outlining his fight for the downtrodden hold a great deal of literary significance. I was disappointed that his body armor was on loan for a display elsewhere, but the letters and history were fascinating.

Onward to the Old Melbourne Gaol, built in the mid-1800’s and used until 1929. This is a stone and concrete structure with small and rather bleak cells. In a number of them are histories of the more notorious criminals that graced their walls, and over 135 people were hanged here including Ned Kelly in 1880. Both men and women were held here with women being held on the third floor separated from the men on the first and second floors. There was an ‘interactive’ part of the tour that provided each ‘guest’ with a crime card with a name and charge so they could play along. We were all lined up and questioned, given a tour through the ‘intake’ part of the police station and ‘processed’ out so to speak. It was a fun way to experience what it could have been like to be a ‘guest’ of the gaol.

 

Next up was the Chinese Museum in…. drumroll… Chinatown! Yes, there is a Chinatown in every town… A beautiful museum exhibiting the history of Chinese immigration into Australia due to war, persecution, famine and opportunity. There is display on the Chinese and their part in the Australian gold rush and how the Chinese have maintained their cultural identity through the decades within the cultural melting pot of Australia and Melbourne in general. Beautiful Chinese Dragons still used in parades are on display, and the building itself is representative of architecture that would be found in the Chinese homeland. And the museum not only showcases Chinese immigration but has an informative section on all Asian immigration and assimilation over the course of time. An interesting aside during my visit to this museum was a very odd Chinese man that was taking pictures of my feet. I have a comfortable pair of open toed walking shoes that I like to wear so maybe the draw was that my toes were painted a Chinese red? And, no, it was not my imagination… there were two other Australian women visiting the museum that also noticed and mentioned it to me on the elevator ride up to the third floor displays. It was creepy and odd at the same time, and I spent my entire visit at the museum avoiding this man and wondering what in the world he was thinking…oh well… I guess there are all kinds…

 

It had started to sprinkle while I was in the museum so I decided to head to the highly recommended restaurant ‘Gingerboy’ for lunch just a few blocks away. My cousin in Houston had visited this restaurant while here on business a while back and promised it was a fantastic pick. And it was… I ordered the Waygu & Bamboo dumplings and the Crispy Duck salad. While the dumplings were delicious, the Crispy Duck salad was the most amazing combination of flavors that I have experienced in a LONG time. It was out of this world!! Accompanied by a nice glass of Rosé it was the perfect lunch and way to wait out the early afternoon showers! Thanks for the recommendation Jason!!

As the rain subsided I finished the day with a tour through the Old Treasury Building and a walk by of Parliament. The Old Treasury Building is quite stately and built in a neoclassical style (c. 1862) with the basement vaults designed to hold the tons of gold brought from the Australian goldmines but now hold displays on life from the time of the gold rush. There are also the caretakers living quarters where the story of one caretaker, his wife and eight children is displayed throughout. While the rooms were generous in size for the time they were built, it is hard to imagine two adults and eight children living amongst them! Upstairs on the main floor, there is a thorough historical display on the rise of education in Australia which is interesting in and of itself.

After leaving the Old Treasury Building I had run out of steam for the day and simply did a walk by of the Parliament building vs. waiting for a scheduled tour and caught my tram back to the hotel for an early evening happy but absolutely exhausted!!

 

 

 

MCG & The Hotbox…

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I was very travel weary after arriving at my hotel in Melbourne from such a long trip down under. So, while waiting for my room, I had a nice lunch at the hotel followed by an early check-in and an opportunity to freshen up before heading out for the afternoon. Since I was so exhausted I had booked an evening at the hotel spa which limited my ability to wander too far during the afternoon. So I decided it would be the perfect time to visit the world famous Melbourne Cricket Grounds (MCG). The MCG is located not far from my hotel in Yarra Park so I hopped in a cab and headed over for the final tour of the day at 3:00 p.m.

