Before we leave the area of South Africa, we wanted to give you all an idea of the HAL tours offered from Richard's Bay to Durban and Durban to Cape Town. There were two overland tours out of Richard's Bay starting with Leopard Mountain Lodge for $2200 for 1 ½ days, while Mfulawozi Wilderness Private Game Reserve was from $1899 to $2300 for 1 day. At that price, we wonder if this was a mistake or perhaps a flight was involved.
These overland's left the same day we did in Durban. Kariega Settlers Drift Lodge was $5200 for 3 ½ days, then Kruger Shalati was from $5200 to $5700 for 2 ½ days. Phinda Forest Lodge was $5600 for 3 ½ days, while Thornybush Game Lodge was $5800 for 2 ½ days. Kapama Karula Lodge was $6500 for 2 ½ days, while Botswana and Victoria Falls was $6700 for 4 days. Victoria Falls River Lodge was $7300 for 4 days.
We slept soundly last night and barely felt the ship leave the port in Cape Town. The only thing that woke one of us up was the listing the ship experienced when the powerful winds off shore hit us broadside.
We had a sweet reception at breakfast this morning between the fellow guests and Tina and her staff. Several others had gone overland as well and were welcomed back like us. The restaurant was far from crowded after a two day stay in Cape Town, as most folks were tired from tours and exploring on their own. Our buddy Don came over to our table and said he had taken over our spot while we were gone. Good news to us, he wanted to play a joke (as he likes to do) and have Adi, our waiter, put a sign on the table saying "Don's table – go away". Adi probably forgot or was afraid we might not get the joke, but we had a good laugh over it. Oh yes….nice to be back. It made us realize that our little vacation away from our big vacation went by all too quickly.
Today we finished the rest of the unpacking and also sent out two full bags of laundry. Sure glad that service is complimentary. Our room attendants had left the Daily newsletters as well as our pillow candies every day we were gone. We caught up on what we missed. What we did notice was something we had suggested last year in the newsletter, and that was adding the day of the week on the front page with the date. Guess what, it has appeared on each Daily since we left Cape Town. Finally someone else must have made the suggestion and it was done. The ongoing joke was if we really wanted to know the actual day of the week, we needed to go to any elevator and look at the carpet square. Very amusing.
Naturally, we worked most of the day writing reports online and sorting photos. Needless to say, there are thousands of them. Trying to catch up is going to be a big job, but we will have several sea days on our way towards Cabo Verde to do this. Six days to be exact.
Taking a lunch break, we were happy to see our salad gal, sandwich maker, and ice cream server still in their respective areas. They all asked where we have been and welcomed us back. After sitting most of the day, we took the time for a long walk on the promenade deck around sunset. The sun disappeared behind the dark clouds and foggy overcast.
Dinner had the everyday shrimp cocktails, but the size of the shrimp was smaller. Our waiter said these were African shrimp delivered in Cape Town. Tasted the same with their best red cocktail sauce. One of us ordered the Caesar salad and the other a bowl of Italian wedding soup. Kadek our waiter had the chefs add extra chicken meatballs to the soup because he remembered I liked them. He is considerate that way knowing what we like and do not like, such as hidden spinach under the meat. We both ordered the short rib plate which was excellent – like comfort food.
If there was entertainment this evening, we did not even check because we were still tired from our adventure. Looking forward to a rather short day in Walvis Bay tomorrow.
Bill & Mary Ann
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