Ellen's Travel Stories

09/04/2024

Recap of three weeks hunting for adventure and wildlife in South-Africa! 🦒🐘🦓🐆🦏

On the hunt for wildlife and adventures in South-Africa.Three week roadtrip from March 6 - March 26Panorama Route - Blyde Canyon - Moditlo Game Reserve - Mli...

25/03/2024

All good things come to an end 🥺 It's time to go home!
This morning we enjoyed some last rays of sunshine on the beach of Clifton and Camp's Bay before heading to the airport where we're now waiting for our flight back home.
South-Africa, it's been a real pleasure! 🥰

24/03/2024

Today we hiked to the top of the Table Mountain. Going up via Platteklip Gorge, through the clouds but as we arrived at the top, the skies started clearing out 😍
We did the extra loop to Maclear's Beacon hoping the clouds would disappear and they did! Such an amazing view! 🙏🏻
I then went back down on my own via the India Venster trail, which was marked as "not an easy way down". It should have been "Freaking dangerous" because damn! That was steep, rocky, cliffy, but oh so beautiful! Thank god for that last part!
Back in Camp's Bay we went to the beach to enjoy our last African sunset, with stunning views over the Table Mountain. So not ready to head home 🥺

23/03/2024

When you think of South-Africa, you think of wine! No? Well, I do!
So today we headed to Stellenbosch, the wine area near Cape Town. We managed to go on a bike 'n wine tour last minute, tagging along to a lovely Dutch-Spanish couple and had a total blast. Riding a mountainbike is a bit harder after a few wines 😅
In the afternoon we headed to Babylonstoren Wine Estate, for more wine tasting 🙈 But also to explore this lovely domain! Wow!
A very wine-filled day! 😁

22/03/2024

Cape Town city center was our playground today! 😁 For convenience we took an uber to the center, starting out at the V&A Waterfront. A really lovely, bustling area. From there we continued to Bo-Kaap for its colorful houses. Through the old part of the city, with the beautiful Company's Garden, we ended up at the City Hall and Castle. A bit of a dodgier neighborhood but lots of security around to make us feel safe. For the late afternoon and evening we returned to the waterfront and enjoyed a drink and dinner with a lovely view on Table Mountain! 😍

21/03/2024

When you get a nice rental car, you have to get most out of it! No, this was all planned but so much nicer in an amazing vehicle. We drove from Camp's Bay, along Chapman Peak's Drive, to Cape of Good Hope. From there we hiked to Cape Point, first in the mist but then it cleared out 😍
On the way back we stopped in Miller's Point, Boulder's Beach - for the penguins - and Muizenberg Beach. A very good day once more 😍

20/03/2024

A very smooth flight later we arrived in Cape Town in style, with a stunning view over the Table Mountain from our plane. 😍
Rental pick-up, and we got ourselves a really nice one, and then by 12pm we were already checked-in at our apartment! A quick supermarket run and then we were off to the Lionshead Trail. Under a sweltering sun we made our way to the top with a constant stunning view over the area. Absolutely amazing. We stuck around until sunset and were absolutely blown away. What a perfect welcome to the city! 😍

19/03/2024

Another transit day today, going from Drakensberg to Johannesburg to catch our flight to Cape Town tomorrow. ✈️
For the first time in this place, the morning had a clear sky so we got to enjoy the views over the Sterkfontein Dam, where we got to see a wildebeest 😱
As we were driving, we encountered a sign for a town called 'Vrede', which means peace in Dutch. Detour needed!
We ended up having lunch in that town in a really nice garden. Full on vacation spirit and amazing food! Detour fully justified!
Now we're back in Johannesburg, sad after saying goodbye to our trustworthy Toyota Starlet, but relaxing for the rest of the evening before our early flight tomorrow!

18/03/2024

Today I got to check off my 34th country! 😁 We crossed the border to Lesotho for the day, learning all about the people over there and their customs.
This trip was organized by the hostel in a way to help the people there and also inform us on the Masuto people. Our first stop was the local school, where we got to play with the kids and see the building that had been built with the money from the excursions.
Then we started our hike up to get the view over the mountains; absolutely breathtaking! The weather fortunately was a lot clearer today!
After we checked out some small cave drawings, we got to have some local food and then last we stopped at the ritual doctor who told us all about his way of healing.
A nice informative day surrounded my mountains. It might have felt a bit like we were walking wallets but when you know it's actually going to the people there, I can live with it.

17/03/2024

Today has been such a thrilling day!! Hiking up to Tagula Falls, the world's tallest waterfall. Downsides; it was very misty, so the views weren't ideal, and the lack of rain had dried up the waterfall. Big bummer.
Best things; getting to the trailhead in the back of a truck on a bumpy road, the 25m ladder up along the mountain and the best guide ever! I don't think I've ever laughed so much on a hike where often we couldn't see a damn thing 🤣