Author: Butty

Trip to Kalk Bay and wandered around the harbour, galleries and shops. Light lunch in the Courtyard Cafe. Met up with Padouk’s Aunt and Uncle, Jane & Colin at Chapmans Peak Hotel in Hout Bay for dinner. Great prawns and oysters.

Great breakfast in The “Village Cafe” round the corner. L&M met friends for lunch and we went to Kirstenbosch Gardens. Proteas in bloom this time of year. Local Italienne for dinner called Villa 47. Absolutely fantastic food. Quality of food in Cape Town is unbelievable.

 

Trip to Hout Bay and visited the craft market and food hall in the morning. Lunch at Katima’s in Hout Bay. Great sushi, sashimi, Thai and Vietnamese food all served buffet style. Eat as much as you want. Tom Yum soup exceptional. Watched F1 Grand Prix in the evening. What a great race in the wet. Hamilton won

 

Lod and Em went off to see friends Peter & Brigita, Cathy & Paul. We wandered down to the V&A and  went to the Water Shed craft centre. Bought some bits and pieces. Next to the food hall next door. Lunch of 6 oysters  and hot smoked salmon washed down with a glass of Chenin. Watched England v South Africa rugby . Boys done good. Stuffed the Boks. Pasta and prawns at the cottage for dinner washed down with Kevin Arnold Shiraz from Waterford Estate what we bought yesterday after our tasting

 

Trip to the V&A in the morning for a wander. Light lunch at the Ferrymans. Beluga restaurant in the evening for sushi. Irene and Em had a pedicure.

Packed once again and now off to Cape Town for 9 days. Popped into Franschhoek on the way to arrange shipping of pictures. Went for lunch at Dornier wine estate between Stellenbosch and C T. Waterford wine estate next door so went for a tasting before lunch. Wine & chocolate tasting of two reds and a desert wine with accompanying chocolate. Lovely place.
Arrived at the cottage in the Waterkant about 4pm. Great views of Table Mountain from the roof terrace. Gourmet scrambled egg for supper.

Very relaxing day. Did the shops of Franschhoek Main Street in the morning. L&M and us bought some art each and will finalise payment and shipping in the morning. Back to the cottage for lunch and sunning ourselves around the pool in the afternoon. Botswana seems a world away now. Shame in some respects but the beautiful Wine Lands are something special. Dinner in Franschhoek in the evening.

Out for lunch at Jordan’s Winery near Stellenbosch. Beautiful position with super views. Very popular place with well in advance booking essential, which we did. Chef George Jardine. Great 3 course lunch accompanied by Jordan’s wines. Great soufflé.

Back to the cottage for a few hours and then went to dinner with Paul & Cathy  at their cottage . Stuffed!!

 

 

Woke up to a beautiful morning and could now see our breathtaking view from the cottage in the light. Went shopping for provisions and booze, found a good laundry and took all our clothes from the last three weeks for cleaning. Price by the kilo. Visited the stunning winery of La Motte for a tasting, 3 whites and 4 reds and came away with three reds. Back into town for a nice lunch. Rest of the afternoon spent around the pool not having to drive anywhere. Friends of L& M’s, Paul and Cathy also staying nearby and they came for a BBQ dinner. Very jolly.

 

Nice breakfast at Palala Lodge. Set off at nine for Jo’burg with only a quick stop for petrol and Magnums all round. Got to Bushlore depot just before 3pm. Quick inspection of the vehicles which were covered in dust and sand still.  Arrived airport in good time for our 5.00 pm flight to Cape Town. CT at 7pm and then quite a long wait to get our hire car. Arrived at our cottage in Franschhoek at 9.30pm. Another long day but we can now relax a bit as we are here for a few days

Up before dawn for our long trek back to SA today. Left at six, three hours on sand and we reached the tarmac road at nine. Had a couple of short breaks one being for ice creams. Marianne was craving a Magnum. Reached Serowe at about 1.30 and had a beer at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary. Border quite quick, about 30 mins. Found the turn off for Palala Lodge, our nights stop only to realise it was 20 K’s along a gravel road into the bush. Not happy bunnies. Worth it once we arrived at about 5.30. A sanctuary by the Limpopo. Real quality and design, just what was needed after a long day.
Big sort out needed of clothes and all our gear spread around the vehicles. Nice dinner in the restaurant overlooking a well lit lake. Pity it’s only one night.

Had the usual breakfast plus the luxury of toast and marmalade. The fire pit was still so hot that we could grill some toast. Set off for Deception Valley, our last night in the Kalahari. Another baking hot day. No more rain. Arrived at lunchtime. Not much game about on the drive. We did see about 10 giraffe all huddled together under a few trees. Very bizarre sight. Spur foul, hornbill and a lot of black headed waxbills around our camp, all very friendly. Went for an evening drive but no illusive leopards or cheetahs. Irene made hummus for our starter. All the red and white gone so G&T’s and beer. Stocks lasted well. Lod confronted by a jackal in the early hours outside when nature called.

 

Again no rush today so chilled around the camp. Set off about 10.00 for a drive to Passarge water hole about 30 k’s away. Springbok, kudu, gemsbok, jackal and ostrich around the water hole. No cats. Yet to see leopards or cheetahs. A very windy and dusty day so had to move the vehicles about a bit in camp to shelter from the wind and also the sun. Spent afternoon reading etc in camp enjoying the view, birds, ground squirrels and a very friendly mongoose. Water(grey) seems to be holding out at the moment so we do have the luxury of a very quick shower each day. Two mornings to go.

Slouched in Sunday Pan camp until about 10.00 taking in the view and reading etc. Fairly short drive to Passarge Pan camp, about 60 k’s. This camp is halfway along the Passarge Valley. Nearest other camp is 20 k’s away so total isolation. Didn’t see a soul all day which is how you want it. Just the birds singing and the jackals screaming. Hot, so very hot and a very warm breeze which cooled us a little. Clouds building and a few rumbles of thunder, then it rained. The first we have had. Cooled off by getting soaked. Spent the rest of the day reading and watching all the ground squirrels around the camp. They act very much like meerkats standing erect on their tails. Dinner around the camp fire.

 

 

Left at 7.30 for the Kalahari. Drove into Rakops and confirmed that there was no diesel. Drove on to Mopipi, 70 k’s further down the road for fuel and then back to Rakops to enter the park. Wind storms everywhere creating lots of dust in the air and whirlwinds. Arrived Sunday Pan camp about 5pm so a long day. Passed a water hole that is near the camp. Absolute carnage, dead, half eaten and rotting animals all around. Not a pretty site. Lions all around the waterhole that looked like their bellies were full and couldn’t move anywhere. Our camp reference was cksun04, the 4 being our spot. There are only 4 spots in Sunday Pan in an area of about a square kilometre. 3 vehicles and about 10 or 12 people were occupying our place. They thought they were in 3, ha ha, which they had booked. They were entrenched but we still asked them to move to their allotted spot. Also they were too many vehicles and people for one spot. We think they had probably booked two different spots but being a long way apart decided to occupy just the one. Not in the spirit of the Kalahari where we all want to feel the isolation of this lovely wilderness.
Our site was on a hillock overlooking the plains, a very beautiful location. Got out the beers to watch the sunset. An extremely windy night, had to move the camper as an overhanging tree branch was scraping the roof. Looking forward to the “long drops” in the morning ! Dinner of BBQ steaks, sauté pots and cauliflower. Bliss.