Souly Positive

I’m in South Africa now and my heart has not stopped beating…for many reasons:) I am finally reunited with Robert and we have been having the time of our life. Seeing each other again after being separated for 3 1/2 months has been incredible. I have missed him so much. The first day I couldn’t stop staring at him which was starting to creep him out:) I think Africa has definitely exceeded both our expectations. Being here with friends and one who happens to be from South Africa doesn’t hurt either. Deon Lategan together with his wife Cynthia have planned and made the arrangements for both ourselves and the Dickeys, Deon has planned more for the three weeks we are with them in Africa than I have for my trip for the whole year. Needless to say it has been fabulous.

I was the first to arrive in Cape Town South Africa and was promptly met at the airport by the Lategans. From the moment I landed we have been on the go and I have seen one beautiful thing after another. The beaches in South Africa are some of the prettiest I’ve ever seen and the wine is also delicious. This makes for a great combination:) The three of us spent one full day touring the wineries. I have never done this and it was really fun. I never thought that I would have so much wine that I would be pouring some down a tasting spittoon:) Each winery was unique and different. In one, a young man cut off the top of a champagne bottle with a saber. Not only was he good with a sword but he was very knowledgable about wine and eagerly shared that knowledge. Another winery made cheeses and you could sample wines and cheeses at the same time…It was blissful:) The other wonderful thing we did was watch the penguins….just let me say…ADORABLE! You can’t beat a penguin for cute…unless you’re a monkey:) The penguins are called jackass penguins…not for their bad behavior but because they sound like a braying donkey:)

Day 3 we picked up Robert at the airport. I had butterflies in my stomach all day. I can’t even describe how wonderful it was to see him after all this time…and no I’m not returning yet. We discussed it and for now I will be carrying on. We stayed at a place called Milkwood Manor in Plettenberg Bay. Probably one of the most romantic, beautiful and idyllic places I have ever stayed in. It was 3 days of heaven! A great room with a balcony overlooking the ocean and the river. A small place that only has 24 rooms, it was quaint, charming and the perfect place to reconnect:)

After 3 days we had to pry ourselves away from this great place to pick up Martin and Lucille and ended up at a Bed and Breakfast right on the beach in Wilderness that had a spectacular view. This made leaving Milkwood Manor a little easier. It was wonderful, again:)

Then comes the safari…WOW, WOW and WOW again…I know I used that for India but really the safaris have been spectacular. We stayed at a place called Elephant Plains. The rooms are like huts…but the fanciest huts you’ve ever seen:). It has the feel of a game lodge without all the dead heads decorating the rooms…instead you get to go out and see the live ones. 2 safaris a day, morning and evening. The first one begins at 5:30 am…yes, I know way too early but sooo worth it. We saw tons of animals…too many to list so I will hit upon a few highlights. We saw a pack of wild dogs which I guess are rare to see….Of course by now y’all all know how knowledgable I am about stuff, so I was expecting to see different types of mutts…you know, like a scruffy rotweiller and a lab mix etc…DUH! Wild dogs is the name of the breed and they are beautiful. Of course the hyena they chased under our truck didn’t think so…that poor hyena was scared to death. It did get away though. We also had several leopard sightings. Beautiful creatures, even when eating a dead water buck that he had dragged up a tree. We also saw tons of impalas, zebras, elephants, giraffes, kudus and the the list goes on and on. On the cuteness scale there was a tiny bush baby, then a month old baby elephant full of attitude and of course always monkeys:) The monkeys hung out at our lodge and of course tried to steal food off the table. The funniest thing about these monkeys though is that they had blue balls…no, literally bright sky blue balls;)

The safaris are thrilling. when you start going off road through the bush in search of a lion…well, it gets your heart pumping. Unfortunately we never saw the elusive lion…the only one of the big five we missed. I feel like we saw so much though. I can’t describe the feeling when you see these gorgeous creatures in their own habitat, out in the wild, just doing what they do naturally. South Africa has been a special treat for so many reasons…Robert, the Lategans, the Dickeys, beaches, wineries and the safari’s but also because I was upgraded:) Yes, lots of great food and wine (I think I gained 10 pounds.) and lots of very nice places to stay…it will be hard getting back to slumming it:) In the meantime I am enjoying every little luxury tossed my way…remember I just left India:)

From South Africa….go wild!