Author Topic: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report  (Read 43512 times)

Offline ponash123

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #80 on: September 03, 2015, 02:58:45 PM »
wow, hotel looks nice.. I think I see a Washington Redskins superbowl champion cap that town mayor is wearing...
We are spoiled the way we live...........
Yes it was a Redskins cap.
And yes, now that I have both pictures side by side of the village and then the hotel...

Offline Yaalili

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #81 on: September 03, 2015, 03:17:56 PM »
Awesome pics and report.

Offline E-MAN

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #82 on: September 03, 2015, 03:55:10 PM »

Offline rediplus

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #83 on: September 03, 2015, 05:27:49 PM »
Thanks for sharing..

Offline VacationLover

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #84 on: September 04, 2015, 02:34:12 PM »
WOW what an epic experience. Very interesting and entertaining...

Offline Emkay

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #85 on: September 05, 2015, 02:46:22 PM »
The village people all spoke English?

Offline ponash123

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #86 on: September 05, 2015, 09:37:44 PM »
They all learn English in school

Offline sillypainter

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #87 on: September 05, 2015, 10:28:09 PM »
Great TR. One question which was asked previously and wasn't answered yet. How was kosher food arranged at every step of the way? Also, what hecsher was it? I would love to do such trip. I think the price makes sense for a trip served on a golden plate. People don't count in all the planning which is required when doing it on your own, some people like planning and researching, I hate it..

Offline ponash123

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #88 on: September 06, 2015, 01:27:13 AM »
Everything was under the Beth Din of Johannesburg, which is the one hechsher that everyone there keeps. The food depended where we were. Going to Zimbabwe we checked in with our luggage 2 boxes of food. We then brought it straight to the hotel and they took care of it from there. We told them when we would want to eat dinner and they would heat all the double wrapped food up. We had cutlery as well. For lunch we had prewrapped salads and such that we also kept in hotel kitchen. They were a bit bewildered but very willing to help (one guy came over with a package of hot cups asking us to open the package because he knows he's not allowed to.) In Cape Town and Joburg we were able to go out to eat and for Shabbos it was basically the same idea as Zimbabwe.

Offline DMYD

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #89 on: September 06, 2015, 10:07:17 PM »
Wow very nice TR and thanks for the Picks! who doesn't like that. ;D

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #90 on: September 07, 2015, 09:42:32 AM »
We are spoiled the way we live...........
Sheesh, no joke.

Thanks for continuing the TR! Crazy how close you were able to get to all these animals!

Offline ponash123

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #91 on: September 07, 2015, 03:29:50 PM »
Day Five: Cape Town, Table Mountain/ Winelands
Cape Town (and its surrounding areas) is ridiculously beautiful. I kept snapping pictures frantically but none of them do any sort of justice at all to the real thing. On Friday we took the cable car up Table Mountain. The scenery from up there is like no other.
DSC01321 by ponash, on Flickr
DSC01432 by ponash, on Flickr
DSC01359 by ponash, on Flickr

Bo-Kaap, Cape Town's Muslim Area:
DSC01478 by ponash, on Flickr

Leaving Cape Town, we drove through the spectacular mountain scenery and fertile valleys of the Cape to Backsberg Estate Cellars. The winery is owned by a Jew and we were able to do a kosher wine tasting there.
DSC01509 by ponash, on Flickr
DSC01516-PANO by ponash, on Flickr

We then went to another vineyard - Delaire Graff Estate. They call this The Jewel of the Cape Winelands and with good reason. The owner, Laurence Graff is an English jeweler and the founder of Graff Diamonds. He’s extremely wealthy and built this magnificent estate. The surrounding scenery is breathtaking and all together it’s just an incredible place to be.
The view from the estate:
DSC01578 by ponash, on Flickr
DSC01584 by ponash, on Flickr

The South African National Flower, The King Protea (open and closed)
DSC01562 by ponash, on Flickr
DSC01561 by ponash, on Flickr

We then drove through Stellenbosch, South Africa's second oldest city. This oak lined university town has really interesting history, showing different styles of architecture from the Dutch to the English.
We then returned to Cape Town and prepared for Shabbos.

