AN EPIC MONTH IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
By Rose Palmer

After a year of planning, an epic trip to Africa became a reality. My husband and I spent one month leisurely exploring five countries by plane, train, automobile, and boat, and it was truly an unforgettable experience.

Listen to Big Blend Radio’s “Quiltripping Travel” Podcast with Rose Palmer as she shares her adventures in Southern Africa:

Cape Town, South Africa
Our journey started in Cape Town, South Africa. After 40 hours of travel, I chose to recover and get over jet lag in the nearby Stellenbosch wine region. With a little research, I discovered the lovely suites at the Jordan Winery. Surrounded by fields of grapevines, this was a beautiful and quiet retreat where we could catch up on sleep and attempt to get our bodies on local time.

With lots of sunshine, wine tastings, and an on-site restaurant, our three days at Jordan Winery were the perfect relaxing start to our African adventures. An in-depth tour of their vineyards and winery included plenty of wine tasting both in the field and in the cellars.

On another day, Jordan Winery set us up with a tour to discover other wines in the Stellenbosch region. The lovely Melanie from Vineyard Voyages guided us to three very different and very good wineries, which captured the diverse essence of South African wines.

For our move into the city of Cape Town, Jordan Winery arranged a driver for the day. On the way, we stopped at the most popular tourist points around Cape Town. At Boulders Beach, we saw the local South African penguin colony, and a detour to the Cape of Good Hope Preserve gave us a view of Africa's southernmost point. Unfortunately, we had to cancel our planned stop at the iconic Table Mountain since the top was covered in clouds.

We had two nights and one day in Cape Town, long enough to see a few more sights in the city. The tour to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 of his 27 years in prison, was especially moving and memorable.

Rovos Rail from South Africa to Zimbabwe
From Cape Town, it was a short flight to Johannesburg and nearby Pretoria, where we boarded the historic Rovos Rail train. For four days, we travelled slowly by rail across South Africa and Zimbabwe, ending in Victoria Falls.

The train experience was wonderful and very relaxing. The service was attentive, and the food was excellent. I don't know how they managed to prepare so many tasty, well-presented options in such a small kitchen. Though not large, our cabin was comfortable and came with a king-sized bed and an en suite bathroom. I especially loved the back-and-forth chug-chug that a train makes – it was so comforting to fall asleep to.

The train trip also included two safari experiences. One was in Zimbabwe's Matobo National Park, where we tried to see rhinos. The other was in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park, where we saw lots of wildlife, including a family of lions with seven cute cubs.

Zambia and Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls is about a mile wide and straddles the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. After getting off the train in Zimbabwe, we crossed the border into Zambia to check into our hotel.

We spent four days in the Victoria Falls area, long enough to experience the many activities available around the falls. From a helicopter ride over the falls to a sunset cruise along the Zambezi River, to afternoon tea with views of zebras and the falls, there were many entertaining options.

The highlight was taking in the views of Victoria Falls from the paths in the national parks on both the Zambia and Zimbabwe sides. The perspectives were different in each country, though no less impressive. One thing both sides had in common was that it was misty and we got very wet.

Botswana's Okavango Delta
From Zambia and Victoria Falls, we drove west across the border and headed to Kasane, Botswana. A one-hour bush flight took us to Sediba Sa Rona, a new tented camp in the Khwai Private Reserve on the northeastern edge of Botswana's Okavango Delta.

Our "tented" cabin was large and stunningly beautiful, with a deck that looked out over the Khwai River where a large herd of elephants came to play every day. The lodge's common spaces were open and inviting, with views of the river and conservancy. We ate lunch al fresco every day while watching elephants cavorting in the water.

For four days, we went on safari rides in the Khwai reserve where we saw an abundance of native wildlife. Zebras, impala, giraffes, hyenas, warthogs, lions, leopards, baboons, lots and lots of elephants, and a rainbow of colorful birds, and more – I never tired of seeing the animals in their natural habitat. It helped that we had an excellent guide who understood animal behavior and could track the animals easily and get us close without disturbing them.

A one-hour helicopter ride from the Khwai reserve took us deeper into the Okavango Delta to Camp Okavango. Our two days here gave us a good introduction to the delta and its wildlife. Safaris and explorations were done by boat, with some walking safaris on solid islands near the lodge. The delta had a large variety of birds, along with many hippos and crocodiles. On land, different types of antelope species roamed the grasses along with an occasional elephant or lion sighting.

River Cruise on the Chobe River
After flying back into Kasane, we crossed the border again, this time into Namibia, to board one of the Chobe Princess houseboats. With four well-appointed cabins and a crew of five, this was a luxurious small river boat that took us deeper along the Chobe River. Over the course of five days, we saw the wildlife in Chobe National Park as it came to the water's edge to drink, catch food, or cool off.

Each day we went on three small boat safari tours at sunrise, after breakfast, and again in the late afternoon for sunset. Botswana has one of the largest elephant populations in Africa, and we saw a lot. We gave up counting when we reached 100 on the first day. There were also all the other animals that we had gotten used to seeing in this part of Africa: hippos, impalas, lots of crocodiles, giraffes, lions, baboons, jackals, and many, many different types and sizes of birds.

This was not my first time in Africa, and seeing all the wildlife again was very special. But what surprised me most about this trip was how smoothly everything went. With a month of travel and lots of transfers and border crossings, I expected a hiccup or two. But there were none. Pickups were on time, all the passport controls and immigrations went smoothly, service was genuinely friendly, and everyone we interacted with was very hospitality-oriented. From our flights on Ethiopian Air to the driver who drove us less than 5 minutes from the hotel to the Kasane airport, the service and attention to detail that we experienced in this part of Africa were superior to many places I've visited in more developed countries.

Check out more of Rose’s Africa stories: https://quiltripping.com/africa/

Rose Palmer believes that life is a patchwork of experiences. Traveling the world is one of her deepest passions which continues to add to her ever-growing quilt of life experiences. She likes to focus her traveling lens on art, architecture, history, nature, and soft adventure with a touch of luxury. Rose shares her award-winning stories and photos on her blog www.Quiltripping.com

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