Hello LCT'ers!! Greetings from South Africa. Joe & I arrived at Birkenhead House early Saturday morning. It was 2 AM to be exact. We had to wake the staff as they thought we were not coming. Our flight was delayed in Johannesburg. That was the very last leg of our journey and we had thought we would not have any hitches. HA! No, it was not bad at all. An hour and a half delay due to some missing passengers whose luggage had to be removed from the plane because they did not board. I'm okay with it if it means our safety. Once we arrived in Cape Town it was an hour and a half drive to Hermanus.
It was well worth the long flight and anything else, because it is amazingly beautiful. Birkenhead House really and truly lives up to everything Ngaire has said that it would be. The view is spectacular! The staff so gracious and accommodating. The cuisine is outstanding. And with the all-inclusive set-up you fill as if it is your home. We absolutely love it!
It is the whale watching season and this weekend was the local whale festival. There were live outdoor performances and local craftsmen selling their wares. The town is quite charming. There is a cliff walk into town from Birkenhead House. It is a four mile walk and the views are amazing. The Birkenhead House has an arrangement with The Marine hotel so once you are in town you go to The Marine hotel and they will phone Birkenhead House to come and pick you up. Or if you do not want to do the walk they will drop you off in town as well.
The remainder of the TUSK group that are doing the Birkenhead House extension will arrive tomorrow afternoon around lunch time. We look forward to their arrival.
The rest of the TUSK group doing the

What a wonderful start to a dream vacation. It sounds like a perfectly happy place to be. Have a wonderful trip & thanks so much for the descriptive email.

Jackie

Julie, so great to hear from you! I can't imagine how exhausted you must have been. Birkenhead House sounds wonderful. Just think - 2 years from now I can say I've been there!

I have no doubt you will continue to have an amazing time!

Julie - Thanks for checking in! Keep the beach mail coming!

Cheers, Anne

Glad you arrived safely, Julie. That 4 mile walk sounds great. Please keep posting! ROAR 2 can't come soon enough.

Julie! So good to hear from you! So glad you made it safely. That must have been some drive out there from Cape Town in the middle of the night! I can close my eyes & remember how utterly gorgeous it is along that coastline & the surroundings of Hermanus. We savored 3 days there pre-ROAR. I can't wait to return! Thanks for the email - enjoy your adventures - white sharks? We're all ears (eyes) eager for more sea (& beach) mail!

So good to hear from you Julie! It sounds like you and Joe are having a great time. Reading your postings makes me so excited that we're on ROAR 2, I absolutely can't wait! Let us know how everything continues with the TUSKers....
This fantastic trip must be your pre-wedding honeymoon!

Today was Joe's birthday. I asked what the menu would be for dinner and it just so happened it was all of Joe's favorites. Squid (they call it here) calamari to us as lightly battered and fried was the most tender I have ever had it. Then a roasted red pepper soup (his soups are to die for...last night it was an italian bean soup). For the main course it was a choice of beef filet with roasted vegetables and polenta or pan fried dorado with a fruit salsa. I did not even look at the dessert because earlier I spoke with the chef and he made Joe a homemade carrot cake (his favorite cake) for his birthday. There are some of the waitstaff that are classically trained vocalists and they sang the traditional US happy birthday and then an African song. It was amazing. Not to mention that we had a private table in a private room with a fireplace. We finished the meal with some Amarula (African version of Bailey's) and a cappucino.
Well, that was just the end of our day.
Today the whales were really close to land. The festival had ended and the whales came in closer. Perhaps before they had been frightened by the noise and the people.
Then, later in the afternoon we took a hike up the mountain. It was the part of the Fernkloof nature perserve but not the actual park part but the part closest to Birkenhead House. We ran into a troop (collective name) of baboon. I was frightened and Joe thought it was hilarious. The staff got a jolly laugh as actually baboons are quite cowardly. It certainly got my adrenaline running, though. My goodness.
Later in the day, we were enjoying cocktails and warm nuts on our terrace and we saw the most amazing rainbow.
I feel so blessed to have had all of these experiences.
What a fabulous and memorable birthday for Joe!
More tomorrow when the TUSK party joins us. We will be off to the wine tasting.

What a dream day. Nothing better than enjoying the wilderness in luxurious surroundings and gourmet food. Yum Yum. How happy you must be. It comes through in your emails.

When we were in Sweden last July we ate at an Italian restaurant. Calamari was listed with the English translation as Octopussy.

