Cape Town Day 2

Our adventure continues... We headed south to Cape Point. Known to be the point where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet. It was a very scenic drive and took close to 2 hours. Once you get to the Cape Point area.. you take a small cable car to the top of a viewing area and then you need to take a short hike to the actual point... well the day we were there it was sooooo windy that we were not allowed to hike to the point (since you walk along a cliff-- no one wants to be blown over!) But it was more gorgeous views. We took a break and had some lunch at the restaurant.

The lighthouse at the top


Amazing Views



Our next stop.. Boulders beach to see the penguins. This area is home to tons of African penguins... they are so cute! We walked the boardwalk at the national park to view the penguins.

Penguins



Penguin sitting on her eggs.


Boys checking out the penguins


Then the last stop of the day we stopped at a place called scratch patch in Simons Town. It is a Rock & Mineral mine. You can tour the mine and there is a place for the kids to fill bags with whatever rocks they want. The boys had a blast! We filled 3 bags each. Most if not all of the stones are mined here in South Africa so it was very cool.

Searching for the perfect rock....



Day two was a huge success. Once back in Cape Town we went and had a delicious dinner at the waterfront and got ready for another fun filled day ahead!

Cape Town Day 1

The fun never stops... we were still basking in the amazement of our experience in Kruger, but were off onto another adventure to Cape Town. Cape Town has been said to be the "New York City" of South Africa. It is a beautiful city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, has lots of night life and has amazing people and history. We stayed at the Waterfront which was wonderful! On Day one, we got up and headed to the harbor to take an amazing tour of Robben Island. Robben Island was the home to many things over the years but the most remembered is the site of the prison that Nelson Mandela was held. You take a 30 min ferry out to the island, then a bus tour around the island with lots of info about all of the history and then to the prison to tour some cells and the yards. The guide thru the prison is a former prisoner that served time there. Amazing to hear the stories and events from someone that was there and lived it. So interesting! Nelson Mandela wrote most of his autobiography while he was there.. check it out "A long walk to freedom". Dad read it before he came and was completely thrilled with seeing it and talking to the guide about his views on some of the things in the book. Puts everything in perspective.

Grammy & Poppy with Aiden and Evan waiting for Ferry...


Front of Prison


A cell ... same cell Nelson Mandela was held in.


Poppy & Aiden in Jail....


Our tour guide.


After an amazing tour we walked around the waterfront, did some shopping and had a great lunch right on the water.

Photos of the waterfront...



Our hotel just blocks from the waterfront.


After the relaxing lunch we headed to Table Mountain. It was a gorgeous, clear day. We rode the cable car up to the top and looked at the sites. WOW!!

Layout of the mountain and peaks...


Cable Car... going up


Grammy, Mommy and boys on Table Mountain


Views from the top.....




Grammy & Poppy.. so cute!!


What a great end to the day!

Nyala Safari Lodge Day 2

Day two started off with hearing hyennas, jackels and lions off in the distance. After a great breakfast we were off to search for the elephants and any other animals we could see... we saw lots and had a great morning!

Elephant tracks....


After a great morning drive we came back in for brunch and then off again to the Olifants River to do some more searching.... Wow .. we saw elephants, lots of elephants along the river banks! And then headed down the river further.. walked up to the rivers edge and saw lots of crocodiles and hippos! We were 20 ft from the river and the hippos were swimming around along the edge. Which is amazing and scarry since hippos kill more people in the wild than any other animal. They are very protective and they can run fast! Luckily our guides Henny and Don had rifles... Absolutely amazing!! The crocs were laying in the sun. On the way back in we came across 4 male elephants along the road ... up close and personal! We also saw lions .. two large males thru a fence to the neighboring reserve and as we came up on them they started roaring and as they roared we could hear other lions in the area all around us roaring as well. It is an awesome sound, not anything like you would imagine it to sound like. Just awesome!!

Here are some photos....

Male hippo warn us to back off


Family of hippos, 2 adults and a cub


Kudu...beautiful animals!


Crocodile sunning himself


Elephants up close..


The huge herd of elephants along river bank.



What an amazing day... we headed in and had a wonderful dinner and late at night againd heard the lions roaring.. they sounded as if they were right outside our window. We had been told that the lions on the reserve were being quite shy because they had two cubs with them. The sound of them roaring is just absolutely the most amazing sound I have heard! The next moring we woke to see lion tracks right out side the gate to the lodge...



