Kruger Park Day 4

Posted on by Peter

We did the loop around the rivers at Skukuza yesterday morning. That is meant to be the best road for game viewing in the KNP. My grandfather and father swore by it. Someone stole the game off the road though we reckon. Maybe it was ‘Game Capture’ by Guptas? It is very green and thick (no water shortage up here) and quite difficult to see anything unless it saunters across the road (like another hyena did as we headed back into camp). Besides the hyena the game viewing was disappointing though.

The rest of the morning and early afternoon was consumed by sleeping for everyone except me. It is amazing how much sleeping gets done when we come to a game park. Must be the fresh air. At midday we left to fetch Michael from the airport – the last one to arrive.  That all went very smoothly and we were back united as a family again for the next 4 nights.

For the afternoon game drive we decided to head west toward the exit of the park – it was the one route we hadn’t yet taken. The game viewing was much better and we did see a reasonable amount of game but again nothing spectacular or special.

We got back to the camp a little earlier than expected and so went for a stroll along the river and ended up having a drink at the restaurant (which overlooks the river) and watched the sunset. Braai (as usual) for dinner followed by watching some Master’s golf and an early night.

P, H, S, M & C

PS: Someone asked for a link to the video of the elephant charging … I’ll try to upload it when I have good enough connection.

Kruger Park Day 3

Posted on by Peter

Yesterday Stephen and I had to drive from Satara down to Skukuza to collect Helen and Chloe who were arriving just before 1pm from Cape Town. We decided to start at about 6:30am and take a slow drive (it is about 100 kms) and have breakfast on route.

We didn’t see a huge amount again except a really good sighting of a hyena. It was on the side of the road and sniffing around, then would cross the road and then sniff around there and then back again.  We probably watched it for about 10-15 minutes.  It was clearly looking for the scent of something and couldn’t find it. When we first pulled up it was crunching through a bone as well and you could clear hear it. Incredible how powerful their jaws are. We did also see two more lifers (both water birds this time) at the dams on route to Skukuza. That took my lifer count up to 418 (Stephen saw 3 because he again saw one I had previously seen).

We had a late breakfast at a picnic stop as we headed south. We timed our trip pretty well as we got to the Skukuza area just before midday and so we did a trip over the Sand River, a small 4 km loop and then back to the airport.  We had about 20 minutes at the airport to wait for the plane to arrive. Everything went smoothly and we collect Helen and Chloe and headed to Skukuza camp to buy some food for lunch and then check in.

We are staying at Skukuza for 2 nights. We have two chalets which sleep 3 people each. Very nicely done and even have DSTV (can watch the The Masters tonight). Only downside is that they are building right next door and seemingly it doesn’t matter that it is either Saturday or Sunday because as I type this I can having them banging away. Sort of destroys the peacefulness of the game park somewhat.

We went out for an evening game drive (heading south) but again unfortunately didn’t see much. I’m hoping that when Eagle Eye’s Michael arrives today we will start seeing everything. Still no rhino unfortunately and last time we saw so many we eventually weren’t even stopping for them at all. We are up to 85 birds for the trip though (with 5 lifers) so at least that has been pretty decent (didn’t expect to see 5 lifers).

The difference of having Helen here was evident in two things. Firstly, when we arrived the first night Stephen and I looked at each other and said ‘Who is going to unpack the food into the fridge?’ – that is clearly always Helen’s role. When we arrived at the chalet in Skukuza she started doing it immediately (without request) and she remarked that she is happy to do that rather than unpacking the car. Secondly, we had vegetables for dinner that weren’t cooked on the braai only (broccoli, onion, mushroom stir fry).

Looking forward to have Michael arrive today (he had a wedding to attend yesterday) so we have the whole family together for 4 nights.

P, S, H & C

Kruger Park Day 2

Posted on by Peter

Unfortunately when we woke up at 5:30am this it was still raining. We figured that birding wouldn’t be great in the rain and it was still quite dark because of the cloud cover. We didn’t rush to get out for the game drive. We ended up leaving at about 6:20am with the intention of heading East to Nwanedzi (near Mozambique border). It was raining for about the first 30 minutes and then fortunately it stopped.

