South Africa, here we come!

As I am writing this, I should be packing for our holiday in South Africa tomorrow. We have visited our friends and family in South Africa for the last 10 years. When we got married 10 years ago, we had a wedding at my parent’s farm outside of Seattle, then flew to South Africa for a second wedding and honeymoon. We took each of our daughters when they were 2 1/2 months old. Our girls slept the entire flight and did so well on safari with all those long hours of driving and looking at the wildlife. The driving is also much easier with friends and family along for the ride. As we gear up for our “one more sleep” until South Africa, we have looked through all our previous holidays and have a list of our very favorite things we are looking forward to seeing and doing once again.

Hadley, 6, is beyond super excited for our first camping trip in South Africa. We will spend the first three days of our holiday camping. We are going with three other families which will be so wonderful to spend a bit more time together than the usual meet ups.

Heike, 4, is craving her morning and afternoon tea with rusks. She has asked her Dad for rusks and tea every morning for weeks since we ran out of our last box. We tell her how many more days until she gets her favorite tea time rusks at Ouma’s house.

Andre, I imagine, is most excited to see his friends and family for a braai.

Me, I have so many favorite things. First, family and friends. My husband has a great group of friends from high school and luckily I can not wait to see their wives every year! Second, Cape Town. It is beyond magical, getting to all five of your senses.

Favorites in Cape Town

1. Catch a Cable Car up Table Mountain. Make sure it is not a windy day. The view from the top is amazing. The gondola ride up is spectacular as well. You can also hike up, but it is so easy to take the gondola with a large family with a range of ages. Buy tickets online ahead of time to beat the crowds.
2. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. I am so excited to see the gardens in springtime as the flowers should be in bloom. Also, I have dreamed about the coffee I had here years ago. Coffee is never far from my mind.
3. Knysna. We will not be going to Knysna this trip, but we went last year and the beaches were so wonderful, empty, and beautiful. We stayed at a wonderfully luxurious, for us, flat in town that I would highly recommend, The Rex Hotel.
4. Mount Nelson high tea. The first time we had high tea at Mount Nelson it blew my mind. We were on our honeymoon actually. The setting is truly gorgeous, the pianist is playing such beautiful music, the scrumptious desserts, the beautiful garden, it is all just perfect. We will be going back in just a few short days!
5. Stellenbosch and the Cape Winelands are the Napa of California, the Tuscany of Italy. The small towns like Paarl, Franschhoek, and Constantia are great places to stop on your winery drive for a Cape Town day trip.
6. Mugg & Bean. Coffee. Chain. Love it. When you are in need of a coffee and snack or a big meal, this place is always reliable. And they are everywhere.
7. The V & A Waterfront. The first time we were here I thought it looked a bit like Vancouver, a bit like Sydney, a bit like Seattle, and every bit amazing. It is a waterfront entertainment area full of yummy restaurants, loads of shopping, the Two Oceans Aquarium, with many live musicians, and seems like the hub of Cape Town.
8. Bo-Kaap. Colorful houses on the slope of Signal Hill. The beautiful colors remind me of our time living in San Francisco and London.
9. The beach. Cape Town has the most beautiful beaches with amazing views of the surrounding mountains. Some favorites are Camps Bay, Clifton and Boulder’s Beach in Simon’s Town for the penguins

Favorites near Pretoria and beyond:

1. Kruger National Park. The ultimate safari experience. There are wonderful camps for families full of playgrounds, pools, and wildlife.
2. Irene Dairy, my favorite place for a Sunday brunch. The children can run free, see animals (cows) and there is wonderful outside seating. We usually pick up rusks here. We have had a few larger family brunches here when we flew over after the birth of each of our girls. There is also an Irene Village Mall which has upside down cows for kids to play around on, like metal sculptures. It is absolutely hysterical. They also have great spaces and places for children including lots of outdoor dining for children to run around in the fountains, play with Lego and ride the little animals (the coin machine kind) around the square.
3. Pilansberg National Park. A fabulous place for a safari. Pilansberg is closer to Pretoria than Kruger. I highly recommend Kruger, but Pilansberg is also a wonderful experience and we love our time there. Usually we like three days on safari and think that is the best amount of time to spend. Under two hours drive from Pretoria, Pilansberg is an easy drive for some amazing wildlife sightings. You feel a world away and the girls love seeing all the different animals.

New places for this trip:

1. Robben Island. So much history here. We have not been, but are planning on going this year.
2. Truth Coffee. Currently ranked best coffee shop in the world. How could a Seattle native not be interested in ticking that off the bucket list of life? We have reservations (I know, right?!) for coffee! I can not wait to try their coffee and hopefully bring some home with us.
3. Cape Agulhas, where the Indian and Atlantic Ocean meet.
4. Two Oceans Aquarium, you know, for the kids.

Here are some of our favorite memories of South Africa. We can not wait to go make more tomorrow! Here we come!

                                                                                                                                   Heike in the airplane baby bassinet.