Tuesday 20th October – Windhoek to Cape Town

Up early this morning for our transfer to the airport at 6:45am.  We had to repack or gear as we had been carting around shopping bags etc. while we have been travelling in the van.  For the flight to Cape Town we are limited to a 20kg bag plus 7kg carry on so we left behind a bag of chips, rice cakes, avocados etc. as well as Jill’s tennis ball she had been using to relieve back pain.

It was quite a drive to the airport (over 50km), apparently they had to go out that far to find some flat land.  Fortunately the transfer had been organised for us by Wild Dog so wasn’t a problem.  As there are no trains the shuttle service would be quite a lucrative business for those concerned.

After breakfast and a Wi-Fi hit at the airport it was off to Cape Town - another smallish plane with 5 seats across.

On arrival in Cape Town we were heading out of the airport in the hope of finding a maxi taxi big enough for the 5 of us and our luggage when a well-dressed man approached us and asked if we were looking for a taxi.  He didn’t look like a regular tout so off we went to his office  (within the airport building) where we had a van organised to pick us up and drop us off at our accommodation, Sunstays at Lagoon Beach,  - set price before we left.  All very professional.

Lagoon is a fairly new area and mostly accommodation.  The only shop we could find was a tiny hole in the wall where you could buy milk, chocolates, cigarettes, ice cream but not much more.  There is a Thai restaurant and a pub close by so we do have somewhere to eat.

The accommodation is a bit sterile but is clean and tidy and has a pleasant outlook over a lagoon.  

Again we had a problem with the 5^th person.  Not even a lounge here to sleep on but they did bring in a mattress for Wendy to sleep on the floor in the lounge room.  I’m not sure why they take bookings for 5 when they are not set up for them.  Not sure whether that’s our travel agents fault or Sunstays but our voucher states very clearly that it is accommodation for 5.

Take away from the Thai Restaurant tonight and very good it was to

Wednesday 21st October - Cape Town

Thursday 22nd October

Friday 23rd October - Cape Town

Saturday 24th October - Cape Town

Sunday 25th October - Cape Town

Monday 26th October

Back on the Hop-On-Hop-Off, this time the Peninsula Tour to Hout Bay.  Cape Town is certainly a beautiful city, colour everywhere.

Our first stop was Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens nestled at the eastern foot of Table Mountain.  The garden is one of nine National Botanical Gardens covering five of South Africa's six different biomes. 

When Kirstenbosch, the most famous of the gardens, was founded in 1913 to preserve the country's unique flora, it was the first botanical garden in the world with this ethos. Kirstenbosch places a strong emphasis on the cultivation of indigenous plants.

The garden includes a large conservatory (The Botanical Society Conservatory) exhibiting plants from a number of different regions, including savanna, fynbos, karoo and others. Outdoors, the focus is on plants native to the Cape region, highlighted by the spectacular collections of proteas. From the gardens several trails lead off along and up the mountain slopes. 

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens

Next stop, a little down the Road was World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary and Monkey Park (often shortened to World of Birds).  The park is an avian, reptilian and wildlife sanctuary although as suggested by its name, the focus is primarily on birds and monkeys. It is the largest African bird park and among the bird parks in the world with the higher number of species.

Of the approximately 400 animal species, about 330 are birds; the third highest bird diversity of any zoo that primarily focuses on this animal group. The vast majority of the birds in the park are exhibited in walk-through aviaries. In total there are more than 100 aviaries.

Among the many birds are groups such as penguins, rheas, waterfowl, eagles, owls, pelicans, flamingos, pheasants, parrots, hornbills, tucos and weavers. Among mammals are various monkeys (including babooms, marmosets and tamarins) meerkatsan and porcupines, and reptiles include green iguana, monitor lizards and tortoises.

In addition to exhibiting animals, World of Birds has a breeding centre for threatened species and wildlife rehabilitation for injured (wild) birds.

There was certainly a huge collection to be seen but we did feel a bit sorry for the animals as the whole place really needed some TLC.  Having said that one can't imagine how difficult it must be to run such an exhibition.

World of Birds

Back on the bus to Houts Bay where we met up with the others for a late lunch at Mariner's Wharf.