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The stadium is massive and is the 12th largest sports stadium in the world & the largest in the southern hemisphere. Although the current structure is the fourth sitting in this space, the area the where the stadium sits was founded in 1838 by the Melbourne Cricket Club. The first cricket game was played here in September 1854, and the first inter-colonial cricket game between Victoria and New South Wales was played in March 1856. From 1942-1945, during WWII, the stadium was requisitioned as barracks for US and Australian South Pacific Forces and was named ‘Camp Murphy.’ It was the ‘centerpiece’ stadium for the 1956 Summer Olympics, the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the 1992 & 2015 Cricket World Cups. And it is not only used for Cricket but for Australian Football or ‘Footy’ matches, concerts and other types of large gatherings. The stadium holds 100,000 fans, and, oh, do I wish I had been here to experience an actual cricket game. I can only imagine the cheering crowds!!

We toured the entire stadium from top to bottom, inside and out. From the seats of the Melbourne Cricket Club area to the changing and medical rooms behind the scenes. The way the stadium is constructed and where it sits does not allow for a lot of natural sunlight after a certain part of the day. So, in order to continue to grow the natural grass that the games are played on, there are large greenhouse or warming lights on large wheeled contraptions that are moved across the field at different times as needed to stimulate grass growth. that stimulate the grass growth. The whole operation is pretty impressive.

After our tour I went underground to the Australian Sports Museum, which is very well appointed and shows a wonderful history of all Australian sports and its legends. Any of my Texas Tennis friends recall John Newcombe? And his tennis camp and country club in New Braunfels, Texas?? Now some who know me might as why I would spend the afternoon touring a sports stadium when I am not the biggest sports aficionado in the world. My answer is that sports, and cricket specifically, are like a religion to many in Australia, and I wanted to experience a small part of that. I certainly wouldn’t say no to attending a cricket or footy match in this incredible stadium if the opportunity came my way 😉

After returning to the hotel, I headed to the spa for some R&R. When I booked my massage, they offered to throw a complimentary 30-minute ‘Hot Box Detox’ session in since I was a guest at the hotel. The brief explanation of this ‘treatment’ provided that this is a sauna style glass box that uses infrared rays to stimulate the sweat glands vs. wet heat or steam. Hmmm…. seeing as I had just had a big weekend in Houston for my High School reunion followed by almost 24-hours of travel, I figured this might not be a bad thing. But Oh My… was it hot!! With the temperature set at 66 degrees Celsius (approx. 150 degrees Fahrenheit) I seriously thought I was going to pass out after thirty minutes. However, followed by the best 90 minute massage I think I’ve every had, I was relaxed and ‘detoxed’ when I retired to my room for one of the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a while.

A fine welcome to Australia, indeed!!

 

Monopoly Mentality…

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Finally! I have arrived! But getting here wasn’t easy… my flight out of Houston on United Airlines was drastically delayed because the aircraft was struck by lightening on its way to Houston. After a quick diagnostic of the aircraft, it was determined that it was not safe to take off causing a 2 1/2 hour delay while we waited for another aircraft to arrive, which was almost exactly the amount of time I had to connect at LAX. As we landed at LAX and taxied to the gate, I was certain that I would miss my connection. When the flight was cleared and the cabin door opened, I literally had seven minutes to make it to my flight to Melbourne, and, while I can typically roll with the travel punches, I was very unhappy about having to potentially spend 24 hours in L.A. waiting for the next flight while losing a day in Melbourne.

With that said, I ran off the plane, and we were two gates away from my connecting flight. There was another woman on my flight from Houston also connecting to Melbourne who had already arrived at that gate to learn the United gate agents working the flight had removed anyone who did not check in at their counter in L.A. from the flight manifest and were literally seconds from closing the cabin door. She managed to delay them, and, once I arrived we talked our way back on the flight. Really? This is my issue with the lack of customer service in the airline industry in this day and age. I checked in for both of my flights in Houston and had a boarding pass for the connecting flight to Melbourne. I would think that if I was on the original manifest that the agents working the flight would take a quick look to see just how far out a passenger’s connecting flight was from arriving and make an executive decision on how long to hold a sixteen hour flight that only departs once a day. But that’s just me… and once the other passenger and I talked our way back onto the flight, they decided to wait an additional twenty minutes for a few more passengers on a delayed flight from San Francisco.

