May 2022

No, Johannesburg (Joburg) was not one of our top destinations. We had to be there in order to get to the places we wanted to get to: the safari and Victoria Falls.. Just a big (population: 6 million in city proper, 15 million in the metro area), boring, and not so safe a city we had been told by many people. Whenever I hear a negative generalization about a place, I tend to dig in to find a balance. My efforts here made my head spin: a big place with so many little neighborhood names to remember & the only thing everyone seemed to agree was the Apartheid Museum was a must.

All the names on this map are neighborhoods (called suburbs in South Africa) & people seemed to talk about a place in terms of a neighborhood. I don’t think this map is even comprehensive because the first hotel we stayed at was in Fordsburg and that is not even noted on the map. How could a non-local person ever know what’s where in this town! After a while, I just told myself, “just go there & see what happens!”

The adventure unfolded at the airport. In order to make our arrival to the city easy after a long flight, I had arranged with the hotel to pick us up. A nice gentleman greeted us with a sign showing our name & we followed him to the parking lot. He said the hotel van could not hold the 8 of us with all the luggage, thus, we would need 2 volunteers to stay back and wait for him to come back after dropping us off. Maximum an hour wait. OK, we accepted that. As we were getting the rhythm of early morning traffic of the biggest city in the country, we saw steam coming out of the hood of the car. Uh, oh. The driver pulled the car to a stingy shoulder area at the junction of two merging freeways and made a call somewhere. Then he slowly drove the car to a gas station nearby. You can guess the rest. Lots of waiting time and frustration. Eventually reached the hotel & the whole staff came out to welcome us with warm towels and a feast of drinks and appetizers. We were tired and cranky, but they were so nice that we could not complain too much.

We found Lilian Lofts through Airbnb, but it turned out to be an apartment hotel where rooms were very spacious, comfortable, and stylish. Fordsburg happened to be a multi ethnic area with a heavy concentration of Indians and Paskistanis. The very modern hotel stuck out in the rather modest neighborhood, but the neighbors seemed to look out for the safety of the hotel guests. Whenever a peddler or a beggar approached our group, some neighbor would yell at him. Most restaurants in the area had meat and sea food grills,with no pork or alcohol, of course. We ended up having lunch and two dinners in the area, and the meals were delicious at about $7-8 per person. We just walked into a restaurant that looked popular, and that worked.

I asked a doorman where I might be able to buy a local SIM card for my phone, and he took me to a little lady standing around near the hotel. I purchased a couple of 1 GB data SIM’s for 20 rands (USD $1.20). Despite of my doubts, they worked.

I created this map not quite knowing where we might end up going. So it has a list (purple symbols) of food & drink places, shopping venues, and museums all over town. I thought a good place to start would be an observation deck in a high rise in downtown so that we could get some idea what the city looked like. We took a cab to the address, and the building entrance was boarded up. Whatever we saw on the way there did not make us want to explore more, so we came back to the hotel and rested. The green symbols on the map shows where we actually went.

Let’s try a place a bit outside of the city. Since cabs were cheap and readily available, we ended up taking cabs every where. Uber was available, but everyone seemed to use the local version of the app (Jrney). We went to Random Harvest Indigenous Nursery. When I first came across this name, I knew I had to go there just to find out what the place was all about. It was a beautiful place with gardens filled with indigenous plants, and there was a restaurant serving wonderful meals. We had a great brunch and loved walking around the gardens. They called us cabs on their Jrney app, and we were dropped off at 4th Avenue in Parkhurst. There were nice looking cafes and inviting shops lining the street.

We kept walking northeast when the busy area ended. It was a slight uphill and the temperature was getting hot. There were big mansions in this area showing this city was literally built on gold mines. The difference between our hotel neighborhood and this neighborhood was like night and day. We did not see many people walking, either. They were probably zipping around in a German car with full air-conditioning. After an hour or so of walking around, we were ready to sit down. “DW Eleven 13” was a restaurant mentioned on several different must try restaurant lists for Joburg. You guessed it. I had to try it even just for the name! (When I checked it today, it was permanently closed.) We ordered one each of whatever was on the menu that day & our bellies as well as the eyes were very happy. This was just one example of the evidence of the high-end dining scene in Joburg. I think the final tab was under $20/person since many of these were offered as appetizers. By the way, the name came from the address.

Next stop was the Origins Center (admission: under US$4) at Wits University, one of top universities in South Africa. The entrance to the university was closely controlled by the guards, and they didn’t know why the tourists were lurking about. They had to call the Center to find out if we were, in fact, welcomed there. The displays on human evolution and rock arts were interesting enough, but we really liked the small gift shop where a lovely young lady was so happy to see us. There was an African art museum attached to the university that was supposed to be worthwhile to visit, but we were too tired.