Lunch at Market Wharf

Tuesday 27th & Wednesday 28th October 2015 – Cape Town to Johannesburg

Another early start this morning as it was time to pack our bags and transfer to Cape Town station to catch the Premier Classe train to Johannesburg.  We used the same transfer as from the airport and the driver did a great job in delivering us to the station.  Our instructions were quite misleading and our driver was not satisfied in dropping us where our ticket suggested (on the opposite side of the station to where we needed to be).  Eventually he worked out where we should be dropped and all was well.  For a while.  Perhaps the misleading instructions should have been a warning for the issues that followed.

The Premier Lounge at Cape Town Station

Our letter to the management of Premier Classe Train tells the story:

"I write to express our disappointment that we were not able to complete our Premier Classe Train trip from Cape Town to Johannesburg on 27 and 28th October 2015.  We were a group of five at the end of a wonderful 6 week trip to Southern Africa concluding our trip with the Premier Classe Train before flying back to Australia from Johannesburg.  We had done our homework and had noted that there were sometimes delays of a few hours with the train and had factored in an 11 hour buffer for this possibility.

As it turned out more than this was required and we were bundled off the train into a van at De Aar for the 800km dash to the airport.  Something we did achieve thanks to those who organised it.

Let me start with the good things about our trip.

1.  We were met at the welcome lounge at Cape Town Station by friendly staff.

2.  Our luggage was well catered for and appeared in our carriage when we boarded the train.

3.  Our carriage was well appointed (as was the whole train).

4.  The welcome (drink and snacks) was appreciated once on board.

5.  Staff on the train were friendly and efficient.

6.  Meals were as one would expect from the ticket price we paid.

7.  The view from the train was excellent

8.  So far so good........

And then we got to Beaufort West.  We were told that we would have a forty minute wait and that we might like to stretch our legs.  Something we appreciated as the air conditioning on the train was not coping at all with the warm weather at that time of year.  It was fairly unpleasant on the train for that reason.  We hoped off the train and went for a walk before settling back waiting for our journey to continue.  It didn't happen and some time later we were called to dinner.  After dinner I mentioned to the train manager that we had 10pm flights the following day.  

Overnight at Beaufort West

At that stage he expected that we would be underway again by 11 pm at the very latest so off to bed we went.  We didn't have the best night's sleep as it was still quite hot and we were wondering when the train would start again and would we be able to meet the deadline for our flight back home.

Morning arrived and we were still at the station at Beaufort West.  Eventually we were underway after sitting at the station for 12 hours.

After breakfast we were told that a van would be waiting for us at De Aar to transport us to the airport as there was now insufficient time for the train to complete the journey.

Beaufort West to De Aar

On arrival at De Aar we had to wait some time for the van to arrive and to the manager's credit the train did not depart until we had been picked up.

Apart from the fact that a 10 hour trip in a van is a pretty miserable way to travel we would have to congratulate the train manager on the way it was organised and executed.  We had three different drivers who were waiting along the way to take us on the next leg of the journey and we arrived at the airport at 8:30pm in plenty of time to catch our plane.  The train manager did an extraordinary job rescuing a potential disaster. 

A very quick trip in a van
Glad we weren't on that train

We don't understand that when most things can be organised so well that something as vital as having reliable locomotives is not a priority of your company.

We had a wonderful time in Africa and it was just plain disappointing that this all happened at the end of our trip to dampen our enjoyment.

It would be great to see your company address the problem of efficient locomotives so that you can truly call yourself a Premier Classe train.

A final point.

We booked through African Sun Travel and their directions on the voucher were that our destination was in Strand Street.  I'm glad our driver enquired before he left us as it would have been a long walk for 5 senior citizens with lots of luggage from Strand Street to the Premier Classe lounge.  There were plenty of signs for the Blue Train but none that we could see for the Premier Classe train. It certainly wasn't in Strand Street.  If our directions had said the Blue Train lounge all would have been well."

To give the company its due they did reimburse our tickets (something we hadn’t asked for) but there was no apology or explanation of what went wrong. 

For the time we were on the train it was quite exciting (apart from the poor air conditioning) Our carriage was well appointed and comfortable and the countryside interesting.  Would we do it again?  Probably yes but we would ensure we had plenty of time at the other end in case all did not go well.

And that’s our trip to Southern Africa.  The rest is just that boring stuff of sitting on aeroplanes – First from Johannesburg to Dubai and then Dubai to Brisbane.

Africa was much easier to travel than we ever imagined.  Having said that we were pleased that we had arranged a guide for the travel through Botswana and Namibia.  The highlight – it would have to be the African animals -  just amazing.