Ok, let’s cut to the chase: let’s see some animals from our trip to Africa!
Our animal encounters progressed nicely as we went along. We started at an Alpaca farm at the Alpaca Loom in Paarl, where they farm Alpacas for their fleece and allow guests to walk the animals on a leash! The next few places, Eagle Encounters at Spier and Knysna Elephant Park, were animal sanctuaries / conservation / encounter centers, where we could get close to and interact with (semi) wild animals that required some level of care or protection.
Then the next level – Addo Elephant National Park, a large park with truly wild animals – where we were in a proper safari vehicle for the first time (typically a 10-passenger open-air vehicle, in this case an old Land Rover) but on mostly paved or gravel roads (the park is open for self-drive safaris). We then moved on to a day at the Schotia Private Game Reserve, which was a little smaller area than Addo but had a little more diversity in the animals to see, plus being a private reserve we could go fully off the pre-established dirt trails if the situation called for it!
Next up was Boulders Beach – not a safari but a rare opportunity to see Penguins in the wild…!
Finally, the big boys – Phinda Private Game Reserve, and Manyeleti Game Reserve. Full-on morning / afternoon multi-hour safaris, off roading / bush whacking… amazing sightings and memories and by far the highlights of our trip!
Last but not least was Chobi National Park, a more commercial-style safari day that took us on a river safari in addition to a typical land safari.