When we came back to Joburg after the safari, we stayed at Saffron Guest House (some rooms were really spacious and nicely done) in Melville, another area with attractive cafes and restaurants and shops. We didn’t have enough time to explore the area much, but we did like the area. We stayed another night at the same guest house after coming back from Victoria Falls. One restaurant we really liked was called Bambanani. It was a family friendly restaurant which meant kids were running around etc. But they offered good, healthy food and drinks at reasonable prices.

If we had a second full day, we would have done the Apartheid Museum (admission: under US$9) and Mandela Foundation. We would have gone to the Apartheid Museum the first day we were in town except the safari program was supposed to take us there at the end. However, it was not open on that day, thus, we totally missed it. The yellow symbols on my map above show Mandela related sites.

So how was Joburg? Big, yes. Boring? There were enough interesting stuff going on. Not safe? We never felt threatened in any way even though there were some rough spots we could see around town. People were kind and polite in general. I will not go out of my way to go back there, but I would’t be sad if a circumstance is created for us to be there again.

itinerary: Johannesburg -> Safari -> Joburg -> Victoria Falls -> Joburg -> Cape Town

June 2022

We flew from Johannesburg to the city of Victoria Falls on a Zimbabwe based airline called Fastjet, and the 90 minute flight cost $220 R/T. The airport was only about 15-20 minutes drive from the city center in Victoria Falls (population: 33,600). Our lodging ($74/night) was located slightly away from downtown in a residential area filled with old colonial era big mansions. We arrived there in the early afternoon, but we were all too tired from a week of intense safari-ing, thus we stayed in the rest of the day and ate at the restaurant on site.

Fully rested, we were ready to conquer the world after a satisfying breakfast at the lodging. The going rate for a taxi to downtown was $5, and the US Dollar was happily accepted by all the merchants in town including the cab drivers. The lodging office arranged a mini bus for our group of 12 whenever we wanted to go places for $2/person. First destination: Victoria Falls National Park. Some guys were selling rain poncho rentals at the parking lot area, and we all got one ($3), which turned out to be a smart move.

There were monkeys greeting us as we were getting our entrance tickets ($30). Once inside, the trail was clearly marked by numbers. You turn left from the entrance till you find number 1 and start from there. It is about a mile from #1 to #16 mostly straight paved way along the water with turn-outs for viewing.

If you find Mr. Livingstone, you are at #1. He was the first white man to see the Falls on November 17, 1855. By #3 on the trail, you will start to feel fortunate about having bought the rain poncho rental. When we were there in early June, which was at the tail end of the best season to visit, there was still so much water that it felt like walking in a rainstorm.

I love to say if the great water falls of the world were Beethoven’s symphonies, Victoria Falls would be #5 while Iguzu Falls would be #9. The biggest (length x depth) water fall in the world, Victoria is basically one giant sheet of water wall. Camera lenses fogged over so much that we stopped taking pictures after a while. Rainbows were formed over the walkway because of the spray of water coming from the Fall. Invigorating would be the best word for me to describe the experience. It took us about 90 minutes to do the walk & we rested at a cafe restaurant inside the park by the entrance.

Some people visit the Zambia side of the Fall, but we thought we had seen enough & chose to stay in Zimbabwe. You can read our friend Bill’s experience in Livingstone, Zambia.

After returning the rain ponchos, we walked 10-15 minutes on a dirt road to our lunch spot recommended by our host at the lodging. “I don’t see any restaurant!,” Pat was saying, then we suddenly came to a parking lot.

OMG! The view from the Lookout Cafe warranted the name perfectly. Under $20/person for a nice meal with drinks.

A quick cab ride ($1) brought us to an artisans market located behind the elegant shopping center called Elephant’s Walk. It was a paradise if you loved bargaining. Very friendly and persistent merchants surrounded you to lure you into his/her store. The stuff they sold there were much better made than the ones sold on the streets, later I found out by comparing.

After a rather animated shopping experience, we were ready for a nice break. We walked slowly to the next stop, a place with good desserts recommended by a cafe owner (he could nor serve us because his cafe was to have an opening the next day), 3 Monkeys. It was an artistically decorated space with indoor and outdoor seating and great food and drinks. We liked it so much – so comfortable and relaxing and great service – that we stayed on for dinner!

Wait a minute. Are those birds on the tree? Sure they are. This will lead us to the second full day in Victoria Falls. I came across an article about a unique experience to have at a fancy hotel in town, so we took a cab to Victoria Falls Safari Lodge. Everyday at 1 PM, they have a free event called the ‘Vulture Culture experience‘ which is a feeding of vultures. They explain why they do it, then, you see hundreds of birds descend upon the meat scraps thrown on the ground.