The bigger issued is scheduling with the airlines. For those that travel frequently, you may be familiar with what is called a legal connecting time in major airports. Generally speaking, this is the minimum amount of time an airline is allowed to schedule connecting flights in the same itinerary in order for you and your luggage to make a connecting flight. However, airlines make their schedules down to the wire, and, more often than not, there is a misconnection for the passenger and/or their luggage… especially in larger airports. I wonder when the last time these legal connecting times were evaluated?? Five United flights that I have been on the past few months have had mechanical issues… this is becoming a larger and more frequent problem with aging aircraft fleets. Time is money… and not just for the airlines. And it’s not just United Airlines, but also American, U.S. Air (which is merging with AA), Delta, smaller regional airlines, etc. Code Share partners are not working together to create realistic connecting times resulting in lost luggage & forced overnights due to delays. And it seems the airlines neglect to factor in runway waiting times at the busiest hubs resulting in even more delays and missed connections.

And when this happens, there seems to be a complete and utter lack of efficiency or sense of urgency to assist those that have been delayed and inconvenienced. As a person who has always been in the customer service business in some capacity, this bothers me tremendously. With the merging of major airlines all over the world, the monopoly mentality of ‘Oh, we’ll… tough love ” is more more and more common. What happened to world class customer service? I believe it is becoming extinct in the world of air travel….

Well, now on to enjoy my incredible vacation in Australia… it wasn’t easy to get here, but I am here and will enjoy every last minute of it despite the stress that the airlines caused me along the way. I can only hope they will pick up the hashtags in this blog and and make careful consideration of the clientele that they are alienating through their lack of customer service and efficient planning.

The Power of Seven…

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The number seven is said to be a very powerful and lucky number. A few things that fall under the umbrella of the number seven include 7 days of the week, 7 chakras, 7 colors in a rainbow, 7 notes in a music scale, 7 major metals, 7 phases of the moon, 7 natural divisions of the brain, 7 functions of the nervous system, 7 compartments of the heart, 7 major body organs, 7 virtues & the 7 deadly sins. Seven is the number of dwarfs in the fairy tale Snow White ~ Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy & Sneezy. The opposite sides of a die always equal the number 7 when added together. For my 7th birthday my mother made a cake in the shape of a 7 decorated in a beautiful lavender frosting. And number 7 is also the number of perfection, security, safety and rest.

But for me, who was born on the 30th day of the 7th month of the year, the strongest connotation of the number 7 is the 7 continents of the world. When I was in 4th grade, we had an end of school geography test on the countries, capitals and rivers in Europe. My father made many xeroxed copies of the map of Europe for me to study with, and I spent hours and hours outlining and labeling each resulting in 104% grade on the test with extra credit. And I was absolutely hooked on geography from that point forward and began to learn as much about the world, it’s topography and cultures as I could. I began voraciously reading National Geographic magazines and studying the history of the great explorers, the rise and fall of civilizations, and all of the great geographical and historical wonders of the world.

I was fourteen the first time I left home the first time by myself to live with a family for a month in the south of France. It was with an exchange program that I learned about through a friend’s mother, and I took the initiative to fill out all the paperwork, request references, save up my allowance for the application fees and mail it all in to the organization. To my delight and excitement I was accepted to the program. My father, maybe somewhat begrudgingly because of my young age, let me go that summer, and the rest is history. It was all downhill from there, so to speak, and I set my sights on traveling as far and wide as I could. My ultimate goal, however, was to make it to all 7 continents by the age of 45.