We saw quite a lot of bird life which was amazing given the weather conditions. Game was a little lacking though unfortunately. As we approach Nwanedzi we met an elephant bull in the road.  He was eating a bush on the side of the road and wasn’t going anywhere fast. We didn’t pressurize him at all but once he was done eating the bush (he basically flattened it), he start to become aggressive towards us and came straight down the road toward us. I am pretty used to getting charged by elephants now and so had the car in reverse quite quickly and backed up to give him so space. Of course it wasn’t just us at this point so we had 3 cars reversing and try to avoid crashing into each other as well.

The elephant kept coming and 2 of the cars managed to do 3-point turns so they could drive forward rather than reversing which just left me reversing. Stephen was making sure that this time (because if you’ve read any of my previous game park blogs you will remember this is not the first time this has happened to us) he had the events on video for all to enjoy. As you would have figured out given the fact I am typing this blog – we did manage to survive and Stephen has the footage. After reversing about 500 meters, he got distracted by his desire to eat some more and went off into the bush just off the road and we could get past him quickly.

Besides our elephant experience, we did manage to add 2 more lifers to our lists.  I’m now at 416 species in Southern Africa. We actually stopped to identify one of the lifers and while we were doing that we saw the other one too. So basically 2 lifers within a minute and at exactly the same location. That is not something that usually happens.

We got back to the camp around 10am for a late breakfast and then basically spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon in camp. Stephen read, I downloaded emails (very slow connection) and Stephen slept. We then headed out again at 3pm. Game was pretty sparse to start with but toward the end of the drive we added another 2 of the Big 5 – buffalo (right next to the road) and Lion (quite near the camp but a little way off the road). We had cellphone signal and I was talking to Helen via whatsapp when we saw it and she asked for a picture which I duly sent.  No chance of her ever seeing it from my iPhone picture though!  We are up to 65 birds for the trip as well.

P & S

PS: Forgot to say that last night while we were eating supper an African Wild Cat came to check out what might have fallen from our braai. Pretty nice sighting of something you don’t often see in the Kruger.

Kruger Park Week

Posted on by Peter

We have a week in the Kruger National Park. The original trip was meant to be 5 days with the whole family but I felt like going for longer and Stephen was up to join me.  So the two of us left yesterday morning from Cape Town. SA Airlink introduced a direct flight from Cape Town to Skukuza about a year or so ago and that was the flight we were on. You can tell that everyone is keen to get to Skukuza by the fact that the door to the plane closed 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled departure time. Beside one seat, the plane was full.

We arrived at Skukuza just before 1pm. 32 degrees. A bit of a shock to the system especially since I was wearning jeans! Got the car we had rented and we headed to Skukuza itself to do some shopping for food for the next few days. At about 2pm we were on the road up to Satara. We had 4 hours to do the 92 kms and we pretty much used the whole time.

We didn’t think we would see that much because of the heat and it being the middle of the day but by the time we arrived at Satara we had seen 36 different species of birds and 2 of the Big Five (elephant & leopard). I also had a brief glimpse of what I think was a hyena and we had seen much of the usual game – impala, giraffe, kudu, waterbuck, crocodile, hippo, zebra, wildebeest, mongoose, tortoise. Stephen had also added a lifer to his list (one I had seen before during another trip when he wasn’t around).

But probably the most spectacular part of the day was watching the thunderstorm approach. The lightning strikes were incredibly impressive and about 30 minutes outside of Satara it was very dark and started to rain quite hard. Game viewing quickly became impossible and the aim was just to get to the camp at that point. After seeing the effects of the earlier rains this season (road totally washed away in one place – have photo but connection not good enough to upload), it felt better to actually be at a camp rather in the thunderstorm.

When we arrived we realised no cellphone signal and while checking in they said the lightning seemed to have taken out both MTN and Vodacom. No means of communicating with the outside world and even in the Kruger Park that becomes an issue. No credit card payments at the store and neither would the ATM work. Fortunately I had cash but there were some pretty distraught looking people at the shop. By this morning Vodacom had been restored but still no MTN.

Despite the rain, Stephen and I made a braai (how can you do anything else when in the Kruger?) and fortunately the rain stopped long enough for us to finish braaiing the meat (chops and pork strips). Don’t worry Helen – we also had sweet potato and gem squash (also on braai). Beer and red wine to wash that all down.

