Today was the turn of the African Safari. Unfortunately Cape Town doesn't offer a safari as such but 2 hours outside of Cape Town there is a game reserve that offers 'the next best thing'. We booked up to go to Aquila game reserve, it was quite pricey but was as close to a safari we were going to get and offered an opportunity to see the big 5 South African Animals. We were slightly nervous as we had booked online separately but after a few emails to the company were assured we would be on the same transfer to Aquila and same safari. We were supposed to get a call yesterday before 8 to tell us what time we were being picked up, dead on 8 he phoned to say we would be picked up at a hotel around the corner at 6:10am. A nice early start, alarms were set for 5 and we managed to drag ourselves out of bed, we were tired but told ourselves it would all be worth it.
After a short walk we waited outside the hotel. 6:10 came and no pick up, he arrived at 6:20 but drove straight past us and went to the other side of the hotel. Harry greeted the driver with a "hello, are you alright?", he didn't understand and after a few confused looks and Harry repeating himself a few times Harry gave up and the driver walked into the hotel. Good start. After waiting for him to return for some time Harry went and spoke to him to check that this was our mini bus, well it was mine, I was on the list, Harry wasn't. After I had emailed and checked a few times with the company they had still managed to mess up. Morning getting better. The driver wasn't happy but agreed to let us both on as he had 2 spare seats anyway so there would be space for Harry. We then continue to pick up other people and finally started our journey at 7:10. We were off on our 2 and a half hour journey. Both of us spent most of the journey asleep. When I was awake we were driving through some really nice areas and there were some amazing views, but I told myself I'd see them on the way back and sleep was of more importance at this stage of the morning.
We arrived and was welcomed by a lady serving drinks, grape juice or a glass of wine, we both agreed it was too early for wine so settled for grape juice in a champagne flute, we looked the part. We headed for reception, more bad news for Harry, he wasn't on the list, luckily he had his booking confirmation with him. But for the 2nd time there was no real check and they just took our word for it luckily for them we were genuine. We walked through and were seated and told we could help ourselves to the buffet breakfast, fried breakfast, cereals, pastries and a European style breakfast were on offer with teas, coffees and juices all available. All included in what we had already paid. We piled up our plates and enjoyed our biggest and best breakfast for 8 weeks.
We made our way to the waiting area, I checked in and got my truck number and again Harry's name was nowhere in sight. 'No worries just follow those people' we were told, I'm guessing he thought you're here now you must be on the Safari. After waiting around for 10ish minutes we were off. We had hardly been driving for 5minutes and we were a few metres from 5 white rhinos. It didn't matter anymore about the bad start to the day the safari had started well. Our guide was full of information and humour and managed to get us really close. We then moved on to where the hippos were, 7 hippos just lying in the water, you read reviews saying that the animals weren't doing anything but if a hippo spends the majority of the day just laying down in water what do you expect? Got some great photos. Next up were the giraffes and Springboks and a little further down were zebra and ostrich. The place was huge but our guide seemed to know exactly where to find the animals, I know they probably don't wonder too far and you have people letting him know where to go but he found them all and got us as close as possible. After an hour and a half we stopped to stretch our legs and to enjoy a refreshment. Harry stuck with the grape juice and I went for a glass of wine. I thought as we had driven past so many vineyards I'd better try the wine, not bad. Back in the truck we went and there were 2 elephants in sight, they were a bit far away and thankfully our guid decided that we would get a closer look late and instead head to where the lions were. The reserve had fenced off the lions from the other animals for obvious reasons. It was disappointing that the lions were so far away, we could make out where they were but because they were near the top of their mountain we couldn't get any closer, it was a shame but we can say we saw 5 lions. We then found the elephants again and they were near enough within touching distance playing around trying to break a tree down. We then went to see the an area where they had a tame cheetah they couldn't let into the reserve for its own safety and 2 lions that were being treated because of some type of injury. It did mean we finally saw a lion up close though. With that our time was up and we headed back, another buffet meal, this time not as great, but I managed to get some chicken and potatoes which weren't too bad. We had an hour to sit in the sun and go for a swim. Unfortunately the weather had turned slightly cloudy so we gave the swim a miss and instead just sat around enjoying the views.
We were then picked up and then spent nearly 3 hours on the road getting us back to Berghof. It was a great day and I know it wasn't quite an African Safari but to me it was the closest I'll probably ever get.
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