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Leopards plus +

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Ellen

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(This is part of a trip report to Africa, flying United Global Business/First, costing $87 and 120,000 miles which were Ultimate Reward points from my Chase Ink card, transferred to United.)

Our first day out at Mala Mala, we saw eleven giraffes! I just LOVE to watch them…

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We also saw a little elephant family…

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The elephant tusks are actually incisors (like teeth) and they are right/left tusked, just like us!

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We just waited for them all to cross the road, and the ages were about one and a half, four, and seven!

DSC_0458-001 Sadly, due to poaching, elephant tusks are not as long as they once were.

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Just a little snack…

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Mala Mala has been privately owned since 1927. They started “camera” safaris, rather than hunting, in 1965 when the current owners bought it. There are three camps, we stayed in the main camp, the least expensive one. The property is 33,000 acres, with all human habitation on the western side of the Sand River.

Here are some photos of the lodge and other buildings…

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The property has an infinity pool facing the Sand River..

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Maybe the male nyala wants to go for a swim?! (The female looks totally different).

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And there were exercise rooms, which we had NO time to use!

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In the lodge, these tusks were over ten feet long! The elephant had died a natural death some years past.

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This is the entrance to Mala Mala.

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I promised leopards and we saw these twins, about eight months old, one morning. The mom was on a hunt, which can last 2-3 days, but she’s trained her babies to stay in one place.

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All the pictures are the female, the male was more elusive…

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We watched her stalk, and even that young, they are experts. They move V E R Y s l o w l y!

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ALL the food throughout the trip was spectacular! I don’t have any photos, I guess I was too busy enjoying it all! At Mala Mala, we had a breakfast and lunch buffet, and ate on the patio facing the Sand River. In the afternoons, before our drive, we had tea. And at night, we were served a meal in an open air hut.

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The main reason we went to Mala Mala was the 99% guarantee of seeing leopards if you stay two nights! And we certainly did, more on that later…

Mala Mala = Luxury!

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Ellen

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(This is part of a trip report to Africa, flying United Global Business/First, costing $87 and 120,000 miles which were Ultimate Reward points from my Chase Ink card, transferred to United.)

Mala Mala is a private camp, with a twelve mile, unfenced border with Kruger National Park in South Africa. Our main reason for going there was the almost guaranteed leopard sightings (more on that in a later post). It was winter in South Africa, as you can see from the above photo, which was our view from the patio during lunch.

The camp is like a little village, with eighteen suites. The walkways were raked daily!

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Each little cone shaped building was a suite of rooms!

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I love how the buildings were built into the land.

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And here is our little “house” for four nights!

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Inside it was HUGE, with two bathrooms, two closets, a desk, sitting area, and snack bar. I love all the art work! The arch to the right leads to my bathroom and closet. Notice the bench at the foot of the bed; the white seating area is rope.

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One bathroom had a tub and one had a shower.

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That is rope around the mirror…we also saw a rope stool, similar to the bench, at one of our friends. But I never saw anything similar for sale – I would have loved to take something like that home.

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The writing desk…

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The snack bar area with some snacks, tea, and coffee. We were too stuffed from all our meals to try anything!

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Our sitting area…the last night we had room service and ate dinner here…very relaxing!

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The wall of windows with the patio behind.

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Our view…

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Coming soon, leopards at Mala Mala!

Capetown, South Africa…

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Ellen

(This is part of a trip report to Africa, flying United Global Business/First, costing $87 and 120,000 miles which were Ultimate Reward points from my Chase Ink card, transferred to United.)

Capetown, South Africa is a very cosmopolitan city, which was somewhat of a surprise. We stayed at the Park Inn, using my Club Carlson points, where you stay two nights, and get the third night free! It was quite nice, in a good location, and included a free breakfast. We were on the go all day, every day, so I don’t have photos of the hotel.

Our first day we hired a guide, who picked us up at the hotel and we did Table Mountain and the Cape, with lots of stops along the way. We were fortunate to have beautiful blue skies and clear weather, which is not always the case! The photo above is the tram going up the mountain.

Views from the top…

Table Mountain, one of the Seven Wonders of Nature, looks like a table from a distance and when the clouds come over the mountain, they say it’s the tablecloth!

Even though we had blue skies, it was still cold (and windy too)!

My son was working overseas and was able to join us, so it was nice to squeeze in a visit with him!

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Great photo of my son…

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The cable car was built in 1929, and of course, has been upgraded many times since then!

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Headed to the Cape, about an hour south of Capetown.

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DSC_0080-001 This is the Cape of Good Hope, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet!

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Cape Point Nature Reserve is over 19,150 acres, with areas for hiking, biking, and camping! The baboons were everywhere, and we were warned NOT to feed them!

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We drove around the Cape on the other side as we headed back towards Capetown, again, with stops along the way. The African penguin, the only penguin to inhabit Africa…on Boulders Beach, aka, “Penguin Beach.”

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We ended our day shopping at the Waterfront in Capetown, near our hotel. The next day we toured the small towns of the wine country. My son went to the Franschhoek Motor Museum, while we went shopping.

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All the South Africans think very highly of Nelson Mandela…

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This day we saw the fickleness of Capetown weather, as it was cloudy all day, so this is my one OK photo of the beautiful wine country at the end of the day…

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We spent the evening with friends, which ended with a night-time view of Capetown.

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Next up, Mala Mala safari camp in South Africa…

Vic Falls from the air!

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Ellen

(This is part of a trip report to Africa, flying United Global Business/First, costing $87 and 120,000 miles which were Ultimate Reward points from my Chase Ink card, transferred to United.)

I splurged and took a helicopter ride over Victoria Falls because I had read it was a “must do” and I didn’t know that I would ever be there again. I must say, it was worth every penny!

The driver picked me up at the fantastic “Grand Lady of the Falls,” ie, the Victoria Falls Hotel (more on that below). As we drove to the helicopter site, I quizzed the driver on the best way to get a front seat and he was extremely helpful…just like the kids at school, be the first one in line (to be weighed)!

Approaching the falls from the Zambezi River, you could start to see the “smoke that thunders,” that very appropriate nickname for the falls!

This gives you a better picture of the river that feeds the falls.

And there are winding canyons all around the area…

I was lucky to ride in a four person helicopter, rather than the larger one!

The Victoria Falls Hotel is described as a “majestic, colonial wonder” and I would heartily agree! It was built in 1904 and though it was a bit hard to find plug ins for our electronics, the charm of it all made up for it! I forgot to take pictures of our room, but here’s some of the hotel and gardens.

Our greeter, is his colorful vest with badges from all over the world; I gave him a pin from my own town to add to his collection! (Helpful hint – get little things from your local chamber of commerce to give to people on your travels, it’s always a big hit)!

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