Food and drinks at the bar in the hotel were first class and a bit pricey for Zimbabwe, but they were worth every penny. The little platform to watch the vulture experience was under this bar, so we didn’t even have to leave our own seats to see the whole thing.

A few birds started arriving around 12:30 PM. Then more. Then more.

They waited in anticipation.

Ready? He emptied the cooler on the ground.

Hundreds of vultures jumped in all at once to get a piece of the action. Why feed vultures? We typically think vultures are bad, but they are a necessary and important part in the natural cycle of life in the African landscape. However, their numbers are dwindling due to poisoning and electrocution by power lines. Poachers poison them because gathering vultures over their illegally hunted animals reveal their position to authorities.

This was quite a spectacle and a learning experience. There was a waterhole on the Safari Lodge ground where elephants and other animals came to quench the thirst. The gift shops were quite nice at the lodge as well.

Later in the day We were picked up at the lodge by the Zambezi River Sunset Cruise people & driven to a boat dock on the river. We had arranged a river cruise through our lodging and received c 10% discount (final price: $36 + $10 park fee per person.) This included bottomless drinks and snacks on the boat for 2 hours. Beyond the rainbow in the picture is the drop of the Victotia Falls.

Hippos were playing near our boat. I learned for the first time that hippos walked not swam in the water. That felt like cheating to me.

It was great to see people having a good time. They were all very friendly.

Verdict: Totally worth it!

The boat people took us to the dinner restaurant we chose, Shearwater Cafe, and we had a great meal there. “Can we come back here for breakfast?” someone asked. Nope, we had to fly back to Johhanesburg the next morning.

Victoria Falls was the most expensive over all – lodging, meals, flights – during this trip. It was also quite memorable and enjoyable. We are talking about $37 per person a night and $15-20/meal here compared to $30/night and $10-15/meal in South Africa. Considering Zimbabwe has the average wage of $253/month, the lowest in the world, we can tell how important the tourist dollars might be in their economy. For the level of comfort and quality we got in Victoria Falls, we got a bargain.

itinerary: Johannesburg -> Safari -> J-Burg -> Victoria Falls -> J-Burg -> Cape Town

May 2022

What? $1,699 for two people for a week of safari? Where? At a luxury lodge in South Africa called Sebatana.. We could not believe the Travelzoo email telling us about this deal. An African safari typically cost more like $5,000 per person from what we had seen up to that point, and that was beyond our price point. (We did not have a bucket list, and, we knew there were so many wonder-filled places to visit around the globe without paying a lot of money). Let’s grab it & see what happens. This was February of 2021, and, tons of super deals came out around this time for hopeful post-pandemic travels. Thanks to this cautious/desperate optimism in the travel sector, we got to go to some of the “bucket list” hot destinations such as this one, Galapagos, and Antarctica.

lodging: A Dutch couple bought an old farmland and started turning that into a private reserve over 20 years ago. There were 4 lodges on Sebatana ground, each with 12 to 14 rooms, a dining room, and a swimming pool. We were in the Elephant Lodge which was almost full at the time with 24 guests. Rooms were spacious, comfortable, and nicely decorated in more rugged glamorous camp vibe than a typical city luxury hotel style. Is it a 5 star operation as they claim? I’d say yes if the highest rating is 7. I’d give it a 4 star rating out of 5. Don’t get me wrong. We were totally happy there. It’s just that it was more like a nice friendly family style operation with a big mama chef rather than an uber-luxury hospitality unit that some high-end lodges offer.

location: 230 Km (143 miles) north of Johannesburg. It took 2.5 hours to get there from the airport in Johannesburg. The drive was pleasant with a snack stop at a farm restaurant. This location is in a malaria free zone.

Lots of open space in the area so that you could spot animals easily as seen below.

Safari: Oxford dictionary defines a safari as “an expedition to observe or hunt animals in their natural habitat, especially in East Africa.” A modern day safari basically consists of riding in a 12 passenger 4×4 vehicle with a canvas top and open sides & looking for/at animals minding their own business. The rule #1: NEVER get out of your car.

The highlight of any safari trip is to see the Big 5 animals: lion, leopard, black rhinoceros, African bush elephant, and African buffalo. Have we? Yes, we have. Sebatana Private Reserve had plenty of animals, but, spotting the big ones was harder here. For that, we had to sign up for the optional tours to a neighboring Welgevonden Game Reserve or Pilanesberg National Park, 3 hours away.

As soon as we drove into the Sebatana ground, these guys greeted us without bothering to look our way. Within the 40,000 hectare landmass of the property (New York’s Central Park: 340 hectare), more than 75 different mammals, over 300 different species of birds, 270 flowers and more than 100 different trees live peacefully according to their claim.

