It was December 31st, new year’s eve and I had a surprise for Charlene while we were staying in the Drakensberg Mountains. We were going to ride in a hot air balloon, something that neither Charlene or I had done before.
I’ve included a video from our experience that shows just how amazing our hot air balloon adventure was.
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We landed at King Shaka airport in Durban on December 28th and rented a car to drive to our next destination, the Drakensberg Mountains.
The Nest
It took us about three hours to arrive at our hotel “the Nest”. Our drive was very scenic as we passed farms and towns. When we arrived at the Nest and presented our reservations to the Front Desk they told us that they didn’t have us in the system and that they were sold out as it was summer holiday time in South Africa. We booked through booking.com. They told us to sit and have a drink while they figured it out. After an hour they came back and told us they have a room for us as long as we don’t mind switching rooms half way through our stay. We agreed as we knew most places were full. I had tried to book a much nicer hotel for our stay called the Champagne Castle hotel that was at the base of where we wanted to hike but they weren’t open during our stay.
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We hopped off our plane in Johannesburg on the morning of December 26th, the day after Christmas.
The entrance to the Apartheid Museum
In the months leading up to our trip people would always warn us to be careful and safe, more so than other trips we have gone on. People are usually afraid of the unknown or locations they don’t usually travel to. But yes, when we travel, safety is always a top priority. When we arrived, we decided to take an Uber to our hotel. The drive would take about 30 minutes from the airport and this was our first experience in South Africa. There is a lot of poverty and unemployment in South Africa, just something to be aware of as a tourist. Halfway to our hotel there was a boy that looked like he could have been 12, sitting on the side of the road. His clothes were worn. Our driver stopped the car and said he was going to get out and help the boy, we said sure. Now at this point Charlene looked over at me a little concerned with all the warnings we had heard. The driver went into his car trunk and pulled a bag of food out and handed it to the boy that was sitting along the side of the road. He came back into the car and said the boy was there when he drove by before and looked hungry. I will remember this for quite a long time, it was a quick lesson on the issues that some black South Africans confront every day.
We arrived at our hotel, African Pride Melrose Arch. The hotel wasn’t downtown and was almost like a gated community with little shops and restaurants. You will find that there are gates/wire gates on most hotels and properties in Johannesburg. The hotel was really nice/clean and we ended up staying there for a couple of nights while we toured the area.
Soweto
A shanty town
Our tour bus
The next day we had a day tour, to see some of the important tourist/historical sites in Johannesburg. The name of the company was Felleng Tours, they picked us up from our hotel for a full day tour. We visited Soweto which was the region that the apartheid/white government set aside specifically for black residents. Soweto is the largest black population of its kind in the country. There were many people selling unique arts and crafts. We stopped at Regina Mundi church which was significant because black people were able to organize their movement inside as meetings in public places were banned. We also visited the Soweto shanty towns, this is the region in which there is a lot of poverty. You never get a grasp for the wealth inequality that exists in the world until you visit. I would say that for me visiting this area was eye opening. I’ve obviously heard that these regions exist but to visit them and see it with my own eyes and socialize with the people was something very different.
We visited the colourful Orlando towers, I didn’t dare go bungee jumping though. That is also where we had a bbq lunch, which we really enjoyed.
The Soweto Towers
Later in the day we stopped at Mandela House/ Mandela national museum which was extremely busy with tourists but well worth the wait. There were important photos, documents inside which is one of the things you obviously need to experience if you are there. We finished our tour day by visiting the Apartheid museum. The museum was very well done. It showed the true history of the country and the struggles of blacks during the apartheid era in South Africa. To enter the museum they give you a card, to enter as a black person or a white person to illustrate what it was life in the apartheid era. As me and my wife are an interracial couple, we entered our assigned door. I sent a picture to my mother with me and Charlene entering the museum and she said wow, this is still happening down there and I had to tell her that we were actually at the apartheid museum but decided to take a picture :). That picture is at the top of the page.
The line up to get into Mandela House
Nelson Mandela’s office
After three days in Johannesberg we drove to the Airport to get to our next destination…the Drakensberg mountains.
