Herb came to me a year ago with an interest in visiting the historic battlefields of South Africa. Many of these places were WAY off the beaten track where most visitors never venture. As a history aficionado and well-traveled adventurer, we worked together to come up with a month-long itinerary that included the highlights of South Africa like Cape Town and the greater Kruger National Park area as well as little-known gems like Kimberly, Fugitive’s Drift, and Magersfontein. It was so much fun putting this together and even more rewarding to hear what a wonderful time Herb and Kitty had on this custom adventure. Here are some of their pictures and impressions of the experience.
In Cape Town, we loved the city and our guides – especially on the walking food tour, getting to see the city hall where Mandela gave his speech, and even enjoying coffee at a steam-punk cafe!
We were overwhelmed by the stunning beauty of the place – driving out to Stellenbosch. So picturesque. Not expected. Visiting a family-owned winery was such an intimate experience – even getting to meet the owner. Such a highly developed country – the roads were better than in California.
On our way to the Battlefields outside of Durban, we appreciated the flexibility of our driver to make a short detour so I could put my finger in the Indian Ocean! It was warm!
At Fugitive’s Drift and Rourke’s Drift we appreciated the perspective of our Zulu guide, whose ancestors were among those attacking the British!
Seeing the place where Churchill was captured was impressive. As was Kimberly (The Big Hole) and getting a chance to visit Soweto in Johannesburg.
Magersfontein and our private guide, Ron Gold, were super. We even hiked to the top of Majuba hill – it was so incredible and we really enjoyed that. Ron’s knowledge was impressive.
The Rovos Rail [luxury train from Durban to Pretoria] was great, with excellent service!
We saw so much wildlife at Tanda Tula and our guides were excellent. Even though I had been on a safari before, every time you go, you see something different. This time we saw a leopard pull its kill up into a tree and then go down to help bring up its cubs! We also saw a pride of seven lions on the hunt, and a male lion eating a buffalo. When we came back the next day the lion was gone but the hyenas and vultures were fighting over what was left!
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Your friendly safari expert,