No need for a jersey of any form as it was very hot and humid. We ran the aircon the whole night at 21 degrees which made sleeping bearable. It did rain much through the night but even when we got up in the morning the temperature was still 21 degrees (at 5:30am).

I will try post again later about this AM and PM (cellphone signal dependent). We are about to head out for an afternoon drive.

P & S

Grindelwald to Cologne

Posted on by Peter

Yesterday was my last day in Grindelwald but Stephen, Michael, Lara and Oli are staying on doing sightseeing, snowboarding and skiing. It was a stunning day yesterday with the sun out. It was -8 degrees in the morning but when the sun comes out it really does change the complexion of the place entirely. Even though the temperature is still low it just feels much warmer when you can feel the sun.

Stephen & Lara tried out snowboarding yesterday morning and made some progress in getting the basics under control. Oli & Kirsten ski’d down the Bodmi slope 10 or 11 times to build up some confidence while Michael and Daniel went to ski in Mannlichen (which is at about 2300m and requires you to take a gondola to get to the ski area).

I had to leave to catch a train from Interlaken to Basel and then change at Basel and take the train to Cologne. It was 3 hours to Basel in a train and then 4 hours from Basel to Cologne. I had worked out that it took the same time to take the train as it would to fly (as I would have had to take the train to Zurich airport, check in, security etc).  At least on a train you can work, read, answer emails etc and there is WiFi so it was a lot more productive. What did strike me was the fact that there was snow the whole way during the train journey. It is unusual for there to be snow in Cologne but there were even places I could see snow when we pulled into Cologne last night. The other noticeable thing is that immediately you leave Switzerland (i.e. from Basel onwards), the landscape becomes flat and (dare I say) boring. It was an immediate transition.

Unfortunately it is back to work for me. So don’t expect much of a blog in the next few days. I will try to blog a few more times before I get back but given I am no longer with the rest of them I doubt I will be able to give a lot of what they are up to.

P (and for 1/2 day S, M, L & O)

Grindelwald Day 2

Posted on by Peter

We woke up to see that more fresh snow had fallen overnight though the temperature had risen to around 1 degree. It was still overcast. Michael, Oli and Daniel were going skiing at Kleine Scheidegg. It involves taking the train from the Grindelwald Grund station to Kleine Scheidegg (KS). KS is at about 2061m above sea level and is about half way up the Eiger and on the train line which goes up the Jungfraujoch (which is at 3466m (described as the Top of Europe and is the highest reachable point in Europe by rail). About mid-morning it became very cloudy with really poor visibility in Grindelwald and we messaged them to discover it was what is known as a ‘white-out’ up there too. Shortly after that it actually started snowing in Grindelwald.

Stephen and Lara spent a reasonable chunk of the morning out walking around the town. In fact they walked down to the river (which is really at the end of the town or in another town probably more correctly) and back again to the chalet and so they were out walking when it was actually snowing (a first for Lara).

Michael and Oli got back just after lunch time. Oli had coped well for a few runs on the mountain and then lost her confidence (by her own admission). Both Michael and Oli were pretty tired when they got back. Oli was so tired she couldn’t actually eat (which if you know Oli is a clear indicator of how tired she really was). It was Michael’s birthday yesterday and so I think skiing for him was the best way to spend most of his birthday.

In the afternoon, Stephen, Lara and Kirsten went to get their boots fitted as they planned to go up to Bodmi this morning.  Oli decided to join them to try to get her confidence back in skiing something easier than KS. My Dad and I also went for a short walk around the town to get some fresh air. I failed to wear a beanie and when I got back everyone was laughing at how red my ears were.

Dinner last night was raclette which is a Swiss specialty. It was Michael’s choice. It is basically melted cheese which you eat over potatoes (you get special potatoes for the purpose too). You eat sausages (bratwurst) with it. It is fairly rich but very nice and by the end of the night all the potatoes were consumed and most of the cheese was gone too. Michael asked for treacle sponge with custard for dessert which is a Temple family special (and I guess an English dessert).

Everyone was in bed earlier as the skiers were pretty tired. I have never seen Daniel in bed as earlier as last night (admittedly he only got back at about 6:30pm after leaving at 8am!).

