Holidays in Africa

Marco and I were fortunate enough to spend the holidays with my parents in South Africa this year and the trip was great for a number of reasons. Of course, it was special to be able to spend several weeks with my folks since we don't see them that often. But this was also Marco's first trip to Africa, and we had both been looking forward to that for a long time. And as if that weren't enough, it was summer in South Africa and we got to spend a month soaking up the sunshine and enjoying warm weather! We had tons of fresh, sweet papaya, mangoes, passion fruit and avocados every day. This may not sound special to many of you, but the fruit we get in Ireland is pretty lousy and extremely expensive, so it was quite a treat for us. We got to wear tank tops and flip flops every day. (These have been in storage ever since we moved to Ireland!) It's amazing how such simple things in life can bring so much happiness.

My parents live in the suburbs of Johannesburg in a gated community. Crime in Joburg is pretty high, so there are a lot of security measures in place to protect life and property. There are security guards everywhere, electric wires around most of the properties and bars on windows and doors. It may sound horrible, but it really doesn't feel that strange when you are there. My parents have a beautiful house with a little swimming pool and they are on the edge of a bird sanctuary, so there is even wildlife around the backyard. We spent many hours sitting on the back porch, sipping iced tea and watching a weaver bird build his nests in their tree. It's really fascinating to watch!

We did spend quite a bit of time just relaxing around the house and doing things around town. We got together with old friends for bbq's and catching up. We had some wild domino games on the patio. We took lots of naps. We got to do some good reading. It really was a life of leisure! We also did some special things, which I will try to highlight below.



Lion & Rhino Safari Park and The Wonder Cave - There is a small park about 20 minutes from my parent's house where you can drive your own vehicle through and see some animals. They do some wildlife conservation projects there and have lions, cheetahs, wild dogs and a few other animals. It's not a "real" safari because they actually feed the animals, but it was sort of an appetizer for our real bush experiences. However, my mom's Volvo has lion scratches on the trunk from a previous trip to this park! And, Marco learned his first lesson in bush etiquette....you should not whistle at the lions to try and get their attention. There is also a place called The Wonder Cave, which is thought to be about 1.5 million years old. They take you down an elevator about 60 meters under ground and there are spectacular views of stalagmites and stalactites.

Maropeng & The Cradle of Humankind - This area is thought to be the birthplace of humanity and has been designated a World Heritage Site. There have been many archaeological excavations that have revealed fossils of some of the earliest known life forms on Earth. The exhibits walk you through the origins of our universe and teach us about human ancestors. You can see Stone Age tools and fossils of our earliest ancestors. It's really wild to stand in the place where it seems we all came from!

Mabula Private Game Reserve - We decided to spend Christmas on safari and booked a couple of nights at Mabula. It's a couple of hours outside of Joburg. Our friends Nick, Sally and little Nadia joined us for the trip. We woke up at 5am for early morning game drives, spent the middle of the day just relaxing and swimming and then went out in the afternoon for more game drives. It was really fun doing this with friends and family. And Nadia, who is 3, entertained us with her game drive commentaries...."Are we going to see teddy bears?" and "The giraffes and bears are going to wave at us with their hands."

A Day in Soweto - Soweto stands for South West Township and is one of the communities where blacks were forced to live during apartheid. Today it is still home to some of the poorest communities of Joburg. It has always been a center of political and activist events, and today has a number of fascinating museums that document the history of apartheid. Nelson Mandela lived there for some time and Desmond Tutu still has a house there today. We visited the Regina Mundi Catholic Church, the Hector Pieterson Museum and then had a traditional lunch at Wandie's, a restaurant owned by a local Sowetan and visited by locals and tourists from around the world.

Madikwe Game Reserve & Jaci's Tree Lodge - We decided to do another couple of nights on safari and this turned out to be an amazing experience. Madikwe is a game reserve about 3 1/2 hours outside of Joburg. We booked ourselves into a place called Jaci's Tree Lodge, which was an exclusive, small lodge where all of the "cottages" are built on stilts. They are all connected by these elevated wooden walkways and there is tons of privacy. The maximum number of guests was 16 for the whole lodge, so there was a lot of personal attention! The rooms were absolutely stunning, with windows across one whole wall and there was even and outdoor shower! We dined under the stars, had some great game viewing (thanks to our guide, George!) and some true relaxation.

All in all, this was a great trip for both of us. And now we're already trying to plan our next trip to Africa! Considering we now have a little one on the way, it may be some years before we can do a camping safari, but that's our goal.