Julie,
Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful adventure with us. I'm so glad you are all having such a good time. Sounds as if Joe's birthday was some celebration!!!!!
Keep having fun!!!!

Julie: So happy to read your report - sounds like you and Joe are having a great time - and I know hiking is "piece of cake" for you - still have memories of you running on deck 12 of Mariner...and running and running - :ch: :ch: :ch:

Your time at Birkenhead House gets better and better! I can hardly wait until ROAR 2. Happy Birthday to Joe!

The TUSK group arrived today around 11 AM and we spent time getting acquainted. We sat down to lunch around 1:15 pm. The menu was a butternut squash soup, a choice of Thai Beef Salad (my choice) or line fish (king clip or something like that) and since the carrot cake was a hit with us the day before the chef made some for the TUSK group as dessert.
Then, we gathered for our journey to some wine vineyards. First stop was Bouchard Finlayson Winery. Quite nice and Joe purchased a huge bottle of Pinot Noir that the winemaker personally signed. That was very special. Next stop, was Hamilton Russell Vineyards. They only produce to wines a Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir. The Chardonnay won some awards and is rated 91 by Wine Spectator.
The views are the most spectacular. The lush green landscape and the charm of the vineyards. It was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful.
Jackie, that is really funny. I think I would have to giggle if the waiter had said Octopussy.
Yes, Joanna I'm still running except for around here it is from baboons. :ohmy: Seriously, though, I did take a run along the cliff path. The weather was nice and cool, but the run was a tough one...only one lap this time around.

fyi, that was "two wines" not "to wines" Oops! Guess it is the wine tasting getting to me.

Another wonderful eventful day in paradise. It just keeps getting better. Thanks for sending us the updates. It is such a pleasure to read of this gorgeous place on earth. You are indeed blessed to be there enjoying it, Julie.

Keep having fun.

Jackie

Ditto what Jackie said!

It's great to hear from you, Julie, this sounds like a trip of a lifetime. I'd love it if you could post as often as you are able! But above all, ENJOY!!!!

Thanks much for the land mail - your trip sounds like a dream come true. :app:

South Africa Photos:

This couple are eye candy for Roar 2. Shane is quite stunning and very nice to boot. Zinnia is the Hotel Manager and extremely accommodating. They made our stay very special.


Zinnia, Ngaire, Shane & Julie

The view is so stunning you just cannot stop looking and seeing the whales is a great bonus.





Up Close and Personal

WOW!!!! , Ngaire,
Those photos are really great!! Thanks for posting them!

Yikes! I don't know that I could get that up close and personal with a shark! Wonderful pictures, Ken!

Okay I am finally posting. Been going like a freight train and just no time.

Botswana we spend four days and stayed at the best camps available. I will email those interested when I return. Loved it in certain ways but disappointed in others. These are definitely the best camps to stay at if you visit Botswana.

Savute Elephant camp they have a watering hole immediately in front of the main lodge and the elephants were constantly there. This is a distance of only about 10 yards from the raised deck. Is was memerizing. At night they have the light on the watering hole and you eat dinner while watching the elephants. Unbelievable!!!

Had a few traumas getting to Cape Town and was afraid I was not going to make it in time. Lesson learned. The last flight to Cape Town is at 6.45 pm - miss that and you dont get in until the late the next morning. We went standby and got on the plane.

Birkenhead House. I have visited twice before but not stayed there. This time I got the whole ambiance of Birkenhead House. As Dreps will tell you it is a magical place. It took them two hours to set our dining room tables, complete with tons of candles and rose petals. The attention to detail is amazing. It is a very romantic place. Never seen a hotel use so many candles. I had to drag everyone out of there, it is hard to leave, reminds me of leaving Singita, not something we wanted to do.

In fact if the waitlists dont clear I strongly suggest that we consider doing a two night program at Birkenhead House between the two other groups. I will figure it all out so that the people dont miss the wine tour or the Cape Point tour. Really it is not that big a difference from the other options. To miss this place is really a shame. Almost everyone said it was among the most wonderful places that they had ever stayed at. I agree.

Option one currently offered: You stay one night Cape Town - two nights Birkenhead and four nights Cape Town.

Proposed Option: You stay two nights Cape Town (arrival night and one day) and then to Birkenhead House - then to Cape Town for two nights. You actually do not change hotels any more than you do on any of the other options.

The rooms are all outstanding, the hotel is gorgeous, the staff very accommodating, the food is good and they have a lot of complimentary wines offered. Breakfast this morning on the terrace was so memorable. The cliff pathway is stunning. The wine tour is short and delightful. The shark trip ---- WOW.