Today I arrived in Melbourne for a month long adventure in Australia, which will be my 7th continent, over two years before I set my goal to reach all seven. This trip has been much anticipated over the past year, and I am happy to have finally arrived ‘Down Under.’ It is funny, though, when I tell people I’m on my way to my 7th continent, the most common question is “What about Antarctica?” Ironically, I reached Antarctica before Australia due to a stroke of good luck a few years ago, so, yes, this is truly my 7th continent and also my 61st country. My flight from LAX departed from terminal 7, Gate 77 (coincidence??) which was lucky since my connecting flight from Houston was 2 1/2 hours late giving me a 7 minute connection time (true story!)

Now I wonder how the number 7 will factor into this adventure overall. I have 7 dives pre-planned but will probably do more. I will be sailing the Whitsunday Islands for 7 days and visiting at least 7 cities along the way. I’ll be keen to see how the number 7 presents itself during this epic adventure of continent number 7.

Stay tuned for lots of fun anecdotes along the way….

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Walking Safari and Beyond…

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My final morning at Leopard Mountain Game Lodge was beautiful and sunny. My cousin Dean had suggested that I do a walking safari while here as that is his guiding speciality, and he thought I would really enjoy it. So I decided to indulge on my last morning at the lodge before heading back to Durban. There were just three of us on the walking safari, so we drove a distance from the lodge near a lake where we received our safety briefing. Our guide explained his purpose was not only to sight the animals but to keep us safe in the event that we came across any that posed a danger to us. With a single barrel shotgun loaded and ready we set off in a single file line through the bush.

There is something extraordinarily energizing about being at what would be eye level with the animals that you could potentially encounter in this environment. I thought more than once about what would happen if we came across a white rhino and her baby, a lion or even a cheetah preening in the sun. However, we did not come across any of those more intimidating animals but instead we saw a herd of curious zebra, dozens of impala, a wildebeest and other beautiful antelope all very well camouflaged in the bush. Our guide gave us a wonderful tour full of information on the trees and bushes and what each provided for the animals and so on. It was a wonderful way to spend the morning as the sun rose high above the valley. I truly understand why Dean enjoys being a guide in this capacity so much, and I hope to have the opportunity to enjoy a walking safari with him in the future!

After returning to the lodge we had a nice breakfast before i Had to say my farewells and return to Durban through the fields and fields of Eucalyptus. On the way back into the city, I stopped in to see Dean and Victoria in the small town of Salt Rock where they had purchased a condo and were living at the time. Salt Rock is growing ‘suburb’ just north of Durban, and we had a nice lunch while I filled them in on my adventures at the Leopard Mountain Lodge.

Later that evening, back at the Three Cities Square Boutique Hotel in Umhalnga Rocks that I had stayed at earlier in the week, my other cousin, Tahlia, and her boyfriend, Gareth, joined me for dinner on my final night in South Africa before the long journey home. It was hard to believe that it had been almost fifteen years sine we had seem each other, and it was great fun reminiscing the good times we had on her last visit to the United States.

With the advent of Facebook and other digital and social media, it is easier to keep up with friends and family from a great distance… to feel a part of their lives even if you are unable to see them for decades, but there is nothing better than visiting in person. This quick five days in South Africa on my way home from the Seychelles Islands was such a treat, and it is so comforting to know that my family there is doing so well. Since my return from South Africa, Tahlia and Gareth have become engaged to be married, which is so a joy to us all. I do hope to get to see them again sooner than later and to allow another fifteen years to slip by!

The next morning I departed for the Durban airport for the twenty-seven hour journey home. After long layovers, three continents and a shuttle ride from Denver back to the Vail Valley, it was a welcome comfort to sleep in my own bed that night. Another great adventure for the memory books!

 

 

Meeting Rambo…

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The second day at Leopard Mountain Lodge started with an early morning game drive before breakfast. After coffee in the great room, we loaded up in the safari vehicles to see what animals we could find as the sun rose over the valley. The safari vehicles typically head out in different directions and communicate with each other via handheld radio when they come across an animal sighting. And we had great luck coming across more white rhino, an elephant breeding herd and a number of cheetah! I have been on safari in Kenya a number of times, but seeing these magnificent animals in the wild is beyond exciting each and every time.