On December 24th we went to the airport to begin our honeymoon/ trip of our lifetime. We decided that we would miss Christmas with our family in Canada to experience somewhere we have never been before, South Africa.
Mfolozi River on our way to St Lucia
We left for the Airport just after a family Christmas eve dinner for a 10pm flight to New York. I was surprised at how busy the airport was on that day. For some reason I thought late night Christmas eve would be quiet, it wasn’t. Our flight to New York was overbooked and Air Canada placed us on standby. We usually use Westjet for our flights in North America cause there is no nonsense and we get to our destination without hassle. I was quite nervous about missing this flight, but realized that we would be going to New York that night because we had a connecting flight the next morning to Johannesburg, South Africa.
We made it to our hotel in New York that night near JFK airport and were able to get about 6 hours of sleep before waking up before sunset and heading off to the Airport. It was Christmas morning but it didn’t really feel like it. There were no gifts to open, Christmas trees or large family dinners. Our minds were set on getting to our destination. The airport was extremely quiet. Christmas day is a great day to travel if you are fine with missing holiday festivities. We booked our flight with South African Airways. They are a great airline with fantastic service. It was a long 15 hour flight which is the longest flight I have ever been on. We spent that time sleeping, watching movies and discussing our itinerary for next few weeks.
I remember that people would always ask us why did we choose South Africa as our honeymoon destination?!? We wanted to experience something different. A place that I’ve dreamed about visiting for a while. We love animals, hiking and wild landscapes so those were a big attraction. There are few countries where you can experience the ocean, safaris, hiking in the mountains like in South Africa.
How did we plan this trip? We didn’t use a travel agent. I researched our destinations and already had an idea of the types of places we would like to stay. Then I booked out the hotels, flights, cars and activities. It was lot of work to make the itinerary work, but well worth it.
We stopped in Johannesburg, the Drakensberg mountains, Durban, Uhmlanga, St Lucia, Tembe Elephant Park, Hout Bay and Capetown. In the next few posts I look forward to sharing some of our adventures.
It has been a long time since we posted to our blog. But 2017 will bring many chronicles of our Trip of a Lifetime… South Africa! We were very lucky that we wrung out 2016 and wrung in 2017 in stunning South Africa. From city to safari to beaches, we saw it all.
On Wednesday we are embarking on a Spring adventure to the United Kingdom. We are really excited about it. We have been to London and the Cotswolds once before. But we are going to visit some of the other places that we didn’t get a chance to see the first time. As you can see by the map below…. we are starting in Cornwall, making our way up to Scotland to see Edinburgh, Fort Williams, Isle of Skye then coming back down and spending some time in the Lake District and finally hanging out in London for a bit. Continue reading
Not far from where we were staying in Ucluelet, British Columbia is a lovely trail called the Wild Pacific Trail. Not to be confused with the longer and more popular West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island.
Sunset
One of the things I like to do the most when travelling is taking road trips. Road trips allow you to see things that you wouldn’t get to see if you stayed in a major city hub. You can travel at your own pace, stop whenever you want, and spend more or less time at a location. This is one of the major reasons we often try to see things independently without a tour group.
When we visited Arizona and Utah we were treated to some really nice scenery. Here are a few of the photos I was able to capture while on our road trip. I was surprised at the beauty of the landscapes in Arizona about a couple hours beyond the Grand Canyon.
About 50 minutes from Victoria, BC on Vancouver Island is the city of Duncan. I had researched the Pacific Northwest Raptors a while back and knew that this was something that I wanted to see. I mean, who doesn’t want to see birds of prey!!!
We were lucky that we went on a weekday in early September because I imagine it gets really busy in the summer. There were many exhibits around the site, but what I was really looking forward to was the bird show. I’ve never seen one and spend so much time watching nature shows, I was very excited.
The Grand Canyon is one of the most spectacular places that I’ve been to. We drove out from Vegas and it took a little over 4 hours to get there. If you are into wildlife, landscapes and natural wonders you must visit this place at least once in your lifetime.
drifters chronicles 