We had perfect weather and of course this added to the whole experience if it had been raining and rough on the water it may not have been the same but it was a trip I will never forget.

Now we are at the Radisson Hotel. I checked out the Victoria and Alfred hotel today. Still a little undecided. The V&A has such a great location and it is such a hassle to have to get the shuttle van to the waterfront that only holds 7 and runs every hour. Being IN the waterfront is so much easier. I pictured all 60 plus people trying to get to Baia at the same time!!! Taxis are only $5 each way and it may be the easiest way to go. Two buses for a 3 minute ride would be cost prohibitive.

The rooms are nice nothing wrong with the rooms. However, no lobby area to speak of, a small bar, no gym, no swimming pool. It is really just a hotel with a tiny lobby, rooms and a restaurant.

The Radisson Ocean view business rooms are great. LARGE (bigger than Cape Grace) and looking at the Ocean is just so nice. The lobby is lovely the restaurant is excellent and the breakfast buffet outstanding.

I think it is better to pay a $10 round trip taxi ride and staying at the Radisson.

I added a last minute tour to Table Mountain this afternoon as it was such a beautiful day. Unfortunately it was rushed as the van had to do another booking and by the time they got up and back only had about 30 minutes at the top. But at least they got to go up. I suggested taxis but I think it was just so much easier to go as a group. If they hit another good day on their day at leisure those that want to can go back.

I ate at Baia tonight with four others. Oh I do love this place too. Coming back tomorrow with the group. It is a consistently outstanding restaurant. I had the big shellfish platter and lobster bisque.

Tomorrow we do the wine tour and are promised another beautiful day. So far the weather has been absolutely perfect. We added on a visit to a Cheetah facility that is close to the wineries. Be interesting to see, you can pat the cheetahs for a price I hear.

Be back later.

:hug: Ngaire - so happy to hear from you! I'm glad you're having a wonderful time. Ken, once again, is my photography idol!

Great pictures as usual! I hope they weren't feeding that poor seal to the shark!! We can hardly wait for ROAR2. Thanks for taking the time to post, Ngaire.

Another report from Cape Town. I was having camera battery issues so my fiance Joe and I decided to bypass the trip to Table Mountain and head to waterfront in search of a camera battery and or new charger. As it turns out my battery had lived as long a life as it could muster. We were at the shopping mall at the V&A Waterfront. Then, we relaxed at the hotel. The Radisson SAS is very nice and we have rooms right off of the pool with a view of the ocean. As Ngaire says they are very spacious. They also have the Molton Brown toiletries the same as Birkenhead house.
We decied for dinner to visit the Cape Grace hotel's restaurant One Waterfront. It was delicious and the service superb. Exactly what you would expect from a 5-star hotel. Joe had the Waterford Cabernet and I had the Jordan Chardonnay at the suggest of the sommelier. Joe ordered the beef filet with a starter of mushroom soup and I ordered the lobster. The entire meal was less than $100 US with tip. This is the time to take advantage of strong dollar to the Rand. Lovely meal and outstanding service. We were very pleased.

That shark picture is absolutely scary!

I hope all of you continue to have an incredible trip! Could you check to see if the Radisson has computer(s) for guests' use?

Thanks for the posts Julie and Ngaire--it really makes me want to go back to South Africa. What a special place!!

Such FANTASTIC photos! Shark/seal excursion & Birkenhead House-wonderful beyond words.

Thanks, Ngaire, Ken & Julie, for bringing the "magic" of South Africa back to us!

All I can saw is "WOW." Thanks for posting these!!

Hi everyone.

Woke up on the morning of the wine tour to fog and low clouds. Dismal looking day. Where was our promised sunshine and 90 degree temperatures. It was COLD.

Off the wine country with Cyril and Jimmy as our guides. As we got closer the sun broke out and the cloud and fog lifted. Yippee!!!

We went to the Anura winery for wine tasting and then to Seidleberg where we did a cellar tour. Actually that was quite interesting they still do things with some very old methods, such as concrete tanks. The wine tasting was done outside on the lawn so I think that was quite fun and will do this again for Roar 2. The meal was as good as it was for ROAR and the scenery is still lovely. Between the Tuskers they bought three large pieces of glass. Eugene (Dreps) took the price with a gorgeous bowl that was very African in its design. I bought a large vase that looked like it had elephant hair wrapped around the vase. Julie and Joe bought another great bowl, and one other couple bought a unique plate.