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After a glorious morning of game viewing and a wonderful breakfast, I set out for the Elephant Interaction at the Bayete Zulu Game Reserve which is about an hour away from the Leopard Mountain Game Lodge. This is a self drive activity, which was fine as the weather was absolutely beautiful and the roads had dried out a bit from the downpour the evening before. Along the way I kept stopping to take photos of even more animals along the side of the road but had to carry on so I wasn’t late for what was said to be one of the most amazing experiences.

Upon arrival at the Bayete Zulu Game Reserve there were approximately twenty people waiting outside the entrance gate where we were met by a guide and escorted to an outdoor covered area and awaited the entrance of Rambo, Rachel and Jabulani… and what an entrance it was. Over my left shoulder I caught a glimpse of a young elephant followed by the rest of his family coming over the hill towards the viewing area. It was absolutely majestic…. these beautiful creatures coming out to meet and greet this eager group. And you could tell they had done this a time or two as they knew exactly where to position themselves while we received a history on how they came to this game reserve.

 

Rambo and Rachel had been the target of an elephant culling operation years ago and managed to escape being killed with the rest of their herd. The cullers realized that they had missed them during the day and chose to lock them within the camp overnight with then intention of killing them the next morning. But, elephants have such human qualities and bonded with the cullers overnight in the camp. When next morning came the cullers found they could not kill Rambo & Rachel. However, once elephants have been socialized, they are not as able to survive as well in the wild resulting in Rambo & Rachel ending up in several reserves until they arrived at Bayete Zulu Reserve. Jabulani is their baby, and the ‘Elephant Interaction’ is a way to fulfill the elephants continued need of human contact along with a o raise money to feed them which can be very expensive.

So Rambo, Rachel and Jabulani came over the hill to the ‘petting’ area and after the presentation of their history and introduction to their handlers, we were allowed to take turns meeting, feeding and petting the elephants. Now, Rambo is the second largest male bull elephant in South Africa weighing in at over 5 tons, and he is not finished growing. He is HUGE!!! Rachel is second in size at around 2 tons, and there is no telling just how big Jabulani will become with Rambo as his father.

We lined up to take our turn to pet the elephants, and I was about eighth in line. If you were a family you could go up together, but, I was on my own so I handed over my camera to a very friendly lady who offered to take photos while I canoodled with the largest land animals on earth. They had each elephant separated by a fence for your and the elephant’s safety with Rachel and Jabulani a bit closer as mother and baby. So when it was my turn, I walked into the area where Rambo was and began to pet him in all the places that the handlers told you to… behind their ears, between their front legs (And, yes, very soft skin there!), incredible tusks and the powerful trunk where there is the more prickly elephant hair that you think of when you think of elephants.

This is where it gets interesting… I am petting Rambo and talking to him like I do all animals. I am telling him what a handsome elephant he is while feeding & petting him, and, all of a sudden I look up and he spits all of his food out of his mouth right at me. Now mind, you, this is one tall elephant, and he got me from head to toe!!! Thank goodness I had my sunglasses on, but my mouth was slightly open so I got a bit of pre-chewed barley that I spit out with gusto!! As I’m doing this, I say out loud “Rambo! What have you done! OMG!!!,” and this 5-ton elephant takes his trunk and swats me on the ass!! True Story!!! What the heck??!! Rambo’s handler is just as surprised as I am and says to me, “He must really like you!” Kind of like the little boy on the playground that beats you up because he has a crush on you? Maybe….

And now everyone waiting to visit with Rambo was at full attention hoping the same thing doesn’t happen to them! So I moved on to visit with Rachel, which was a little calmer experience and then on to Jabulani who is adorable and just wants more and more food as any growing elephant would want!! After all was said and done, I could not imagine a more incredible experience and one that anyone visiting this area should take advantage of. But, unfortunately, it came to an end, and I had to return to the Leopard Mountain Lodge for a late picnic basket lunch on the veranda before an afternoon game drive.

