Moment of truth. My biggest fear getting prepared for this trip was the self-drive portion. How well would I do on the "wrong" side of the road navigating big city traffic? Speaking of navigation, how does that work....is Google Maps still my friend? (in short, mostly yes). And of course, what about all the notorious crime I've read about? Yikes. I gathered info from everyone we encountered - transfer guides, hotel concierges, activity guides, online blogs, etc. Their advice all echoed similar guidelines: lock your doors, avoid driving into townships, keep valuables out of sight, and plan your trips during the day. Armed with this information, we received our rental car at the hotel and set off for Hermanus, whale capital of South Africa.
Southern Right Whale Hermanus (Mary Curry)
Along the way, we inadvertently broke nearly every rule when our navigation system steered us directly to a dead end in the middle of a township (not the place we wanted to hear "you have reached your destination") and I tried unsuccessfully to roll down my window to ask a passing cop for help (but rolled down every other window in the car instead). Thankfully, we found our way safely back to the highway and had a good laugh about the ridiculousness of two lone females from Montana navigating the South African countryside.
Fortunately that was all for our navigational adventures and we arrived in Hermanus with a few minutes to spare. Though Hermanus is known for the best land-based whale watching in the world, it was early in the season (June to December) for the whales arriving from Antarctica so we opted to take a whale watching cruise to increase our odds of seeing them.
We would have been thrilled to see just one whale, but we had a glorious day! We spotted at least 3 Southern Right Whales, including one who decided to hang around our boat for 30 minutes or so, lazily swimming along the surface and lightly fluttering her tail. In addition to the whales, we spotted seals and dolphins- a great day indeed! Whale Watching by Hermanus (Mary Curry)
The trip was not only memorable for the amount of animals we saw but also for the people and accommodations at the two camps where we stayed. Our first guide, BK, was a wealth of information about the animals, landscape and down to the plants and what they were used for. Everyday out was a learning experience with him. All the people at the camps were gracious and the food was excellent.
Our second camp in the Okavanga was just as good as the first as far as the staff, accommodations, food and animals. After our experience at the first camp we amazed that the high quality remained the same. Our guide, G, made sure we were able to enjoy every experience including a rush through the bush to witness a cheetah and an ensuing hunt that he heard over his radio.
In both camps there were enough guides out that if they saw something the other guides were informed which helped in seeing as much as possible. It was also nice that the concessions were large enough that we did not have vehicles following each other throughout the day.
Normally there is always something in a trip of this length that we think could be improved upon but this is the rare case where we cannot think of anything. From the time we left the States to when we returned it was one of the most hassle free vacations we took.
Perhaps emphasizing the use of the laundry facilities at the camps would be useful because of the luggage restrictions would be the only thing I can think of as an improvement to future clients.
Kenneth Dropek
2 days ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.