Then off to the cheetah center. Not sure I will do this again. The cheetahs are behind a fence and after seeing them in the wild it just was not appealing to me. You can pat them for a few minutes at a price of about $15 and about half the group did do that. So we may do it if some of you want to go there. It does make getting back pretty late.

So today was a "day at leisure". Woke up to an overcast but not cold day. Threatened rain but it only sprinkled a couple of times.

We did the HOP A BUS that is actually a great way to see the city. There are two routes and they do a good job. Then after a quick lunch we went to the Botanical Gardens with Eugene and Gail. The gardens are lovely. Great statue park area and well laid out with the mountains in the background. Very relaxing.

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain - of course it is the Cape Point tour. I felt like it is ROAR all over again. I am praying the weather gods will be kinder this time. Tomorrow we will see.

Then the next day it is OFF TO THE GAME PARKS. I am looking forward to that of course. Early departure of 6.00 am from the hotel. Have to do that to make it to the game parks in time for the afternoon drive.

Be back later

Love hearing from you Ngaire! It sounds like TUSK is a huge success! Keeping fingers and toes crossed for warm weather and blue skies!

Great hearing from you, Ngaire. Looking forward to hearing about the game parks.

Ngaire, you are so great to keep in touch with those of us waiting to go on ROAR 2, and Julie too! You know how much we want to hear from you! I for one am "psyched" about being at Hermosa during the whale season!

Wonderful living through your experiences.

I've so enjoyed your comments. The trip sounds absolutely fabulous.........and the photos are great. Quite an experience!

General question for anyone who has been on safari at singita or Leopard Hills.....if you arrive mid day on day1, do they take you on the evening game drive.......and the day you are departing, do they take you on the morning game drive........or are these two days essentially down time? Thanks

Paula, we arrived mid day on day 1 and we did do the evening game drive. I would think you'd need to arrive by 2:30 or 3:00 pm, although for our group at Singita they waited for us and we just left a little later. We didn't do a morning game drive our last day because our flight was at 7:00 am.

I think we should stay at the Radisson for ROAR 2. I did check another hotel which was okay, the Commodore. The hotel is in walking distance to the waterfront. However none of the hotels really compares to the Radisson when you consider all the different aspects. So when I get back I will start negotiations to see if we can get them to commit to 2007 rates. Everyone just has to know the issue of a shuttle on the hour or take a taxi for $3 each way to get to the waterfront. It is worth that inconvenience to stay at the nicer hotel. Going to be a mad dash to Baia on the night we all eat at approximately the same time. We will make it though!!!!

Woke up this morning expecting rain and overcast skys as per the weather forecast. Wrong - IT WAS SUNNY AND CLEAR. I was so delighted. We took off and headed out the the Cape. The scenery was spectacular in the bright sun and we had a truly wonderful day. We did stay a little too long at the statue place and the ostrich farm with a little bit of shopping. So we were a little rushed at the Cape but it is so much to do in one day.

We lunched inside at the Black Marlin at a different area from ROAR where we could see the ocean. We had been seated outside but it was a little windy so we moved inside. While we were eating a Baboon jumped from the roof right onto the tables where we would have been seated. He stole a piece of bread out of the bread basket and ran onto the lawn. Boy were those people shocked. Glad we moved inside.

Then the penguins. This time in brilliant sunshine I was so wishing all the ROARERS were with us. It was warm and sunny and some of the penguins were molting.

Four of us decided to go to Baia (for the third time) as a farewell dinner. We ate a little lighter tonight and now back in the room packing.

Tomorrow the game parks. I just cant wait. Dread the airport fiasco but we will get through it. Wake up time is 5.00 am tomorrow. YUCK.

May not be able to post much once we hit the game parks. Not sure of the connection now and there are a lot of computer people here who want to use the internet.

Wish us the big five with great lion, leopard, cheetah, elephant, hyenna, giraffe, rhino etc etc.

Boy, Ngaire, am I jealous...really jealous! But, keep posting. Vicarious is better than nothing!!

The Radisson sounds perfect and I have no qualms about taking a taxi to the waterfront. We're only there for one night anyway.

So glad you had good weather for Cape Point! I'm sure Ken was able to get some great photos of the penguins.

Good safari wishes - we're there with you in spirit!!

Love all the reports. Thanks, Ngaire. I can hardly wait!

Thanks, Ngaire, these reports are just wonderful. So glad the weather cleared up for you!