 

And things just got better from there! The afternoon game drive brought us in very close proximity to amazing kudu, other types of antelope, and several white rhino & their offspring while having our G&T’s just before sunset. Afterward, we returned back to the lodge for another incredible dinner, and this evening provided perfect weather to dine in the outdoor bomb dining area with an open air fire and all. Overall, another amazing day in beautiful South Africa!!

Leopard Mountain Game Lodge…

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After an exciting couple of days visiting with my cousin Dean & his girlfriend, Victoria, experiencing a shark cage dive and a little sightseeing in Durban, I checked out of my hotel and headed to the Leopard Mountain Game Lodge. Dean and Victoria worked for this Lodge for a while so I was excited to have this safari experience, although only for a quick couple of days. The lodge is about three and a half hours northwest of Durban in Zulu-land through miles and miles of Eucalyptus plantations. Apparently Eucalyptus is a large export for this part of South Africa, but it is also raised for local production of Eucalyptus oil, paper and biomass products.

The drive was rather uneventful through the lush green plantations of Eucalyptus, and I had only been advised to not drive at nighttime due to potentially dangerous areas that I might have to pass through, which was no problem. I did, however, have to stop to fill up with gas, and I was thankful for full service as I managed to stop in an area in which I would not have wanted to get out of the car. It was a newly developing area, and the abject poverty was very apparent. Otherwise the drive was easy, and I arrived mid-afternoon at the Lodge just in time for afternoon tea prior to the evening game drive. After parking and on my way to check in I crossed paths with an ornery looking warthog that eyed me just as suspiciously as I did him.

The Leopard Mountain Game Lodge is what I would call a ’boutique’ lodge and was absolutely superb!! Perched high above the valley on Leopard Mountain, they have nine stone and thatched roof chalets that are very well appointed with each having a small plunge pool and amazing views. The lodge itself has a beautiful veranda, sitting room, dining room and garden to enjoy at your leisure decorated in dark woods with comfy viewing areas. There is a relatively small staff that runs the entire operation, some who have been there for years and some that are newer but all very welcoming.

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After being shown to my room & settling in for my stay, we headed out for an evening game drive with the sun setting in the background. We had the experience of seeing a number of white rhinos, monkeys, ostrich, kudu, basket weavers and a crocodile in the local pond. I could spend hours and hours in a safari vehicle looking for wild animals. There is something very relaxing as well as rewarding when you find and observe animals in their natural habitat. After a quick stop for appetizers and the traditional safari G&T, we experienced a beautiful rising of the moon. However, you could smell a storm coming in, and it was time to head back to the lodge and what luck that we had a flat tire along the way. Fortunately our guide was very quick in changing the tire as we all stood near the car while I am sure we were being observed by animals as their feeding time grew closer 😉 But, alas, all was good and we returned to the lodge just in time for the torrential downpour!!

 

Because of the rain, dinner was served in the inside dining room by candlelight and was absolutely out of this world!! The chef came out from the kitchen and greeted every table during dessert to ensure we had all enjoyed our dinners making this experience even more and welcoming. Upon returning back to my chalet, I was met by a tray with port wine and chocolates, and, if you’ve read my blog from Portugal, you know how I love a little port before bed 😉

Another great day adventuring around the world….. what can I say?!

Shark Cage Dive…

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The whole time I was on the catamaran sailing trip in the Seychelles, our skipper kept encouraging me to do a shark cage dive when I visited South Africa. And seeing as I really enjoyed free diving with sharks in the Seychelles, I thought it was worth looking into. I had done a little research online on my last day in the Seychelles and emailed a company called ‘Shark Cage Diving KZN’ to check availability for the day after I arrived in Durban. As it turned out there was space available for the dive but whether or not the trip would happen was 100% weather dependent. If the wind is too high, it is extremely difficult to get the boat off the beach and a bit too rough a ride out to the sharks.

