yes we've been to africa and back... the experience has been good... in 16D14N, we traverse across 2 cities, 3 game reserves, 3 UNESCO World Heritage locations, 2 hikes, 12 camping nites, 5 BBQ dinner and 1 nite at backpacker's hotel..
there's no regret in going there, seeing animals at their wildest, most natural behaviors and interactions.. the giraffes are strong and healthy, the warthogs are nice and dirty, the buffaloes are fierce and mighty!! it's great to know that we're in a reserve where all animals inside (with us as the exception) are free to roam abt and do wadever they wan! the dynamics, and movements and interaction are all self-driven, not some shows... and i think it's also impt at some point on the trip that i find that the whole nature experience is "real"... we were told that we cant go to one of the reserves that was in our itinerary because the drought is causing the watering hole to run dry and the dying stench is in the air... witnessed a fight between 2 buffaloes (over food i think), an injured zebra apparently attacked by a predator earlier (we saw the bleeding wound on its rear and some bite/scratch mark on its neck), a young injured warthog struggling to keep up with its siblings/cousins behind it's mum/aunt... we were almost lunch to a bird of prey! a Yellow-Billed Kite came swooping for our head and yb felt its wing tip on her arm! close one there... the guide suggested that perhaps it's nest is near so we better move on quickly...
the animal safari was the highlight of the trip, in my opinion, even before we were there.. im not too interested in the marine part, and we can get mountain "safaris" elsewhere too... and whr best to see animals other than Africa?? though however there were some points which i think can make it a even better experience.. we were in the safaris in a van, not the open-deck truck u normally see in the shows.. this makes it very limiting for us... our mobility in the vehicle and our chance of getting photos.. and we lost the whole experience of being in a safari.... it felt quite like a zoo, with the same barrier between us and the animals, but this time we're on the inside =(.. and i feel that we could've done more things there.. like night drives and stuffs... on this, perhaps the guides could've recommended or suggested to us... it's a pity... really...
marine and mountain safaris were somewhat quite disappointing though..
we'll talk abt marine 1st.. wad we're "expecting" to see in the marine part of the trip includes whales (we know already not in season), dolphins, hippos, crocs etc... wad was included in our itinerary was juz a walk along the mouth of a river...quite a nice view i muz agree... very extensive sand deposits... nice scenery... we had quite a close encounter with hippos and crocs... but that's abt it... no dolphins nth... we took the optional "whale-watching" water tour.. embarked onto a water vehicle in search for marine games... but nth spotted... not even dolphins... St.Lucia is supposed to be well-known for the UNESCO site there, some wetland reserve, but we didn't go there... god knows why... we only went to the beach... where it's free i supposed.... there's another reserve where we were originally supposed to go too, but it was brought out of the itinerary because of bad road.. we were brought instead to Durban where we stayed a night in a lodge (on beds!! yay!) and went to uShaka Marineworld... the marineworld is somewhat like our Underwater World, but so much bigger, and cheaper and more worth going.. very nice, big, unusual, pretty fishes and marine creatures.. there's even dolphins and seals shows, and water theme park entry included... so that sums up our marine safari...
we visited the Drakensberg (dragon mountain) as part of our mountain safari... yes the mountain ranges were beautiful... but the experience wasn't there... perhaps the guides were unlucky to have clients like us who've been to places... been travelling and trekking/hiking... juz the view from afar wasn't at all satisfying... not at all... i was expecting us to be up the mountains and hiking or camping in the mountains... so was rather disappointing for me... even for the other older couple that was there, they weren't very experience hikers but they've been to places like Nepal, India, Yunan, Turkey... they say the view is so-so... pretty, but so-so... i wasn't too please with the 2 hikes we went either... we din see anything... the 1st one, we din complete and turn back 3/4 way thru... reason given by the guides was the older couple might not want to get dirty... but i think more like the guides themselves wasn't interested to get dirty... the 2nd hike, we insisted that we complete it.. it was a hike at the Tugela falls...2nd highest fall in the world... we saw photos of ppl being on top where before the water falls and imagine us to be there too... when we were hiking and got to somewhere where we can see the bank close, the guide told us, "ok this is the end"... I was like... "what???" i wasn't convinced... i din wanna stop to rest a bit.. i juz rested by bag down and carry on "exploring the area"... saw some hikers further up and asked for directions, apparently we're near the end already... but i thought to myself we hadly gained any altitude, how can we be near? apparently wad happened was that... firstly, this is wad we speculated, the lady guide wasn't comfortable with crossing rocks and streams... so she rather not... that's why we were told "that's the end".. and why we know this was because after we insisted in going further, the 2 guides went ahead 1st... they were supposed to flank us back and front (that's wad they told us in earlier short hikes)... not 2 go together in front...and with the guy guide helping the lady out in front, we were left to cross the stream by ourselves... so end up i had to step in to help... i din mind helping out, haf always been doing that whenever i hike.. but wad irks us was the responsibility of the guides.. and how they told us "this is the end"... 2ndly, we've got the false impression that we'll be at the top of the Falls... if we're to get to the top, we need to take a different route, from a different campsite, a totally different start point...
there' more things, but all in all, im not very please with the trip organised by this company, so im not going to mention any names there.. im juz not going to recommend it to anyone... but taking this trip to africa as a holiday, it was good!! no regrets, gd experience, new lessons learnT.... i'll be back....!
Do visit www.juzride.multiply.com for the selected pix taken in the 2 weeks!
reunion dinner with my parents
janielle in her chongsam at yb's granny's (jan's greatgrandma)
she got some love-letters in her mouth
visiting my granduncle and grandauntie
last stop! our place...
the bedroom
