Africa: Johannesburg

And, with that, our time in Cape Town was over. A beautiful city that I would love to return to and explore some more. And, I would love to find those four Cape Mountain Zebras!

On our way!

The next day was one of those “wasted days” you often find on tours. We were flying to Johannesburg to begin our time in the Bush. And, as is usually the case, the flight was mid-day. Too early to actually do anything before you leave. Too late to do much after you arrive.

Photo: OR Tambo Airport

I know many travelers complain about super early mornings or late nights (and it is probably not fair to the tour guides), but I like to maximize my time and mid-day flying is such a waste.

Anyway, Dee accompanied us to the airport and we said our good-byes. 

If you travel to South Africa with GAdventures, I hope you are lucky enough to have her as your guide. She told us to look for Guillaume and his brown-checked shirt when we got to Johannesburg.

We left beautiful, green Cape Town, South Africa’s second-largest city, for Johannesburg, which from everything we’d heard, is a much more intimidating place. Where Cape Town has 3.75 million people, Johannesburg has about 8 million in its general area.

Photo: Wikipedia

It is the provincial largest city in Gauteng, which is the wealthiest province in South Africa. While Johannesburg is not one of South Africa's three capital cities, it is the seat of the Constitutional Court. The city is located in the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills and is the center of large-scale gold and diamond trade

The city was established in 1886 following the discovery of gold on what had been a farm, which explains why it sits in the middle of a dry plain where, otherwise, a large city probably wouldn’t have formed.

I won’t spend much time talking about Johannesburg because it really wasn’t part of our tour, rather just a staging point for departure to Kruger National Park.

As we flew from Cape Town, the effects of the multi-year drought were painfully evident. Everything looked parched and red.

Photo: ITAP World

When we arrived, we met Guillaume (Zietsman), who looked like his picture but was NOT wearing a brown-checked shirt (he did wear it later on the trip). 

It is a good thing we had looked up his picture because the sign he was holding just said, “Kruger.” I am not sure we would have known he was there for us. Of course, he probably would have picked us – seven rather noisy women – out of the crowd.

The Johannesburg airport – OR Tambo – is huge and modern. But, we hustled quickly out and were on our way to the Malikana Guesthouse, which is a lovely very African-looking private home on the outskirts of Johannesburg near the airport.

Very African in style

The guesthouse has a number of hunting trophies …

I got the feeling I was being watched

... a bar and an inside gill for the braais (barbeques) the owners prepare for their guests, eight guestrooms, most with private baths ...

Photo: Malikana Guesthouse

... and a lovely balcony ...

Kristen, Becca, Alexis and Kandice

... that is great for enjoying the grounds ...

Malikana grounds

Soekie: Photo: Linda Rowe

The Malikana Guesthouse, which is in a relatively residential area, is gated and has a large fenced enclosure with a pond. It is filled with domestic ducks, chickens and other fowl. They have few Springbok, the national animal of South Africa. Plus, there is an aviary with domesticated canaries, doves and quail. In addition, lots of wild birds are attracted to the guet house's bird feeders and trees.

Malikana is run by Soekie Lewis, who is has a larger-than-life personality and a million entertaining stories, and her husband, who really sort of stays out of the spotlight. 

Soeki has the ability to make you feel instantly at home, as if you had known her your entire life.

We arrived in early afternoon and got settled in our rooms.

We spent time photographing the Springbok, which were a bit shy, but posed for us. 

Springbok on the grounds

It was great to see them because they do not live in Kruger or Karongwe.

I guess the day wasn't wasted, after all

The Springbok stands 28-34 inches at the shoulder and weighs 60-93 lbs. Both sexes have a pair of black 14-20-inch horns that curve backwards. 

Springboks; Photo: Becca Stevens

A feature unique to the Springbok is pronking, in which the springbok performs multiple leaps into the air, up 6.6 ft. above the ground, in a stiff-legged posture, with the back bowed and the white flap lifted. Primarily a browser, the Springbok feeds on shrubs and succulents.

Springboks can live without drinking water for years, meeting their water requirements through eating succulent vegetation.
They are popular game animals, and are valued for their meat and skin.

There were multiple birds on the grounds. This is where I really had to start using the Sasol eBirds African bird ID app I had downloaded on my phone. By the way, the app was great because not only could I look up birds, but I could log them, which really came in handy when I started identifying pictures. Plus, Guillaume was very helpful in both spotting birds and identifying them, as well as giving Caty and me a guided tour of the Lewis’ canary aviary, which is generally off limits to guests.

On the grounds, we saw both wild and captive birds. Among the wild were …

A Hadeda Ibis

Juvenile Southern Masked Weavers

Female Southern Masked Weaverw

Male Southern Masked Weavers

A Blacksmith Lapwing

Laughing Doves 

Common Fiscals

Male Cape Sparrows

Female Cape Sparrows

A Karoo Thrush

A female Red-Headed Finch (only the males have red heads)

We also saw an African Hoopoe, which I saw briefly fly by and Linda and Caty saw later. I did not get a picture (a problem that repeated itself multiple times with that particular bird)

Among the captive birds were …

Helmeted Guineafowl

White Helmeted Guineafowl

Cape Turtle Doves

Yellow-billed Ducks

White-Faced Whistling Ducks

Chickens and Roosters

Canaries

King Quail chicks

A White Dove

A pair of Wood Ducks, which they call Carolina Ducks (they are not indigenous to Africa)

After the sun went down, we sat down with Soeki for a braai. 

Indoor grill

The menu included grilled chicken, a delicious beet salad, roasted potatoes, salad, South African pap (very much like polenta), corn and steaks cooked on the wood fire grill in the lounge area.  Dessert was traditional South African koeksisters (fried dough infused in syrup or honey).

The name derives from the Dutch word "koek", which generally means a wheat flour confectionery, also the origin of the American English word "cookie", and "sister" can refer to the oral tradition of two sisters plaiting their doughnuts and then dunking them in syrup, so creating this iconic pastry). 

They were yummy and quite different from the koe'sisters we had in Cape Town.

During dinner, Soeki regaled us with stories, including one about a young Canadian who was plagues with wild dreams brought on by Malarone. Turns out was Matt, whom we had met on the shark trip (I remembered that he had mentioned his “crazy” dreams – none of us ever had any). Maybe the decor influenced it ...

Good-night! Sleep tight!

Then, it was off to bed because we had an early departure for the Bush.

Trip date: August 25-September 9, 2017