It was a nice day but missing Chloe & Helen’s presence …

P, M (because it was his 19th birthday), S, O, L (because she laughed at my red ears)

Grindelwald

Posted on by Peter

We woke yesterday to a snow-covered Grindelwald. You might think that was to be expected but until a few days there was hardly any snow in the area. Our wider family had been here over Xmas and they hadn’t been able to ski because of the lack of snow. Given that the 4 of them (S, L, M & O) are here to ski and snowboard, this was obviously a great sight.

As we had arrived so late on Friday, I went down to the supermarket with Daniel (my nephew) to buy some breakfast items. I know it is really easy to comment on prices in Switzerland but it really struck me how much more expensive it was to Portugal (let alone to SA). For instance, mangoes (imported from SA no doubt) were the same absolute price in Switzerland as they were in SA – just a different currency which makes them about 14 x more expensive here! That is a staggering difference because there is no way importing them should result in the price being 14 x more. I wonder who is making all the profit out of them along the chain of supply?! In case you need help translating that it was over R100 per mango.

The kids went later to have a walk around Grindelwald and then we met them at the supermarket again to do a bigger shop for the next few days.  The bill for that shop came to almost R10000 for a full shopping trolley. That is probably 3-4 x what we would pay in SA for the same thing. It really does amaze me in a world that now has a global economy how one country could be so much more expensive than the other countries surrounding them. I travel regularly to Germany and while Switzerland borders Germany, I reckon Germany is at least half the price for the same things.

It is pretty cold here. When we arrived Friday night is was -15 and yesterday the temperature rose to -3.5 degrees. There are some advantages of this in that if the fridge or freezer is full all you do is put the items outside. For instance, the cooldrinks weren’t cold when we got back from the shop so Stephen simply placed them outside and surrounded them with snow. Problem solved in that about 10-15 minutes later you have cold drinks.

After lunch, Michael and Oli went to get their ski boots and ski’s fitted and then we all went up to Bodmi (small village just above Grindelwald where the ski school is located). There are a few gentle slopes to practice on and given Oli hadn’t ski’d since she was 6, it was a good place to start. She seemed to pick it up quite quickly again. Michael looked remarkably comfortable on ski’s despite not having ski’d for 2 years. The rest of us  decided to toboggan and everyone had great fun coming down the short slope. There were probably 20 people doing the same thing so the biggest challenge was ensuring you missed the other people. Michael & Oli decided to ski back to the chalet and Daniel tobogganed back with them and the rest of us drove back down again. Everything closes at about 4:30pm as the sun sets just before 5pm so there is no point in staying out after that (though there was some snowball throwing before we headed back).

Everyone was pretty tired by around 10pm last night and headed for bed.

Until later today (or tomorrow depending on how I feel) …

P, S, L, M & O

(PS: Helen and Chloe arrived home safely yesterday afternoon and told me they were swimming in our pool at 28 degrees C … bit of change of climate!)

 

Traveling day

Posted on by Peter

Yesterday was the day of travel. We left for the airport at just before 11am. We dropped off the family with the luggage at the terminal and then Michael and I took the car back to the rental car company (which was offsite). It was pretty painless to do the drop off and then we headed back to check in. Helen and Chloe were heading back to Cape Town via Zurich and Johannesburg and the rest of us were going to Zurich and then catching the train down to Grindelwald.

We were actually on different flights as Chloe and Helen were on Swiss Air but the rest of us were on TAP. Both flights ended up being delayed by at least an hour. They announced that the delay was due to staff shortages – we were hoping not a shortage of pilots. I think it was because they still have some strike action amongst the ground staff.  The delays weren’t really an issue for either of the groups as it just meant we ended up taking a later train and Helen & Chloe had a 4-hour layover which just became three hours.

img_2155The TAP flight was pretty uncomfortable. I have never flown on a flight with such little48b3884b-7340-419e-912a-7d9b122f295b leg room. It was quite ridiculous. I actually had a business class seat and my knees were touching the seat in front. I couldn’t even put my legs under the seat in front of me without turning sideways first. And unfortunately it is quite a long flight (3 hours). We landed at 6:30pm and got our luggage and had time to buy some dinner before catching the train. We bought takeaways for dinner which cost R220 per person (not kidding!). Switzerland is another whole league in terms of price versus any other country in the world.