Day 6: Cape Town (Shabbos)
Shabbos was nice and relaxing. Our hotel was right near the water and we were able to walk on the promenade. After Shabbos we went to the V&A Waterfront, which is a working harbor. They have a lot of nightlife there and a big, nice mall.
DSC01599 by ponash, on Flickr

Day 7: Cape Town, Cape Point/Cape of Good Hope
Sunday morning we started by going to Hout Bay, a beautiful little fishing village. On the shore of Hout Bay we went to Mariner’s Wharf, from where we took a boat trip to Duiker Island, also known as Seal Island. The boat ride was really nice and we got to get a close look at the seals.
DSC01639 by ponash, on Flickr
DSC01707 by ponash, on Flickr
DSC01646 by ponash, on Flickr
DSC01676 by ponash, on Flickr

Our guide then took us an awesome, little known (to tourists) market where we browsed for a bit.  We then continued on the Chapman’s Peak Drive. This has got to be the prettiest drive in the world. Every time we thought we had seen the most beautiful scene, we rounded a bend and were faced with another.
Some scenes from the drive:
DSC01773 by ponash, on Flickr
DSC01789 by ponash, on Flickr

Cape of Good Hope:
DSC01947 by ponash, on Flickr
DSC01944 by ponash, on Flickr
DSC01957 by ponash, on Flickr

We continued on to Cape Point. The peak above Cape Point is higher than that above the Cape of Good Hope. The higher peak has an old lighthouse on the top. At that point it was really cloudy and we weren’t sure we would be able to see anything but decided to try our luck. So we took the funicular up. The clouds over there are really low and we were practically in the cloud. They ended up moving very fast and we got some incredible views.
These 2 pictures were taken one after the other:
DSC02020 by ponash, on Flickr
DSC02021 by ponash, on Flickr

At the bottom of the lighthouse:
. by ponash, on Flickr
DSC01979 by ponash, on Flickr

From up top:
DSC02007 by ponash, on Flickr
DSC02027 by ponash, on Flickr

We then continued on to Boulders Beach, home of a colony of African penguins.
DSC02040 by ponash, on Flickr
DSC02048 by ponash, on Flickr
DSC02065 by ponash, on Flickr
DSC02044 by ponash, on Flickr

After we got back to the city we went to Avron’s for dinner. They were busy and we waited a really long time for our food, but once it came out everything was delicious.

To be continued…

Online TimT

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #92 on: September 07, 2015, 03:57:54 PM »
That's some really beautiful scenery photos you got there. Not sure if you mentioned it yet, what was your camera of choice ?

Offline ponash123

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #93 on: September 07, 2015, 04:00:44 PM »
That's some really beautiful scenery photos you got there. Not sure if you mentioned it yet, what was your camera of choice ?

I had never used anything other than a p&s before, but courtesy of Prime Day I bought the Sony a3000 and it served me beautifully. I got some really amazing pictures.

Offline Yaalili

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #94 on: September 07, 2015, 04:01:15 PM »
Great memories again, pics don't don't do Cape Town justice, (though ur pics are beautiful), miss that place.

Offline ponash123

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #95 on: September 07, 2015, 04:05:56 PM »
They really don't. I had seen tons of pics before going and it's completely different when you're there.

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #96 on: September 07, 2015, 04:09:48 PM »
Wow, excellent pics! It makes me want to go even more.

Offline philbenjoe

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #97 on: September 07, 2015, 04:25:34 PM »
Great TR. You convinced me.
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Offline Chapshnell

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #98 on: September 07, 2015, 05:41:50 PM »
amazing TR, keep it coming! The travel bug has bitten me again now..

Offline philbenjoe

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #99 on: September 07, 2015, 05:55:27 PM »
BTW just wondering, did you guys rent a car in Cape Town? Joburg?
"Why fit in when you were born to stand out?" Dr Seuss