It was my good fortune that the weather looked clear for the day I was interested in doing the dive, so I set my alarm for very early in the morning in order to make the hour and a half drive south of Durban to Scottburgh to meet up with the group for the morning. The drive was relatively uneventful but there was a  bit of early morning traffic. Again, the Tom Tom GPS made getting to the right place quite easy, and I met up with the leaders of the operation. There really wasn’t an office per se but rather they bring the boat and cage to the beach where we launch and off we go from there. The six other ‘divers’ were all flight attendants on a turn around; three from Ireland flying for Emirates and three British gals living in Paris and flying for Air France.

 

We were all given full wetsuits and masks for the day, and I am sure it was a bit hilarious watching us try to push the boat off the beach on the tail end of an incoming wave and then trying to jump in the boat. It took us a few tries before we got it right, and then we were off! We headed just northeast of where we launched for about 35 minutes, and it was a relatively smooth ride with the sun rising over the water. How they know exactly where the sharks are going to be I do not know, but we finally arrived, and, at the same time they were launching the cage into the water they were ‘popping’ and chumming the water to get the sharks’ attention. At this time of year, we were too far north for the Great Whites, so they explained that we would most likely see White Tip, Spinner and Dusky sharks, which was fine by me!

The cage they use is made of stainless steel and is 2.3m x 2.4m with large flotation devices holding the top rim of the cage above water. This dive is not an actual scuba dive but rather a hold your breath and pull yourself down to view the sharks swarming… I mean swimming around you. The water is being chummed with red sardines and the water they were stored in to keep the sharks attention while we view them from in side the cage. The trick to making each time you pull yourself down to view them last as long as possible is knowing how to hold your breath. While this may seem rather simple, most people don’t know to slowly let their breath out once they feel they’ve held it as long as possible. This is a trick that will easily give you an additional twenty plus seconds under the water.

The owner, John Miller, gave us a safety talk and discussed the general behavior of sharks. He explained that sharks natural food source is fish and not humans (good thing!) and that they are vulnerable and being overfished in our oceans world wide. So in the cage I went with three of the other girls, and it was an exhilarating experience. The sharks were rather tame and swam around us while eating the fish that were being thrown out of the boat. In fact, they were so docile that I could almost reach out and ‘pet’ them, but I decided that would probably not be a very good idea. John, however, did get in the open water with the sharks with a high resolution underwater camera to photograph us as we viewed the sharks from inside the cage. Amazingly the sharks paid him no attention, and he got some great shots!

(Click thumbnails for larger view)

We spent 15 minutes in the cage and then the next three went for their 15 minutes. John asked that I not take my underwater camera for the first session so I could get a feel for the cage and what it would take to pull myself down to experience the sharks, but I took it under for the second 15 minute session and captured some amazing photos. It seems that a total of 30 minutes in the cage is a short time after all the work it took to get out there, but it was really plenty of time. The water is cold, and, even with the full wetsuit you do catch a chill during that time.

 

Back above water after everyone had experienced their full 30 minutes, we began to head back to the shoreline when we were treated to a bonus show of humpback whales breaching and fluking in the distance, a loggerhead turtle sighting and dozens of dolphins swimming alongside the boat. And this was all before noon!!

 

When we returned to the shore we were instructed to hold on tight as they sped up and ran the boat up on the beach. We exited the boat and a large cable was attached to pull the boat back onto the trailer. There were other boats and fisherman around, and one of the boats was being used to bring in the large shark nets that are used to enclose the swimming beach and protect the swimmers from sharks. They are often pulled from the water to make sure that the nets have not been breached at any point possibly allowing sharks through to the swimming area. This is pretty common along the coast of South Africa due to the large shark population.

After all the morning excitement I headed back towards Durban to shower and head to a late lunch at the Cape Town Fish Market that wasn’t too far from my hotel. This is one of my favorite restaurants, and, ironically, I had eaten at the one in London just six months prior. One of these days I will make my way to the original one in Cape Town! After lunch I did a little shopping in the area where the restaurant and found that I was absolutely exhausted after my early morning. And what an incredible morning and experience!! Definitely something I would do again given the chance!!