Big 5:

African buffalo: These guys were grazing when we entered Welgevonden one morning. Welgevonden was about the same size as Sebatana, but it was set up more like a park where anyone paying a fee could enter. Sebatana was for their own lodge guests only & most of it was meant to be preserved without human access.

rhino: They were easy to spot at Welgevonden and Pilanesberg (55,000 hectares) & seemed to travel in family groups.

elephant: They were slowly walking around Pilanesberg when we saw them.

lion: Our guide was in constant communication with other guides over a walkie talkie and cell phone to share the information of lion sighting, and, we had seen a glimpse of one or two at Welgevonden. Then, we all saw them right in front of our eyes at Pilanesberg. Two adult females – one pregnant – and a few kids were walking along not paying any attention to us. In fact, they decided to cross the path our vehicle was on, and, the whole gang stepped in front of our car as if we did not exist. I have to admit this was the highlight of the safari experience for me!

leopard: Most illusive of the big 5 is the leopard, we were told. But our guide found one on top of a tree showing off his catch, a kudu, maybe, at Pilanesberg. Even though we couldn’t see it up close (do I really want to?), we could feel the pride and strength of this nimble prince.

others: Along with giraffes, zebras were in abundance at Sebatana. Whenever I looked at the animals on the ground at close range, I was struck by the beauty of these animals: colors, shapes, movements. That was something I could not feel as deeply by looking at photos or videos. You think this zebra photo is beautiful? Wait till you go see in person. Hope you can see a bit of what I mean in following photos.

kudu? What’s that, you may ask. Kudus were the most common game meat served almost every day. Eland was another common animal similar to kudu but bigger. Their meat was tenderer.

impala: I only knew of impala as a automobile brand. Very attractive animal with graceful movements is my biased opinion.

daily program: Each day started early around 6:30 AM for a game drive. There usually was some down time after lunch. 5 optional tours were offered: 2 to Welgevonden, 1 to Pilanesberg, a night safari, and a tribal evening. When the whole package was offered for 250 Euros/person, most people bought it. We thought all the game drives were worthwhile. The night safari was better as an idea than as a reality since we could not see much of anything in the dark with a flashlight held by the guide. (More lights would have defeated the purpose.) The tribal night was much better than expected with a great local style meal and spirited performers. Day time temperatures were around 70 – 80 degrees Fahrenheit in late May, but it got cold in the evenings and early mornings.

There was supposed to be a tour of Johannesburg on our way to the airport on the last day, but the Apartheid Museum, the most popular place to visit in town, was closed that day. So we stopped at a monument in Pretoria and got dropped off at our lodging since we were not leaving that day.

food & drink: We had a great chef who was well versed in the local cuisine and the popular western style foods. Breakfast and lunch were served buffet style while the dinners were brought to the table. Alcoholic drinks and soft drinks were not included and were available for purchase. Happy Hours were popular at the bar.

staff & tipping: There were 3 safari vehicles for our lodge, and the one you stepped in the first day became “My Car” and the driver/guide was yours for the rest of my time there. These guides did so much every day for taking us around, settings things up, making sure everyone was safe and happy. They were very knowledgeable about the animals, geography, trees and plants, local culture, and having fun. We tipped our guide $100 ($10/person/day) for the two of us & we didn’t think it was too much since the safari guides depended mostly on tips. (An average monthly salary in South Africa is about $2,000 according to Google.)

Three kitchen staff and 6 cleaning/wait staff were tipped as separate groups in 2 envelops. We put in $40 to each envelop. They were all very kind and worked hard.

getting there: Sebatana was to pick us up from the airport in Johannesburg. The problem was there were so many other safari groups that it was hard to find our group. What made it harder was the guy who was holding the Sebatana sign walked off with the sign to talk to somebody, thus, I had to ask people with other signs about Sebatana. As you might be able to tell, you have to be a little patient and retain a sense of humor in South Africa in general. Nothing will work perfectly, but, things will work in the end.

Getting to Johannesburg from the U.S. was our responsibility with this travel deal. Most of the people in our group of 14 flew from Los Angeles to London (10 hours), then, onto Johannesburg (11 hours). Three people got on the direct flight from Newark Airport (NYC) to Johannesburg (14 hours). On the average, the round trip fare was around $1,100 – 1,200.

total cost: $850 (tour cost) + $250 (optional tours) + $90 (tips) + $1,200 (flights) = $2,390 was per person cost in the end. I would encourage people to go even if the basic tour cost is twice as much as we paid.

extended itinerary: We were all the way to South Africa, and, we might as well see more while there, right? I wanted to include Namibia on this trip, but, the tourism was not back in full swing after the Covid pandemic in this part of the world, thus, it was hard to find a reasonable way to do so. We went to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe for 3 days after the safari, then, we went to Cape Town for 5 days. This itinerary extension added about $1,000/person to our total budget.

Johannesburg -> Sebatana Private Reserve -> Victoria Falls -> Cape Town