reallyjillytravels

Friday, April 7, 2023, Mossel Bay South Africa Friday, April 7, 2023, Mossel Bay, South Africa We arrived at 10 am, anchored out in the bay, rode the tender boat (which doubles as a lifeboat) to shore. Mossel means mussels, but we didn’t really see much of Mossel Bay. We were signed up for a safari at the Botlierskop Private Game Reserve. There was a bus on shore that would take up there. It was a 30-minute drive inland. As we neared the place, the bus attendant told us “Bolierskop” means bottle top, and it became obvious where it got it’s name—see the photo below! Note “bottle top” at the top of the mountain. The facilities at this reserve were gorgeous. The main welcome building was a large, thatch-roofed building and the restroom facilities were top notch. Someone on the tour had been here before and mentioned they had significantly upgraded the facilities. We followed a couple who knew the ropes and skipped the coffee/snacks niceties. We immediately got into a 6-guest Range Rover a...

Monday, April 3, 2023, Cape Town, South Africa We docked at Berth “E” on the waterfront in Cape Town at 8:00 am. Cape Town is gorgeous, with Table Mountain, Lions Head, and Signal Mountain as a backdrop. It was every bit as spectacular as Rio de Janiero and overall a more satisfying experience. Not as hot. South Africa requires a face-to-face customs inspection upon arrival. They did this onboard the ship. Once we had our passports stamped, we disembarked. We were at the cruise ship dock rather than the commercial dock.  No razor wire or people with guns as we had experienced in commercial ports around the world (so far) with stacks of shipping containers, shipping vessels and large fishing operations. A nice change! There was also an air-conditioned tourist welcome center right off the dock. The weather was perfect, too. Empty frame from photo op spot at Victoria & Albert Waterfront We sent our regrets for the ship’s special event at a winery. We heard later that the event wa...

Sunday, April 2, 2023, Luderitz, Namibia We arrived in Luderitz at 9 am. We did not have a tour scheduled and were immediately mobbed by taxi drivers as soon as we were off the dock. Once we got through that, we found a cafe with wi-fi, had iced tea and non-alcoholic beer and tried to back up our iPhones.  View from the water A working port Having a beverage I won’t go into detail, but I tried to get some Namibian dollars from an ATM. This did not end well, partly due to a sketchy character at the ATM. I’ll just say he didn’t get my card or password, but I no longer have my card either, which was eaten by the machine. Now when we need local currency we need a money changer, which is not always available. Being Sunday, not much was happening in Luderitz. If you weren’t near the taxi drivers on the dock, it was almost eerily quiet. We walked around much of the town. It seemed more like Germany than Africa. We found a gift shop with post cards and stamps which was open! We sat a...

Friday, March 31, 2023, Walvis Bay, Namibia Friday, March 31, 2023 The ship arrived in Walvis Bay, Namibia at about 10 am. We were signed up for a ship sponsored “Seal & Pelican” tour, and caught a bus to the marina area. Our handsome young tour guide spoke English very well. With our travel companions we were a relatively small group of about 15. A good-sized catamaran waited for us on the dock. Most of us chose to sit outside on the bow for the best view. It was brisk and windy and we were each given a shot of whiskey to get the party started.  Our guide began feeding fish to seagulls. They would hover above him and  take them from his hand or catch them out of the air. This was fun, but became less charming when one customer got pooped on. I wandered off to look for the head indoors, and when I came back out I was astonished to see a large seal cavorting about on deck! Getting felt up by a seal! It turned out that our guide was an animal lover and expert handler. He had...