What an amazing experience! We had a great time. Our hosts were amazing! That is the benefit of going to a small lodge you get very personal attention and the people running the small places are very passionate about the animals and what they do, which gives you some amazing stories and information. It was awesome!!

Nyala Safari Lodge Day 1

Our first stop in our whirlwind tour of SA with Grammy & Poppy was Nyala Safari Lodge adjacent to Kruger National Park. It is on a private reserve and borders Kruger. It is a small lodge and very intimate. The other homes on the reserve are privately owned! Nice huh? It was us and just two other couples from the UK. We arrived in the afternoon and were greeted by Henny and Lindy the hosts and with drinks. After lunch we headed out for the afternoon game drive. Henny was driving and we had another guide Gideon, who tracked the animals the old fashioned way... (Some reserves here have gps collars or chips in their animals) We saw lots of animals but the best was when Gideon tracked the rhinos and we walked across a dry river bed, into the bush and walked within 30 ft of three beautiful white rhinos! Amazing! On the way back to camp we came across giraffes fighting... crazy to see them just hitting each other with their heads and necks. They really are amazing animals. Back to camp for a delicious dinner and some great conversation.

The Rhinos Up Close..




The boys getting ready for safari!


Scott & Dad having a drink out in the bush.


Gideon our tracker... the kids loved him!


We saw lots of other game... buffalo,giraffe,zebra, wildebeest and lots of buck.... Wonderful!

First Visitors

Our first visitors have come and gone... Grammy & Poppy Duncan arrived on June 27. We had a jammed packed schedule... We met them in Johannesburg after their long flight and enjoyed a quiet night in a hotel by the airport. The next morning we were off.. we drove 6 hours east to a private game reserve bordering Kruger National Park. It was great to see them and catch up on what was happening but the drive got much more exciting.. about an hour into our drive we came up to a toll booth. As we were paying our toll we saw a police officer traveling toward us with its lights flashing. As we went thru the booth we realized that it was a high speed chase with a small black car. Not only was it a high speed chase but as they came closer we saw the police hanging out their windows with guns drawn. The little black car made a u turn before going thru the toll and went right past us along with the police and guns a blazing.. as we all ducked down we watched the chase fly out of sight. Welcome to Africa! Then a few hours later Scott was pulled over for speeding. Well, here they actually have "spot" fines that you can pay to the officer right on the spot without any write up,etc. Of course, Scott played his cards right and got a $40 spot fine down to $10 and we were off with ..."don't do it again". So the trip was an adventure from the start! What else do you expect from a Duncan family vacation.

The adventures continued.. we had a great time at the game reserve. We saw elephants, hippos, rhino, impala, buffalo, wildebeest, giraffe, zebra, lots of buck, etc. After two nights there we were headed back to Joburg and flying off to Cape Town. We spent 3 nights in gorgeous, fun Cape Town and then headed into the Winelands for two nights...and drank lots of wine! After all that excitement we headed home along the scenic garden route. Once back to the house, we did lots of day trips and touring around here. It went by way to fast and we hated to see them leave!!! I hope they enjoyed their south african experience. I know we had a blast with all the adventures. Well enjoy the posts to follow with photos and more details.

Schools Out....

Well school is out... we have reached the end of the second term of the year. So we are halfway thru the year and have a three week break before the third term begins. At the end of this term you receive a report card for each student. It is age appropriate and is actually very thorough, looking at not only whether they can count, know their colors, etc but how well they play with others and how they deal with different situations. I am actually very impressed. Then again at the end of the year they add on to that report for additional things.

I believe I have talked about the kids art work in anther post at the beginning of the year... but here it is very important. They put a high value on art work and outside play. They feel it is essential in all other aspects of their academic life.

I have attached some photos of the boys classrooms and some of their masterpieces. Enjoy.....


Aiden's Classroom .. He has about 20 kids in his class.



Evan's classroom.. He has about 10 kids in his class.




Aiden's Artwork...





Here is some of Evan's art work.





Now that we are off on break, we are going to have some visitors and have a great time! Grammy and Poppy Duncan will be in the air shortly to visit us for a couple of weeks!!! YEAH!! Look for posts of all our great adventures!