75c5e6d9-c898-4728-9df9-19f23dc14b8dThe train left at 7:40pm and we had to change at Bern and then again at Interlaken Ost. The trains run precisely to the minute usually in Switzerland and so it was surprising that we arrived 2 minutes late into Interlaken Ost. The train to Grindelwald left 2 minutes late and I suspect it was compensating for the late arrival into Interlaken.

There is a lot of snow around and it is pretty cold outside. I checked the temperature in Interlaken and it was -15 degrees C. My Dad kindly met us at the train station in the car so that he could take the luggage up to the chalet and the ladies went with him while the rest of us walked up. There are 9 of us staying in the chalet at the moment as one of my nieces and one nephew are also here (as well as my folks).

Helen and Chloe were killing time at Zurich airport and their flight left at 10:45pm for Johannesburg.  They have just arrived back into Cape Town as I type this.

Until tomorrow (or possibly later today)

P, H, C, S, M, L & O

Lisbon

Posted on by Peter

Today was residency renewal day. That meant breakfast at 9am and then a walk over to the lawyers office (about 20 minute walk). It was very misty this morning but not particularly cold (and I see as I type now it is becoming very misty again tonight). We got to the lawyers office at 10am and signed the necessary documents and then had to walk to the Home Affairs office. Home Affairs in Portugal is like anywhere else in the world. Basically sit and wait and do nothing. Our ticket was F33 and they were on F12 when we arrived at 11am. We finished at around 2:45pm i.e. 3 hours 45 minutes of basically doing nothing. Reading, Facebooking, YouTube videos, iPhone games etc. Fortunately we knew what to expect and came prepared.

Lunch at the Burger King on the corner which is now becoming a tradition.  3rd time to visit Home Affairs in Lisbon and 3rd time we had Burger King lunch. The day was basically consumed doing the renewals so we went back to the hotel for a rest. We went out for dinner at 7:30pm and found an Italian restaurant. It was definitely the worst food and worst service we have had since we arrived. The waiter was grumpy and unhelpful and the food was average at best. Not a great way to finish off our last night in Lisbon. I at least found a MacDonald’s on the way back to the hotel so I could get a Chocolate Sundae.

Tomorrow is a traveling day as we split up – Helen and Chloe going back to SA and the rest of us going to Switzerland.

Until tomorrow …

P, H, S, M, C, L & O

Aveiro to Lisbon

Posted on by Peter

Not a lot to blog about today as we left Aveiro this morning and drove the 220kms down to Lisbon. Motorway most of the way with a stop for lunch at one of the many motorway services. The weather was overcast for most of the day and there were patches of thick mist as we drove south down to Lisbon. I am sure I have said this previously, but the road network in Portugal is ridiculously good. The motorway was 2 or 3 lanes most of the way and very little traffic. And more incredibly (at least for South Africans) the drivers are very disciplined and pass left and immediately pull back into the right lane. It is a pleasure to drive here (and pretty easy too).

b068bec6-09bd-4bd9-b339-44b8cdc8ce9eWe arrived in Lisbon at about 2:30pm. We are staying at the HF Fenix Garden Hotel (http://www.hfhotels.com/gb/?s=3&ss=21). Our room looks very similar to what you see on their website (which is unusual) and yes it is in pink (if you look at the website). Helen said she thinks it is the first time she has stayed in a pink hotel room. The room overlooks Ave Liberdade and the main traffic circle at the top of the road. Parque Eduardo VII is what you can see directly from our room (see pic). It is noisy (traffic) when the window is open but with the window closed you can hear no traffic noise at all but the room is terribly hot. The aircon only works on fan or heating and we definitely don’t need heating.

It is considerably warmer in Lisbon (around 18 degrees) and it feels hotter. We walked down and back up Ave Liverdade tonight to find a place for dinner and by the time we found a restaurant we had all stripped down to just our shirt sleeves. The city clearly traps in the heat.

Not much to share today but that is sometimes how it goes when traveling.

Until tomorrow

P, H, S, L, M, O & C